boybar
Elena MacdonalD *
Felix Gonzalez-Torres and Ross Laycock fell in love at a gay bar, a boybar, in 1983. Felix and Ross were one. Intertwined on a molecular level, like all great love relationships. Inseparable, unique. I imagine the two men locking eyes on the dancefloor. Their bodies gravitating towards each together, magnetic. Sweaty body gripping sweaty body. Ross didn’t come home for three weeks after meeting Felix. I research Felix & Ross, find them again & again & again in Felix’s candy sculptures. In Felix exhibits, I take pieces of candy, their bodies, into my own mouth. Suck fruit flavor out of each piece, thinking about their bodies in the boybar. Felix’s candy disintegrates in my mouth in 2024. Felix and Ross’s bodies disintegrate from AIDS in the 1990s. Each day, their bodies deteriorate again in these candy configurations. Some museum go-ers take candy and forgo the knowledge of Felix and Ross. I take the candy again & again & again and am stuck thinking about them.
* featuring words from Carl George (activist, artist, and close friend of Ross Laycock and Felix Gonzalez-Torres) noted in italics
* featuring words from Carl George (activist, artist, and close friend of Ross Laycock and Felix Gonzalez-Torres) noted in italics
Elena Macdonald (they/she) is a lesbian writer from Northern Virginia. Elena is the Managing Editor for Poetry Daily and the website editor for Phoebe Journal. Their work has been featured or is forthcoming in The Ekphrastic Review and Kitchen Table Quarterly; you can find more about them at elenamacdonald.com.