Félix González-Torres

Our walls were littered with test prints on the stickers we designed for an anti-gentrification pop-up.

One shelf held empty, paint-spattered coffee mugs from projects past, and a battered Felix Gonzalez Torres print, the only genuine post-grudges bludged either of us had made hung crookedly above the desk we now shared.

Friday night game nights were part of the pact.

Unless one of us is dead or hired by Pentagram, Theo used to joke, Friday is for us.

And as you travel and share your creations, something is rethreaded.

This card is an acknowledgement that you are either being called to connect with others who are like you at a soul level or that you already are You're being called to gather groups of people either by leading them or becoming part of a group that can support you and your soul's personal mission You're part of a group of souls who agreed to be here at this time in history to heal yourself your ancestral line and the planet to raise consciousness so that we can continue to call this magnificent place home for eras to come One of many consciously choosing to devote your life to something greater than yourself It's time to call in your tribe by sharing your soul's voice and letting yourself be seen When you share what is real and true to you and you share the medicine that you most need those who are like you will gather around you You are your tribe They are just like you and just as you are longing and searching for them they are longing and searching for you too And here's something you can repeat as an activation I choose now to let myself be seen I'm ready to call in my soul tribe and create a web of light all over the planet You can take a screenshot if you'd like Ya, so whoever you're connecting to here is a reflection of who you are Spirits saying they're good for you and what you're processing internally when it comes to the sense of depletion, hopelessness and burnout and hypervigilance This is connected to the past and previous experiences that you now have to digest in order to make space for the goodness that is coming into your life that is emerging at this time As long as you allow yourself to be seen you will feel a sense of connection with these people So maybe that's part of the challenge here with the sun card I'm really paying attention to the little kid in the image Notice how he's naked, his arms are out and he's on this white horse So he represents a return to innocence and purity A return to being seen When the sun is shining, we are seen, right? So, there's definitely a message here about allowing yourself to be seen, choosing to be seen and as a result of that, attracting those who are really meant for you, who are good for you the initiation rite of passage crossing the threshold So it probably feels as though you need to get over some sort of comfort zone in order to be seen That's probably part of the challenge here It's really easy to hide and to stay in the cave to keep your light to yourself and the challenge in your situation is probably needing to get out of that comfort zone and recognize that it's safe to be seen at least by these people or this person that you are connected to Align your life with what is not aligned or needs to change So I feel like this is speaking to the nine of wands and five of cups So as much as you're doing light work you're learning to connect and show up and be seen There's also shadow work here You're needing to hold space for what needs to be digested and released and integrated you also have soul family call in your tribe, you don't have to do it alone So again, it really looks like you are connecting with your soul tribe now You're connecting with people who are actually good for you and there are challenges in that because it's quite confronting It forces you to confront unresolved feelings from the past that are unrelated but has been taking up space internally that you could otherwise be giving to like what's positively unfolding here in your situation Share your voice, come out of the cave persecution expression So ya, again it's time to be seen It's time to come out of the cave and be seen and share your voice It's time to be seen by the right people, right? I think that's what Spirit's wanting to emphasize to you here It's time to be seen by the right people and they're here now We've got an archetype now from the Wild Unknown We have Kairos Also known as mythic time, synchronicity We have all had the experience of timelessness of life beyond the ticking of the clock It may be felt as time standing still, slow motion or losing track of time on a walk or in a lovely conversation This is known as mythic time and it is the territory of Kairos This card suggests there is a secondary time continuum that goes beyond any earthly clocks and schedules Within this non-linear realm, we access divine timing A single moment ripens with auspiciousness and our actions change the trajectory of our whole life Time becomes a living thing that watches over us and tells us precisely when to speak or act When this card appears, it is all about patience and precision No clock can guide you Wait for the rush of inner knowing and not a moment longer When light, this is alignment, ease in decisions and action When dark, this is fighting against time To go deeper, you can look into Felix Gonzalez Torres's Untitled Perfect Lovers The word evil comes from the root unripe Consider that everything has a time for ripeness when it becomes a nourishing fruit sweet to the lips Compare the Greek words chronos and kairos This will guide you to an understanding of logos and mythos So there's a message here about needing to seize the moment of recognizing the rush of inner knowing and taking action decisively with precision when you feel that So really following your creative impulse and getting into a sort of flow with that and Yeah, organically, naturally and authentically building these connections and allowing them to deepen as opposed to doing something for the sake of connecting because you feel like you have to So when I say seize the moment, I can imagine that might bring up some scarcity but that's not really what I'm speaking to It's more so I think spirits wanting you to really connect to what flow, what the flow state feels like in your body and what it feels to follow a creative impulse and How that can take you into something really natural and organic.

So don't force connection but connect when you really feel like it.

Okay, well let's move into your near future energies Additional advice is also welcome spirit Four of Swords, take it slow, take your time, rest So hold space for yourself.

Mm

... particularly this year when I decided to give myself the name Malaya, 'cause I've been researching so many of Felix Gonzalez-Torres, Keith Haring, Patrick Cowley-

Mm

... all of these brilliant, brilliant artists that we still talk about to this day.

The...

Artist I wanted to bring to you, which I've already written about a little bit on the sub stack, is Felix Gonzalez-Torres.

He made work that is about grief and about AIDS, but he didn't name grief or AIDS directly.

His partner, Ross Laycock, died of AIDS-related illness in 1991.

California House Democrat Jimmy Gomez is now the target of a sexual misconduct ethics investigation.

His general election opponent, Democratic Socialist Angela Gonzalez-Torres, joins us.

Hey, what's this? It says 300.

No, that is not a reference to Spartans at Thermopylae.

The congressman denies this.

He does, however, admit... quote, personal mistakes outside his marriage, but he insists those mistakes were, quoting again, consensual in nature.

Angela Gonzalez-Torres is running against Gomez in California's Los Angeles-based 34th District and joins me now.

It's good to have you with us.

Um, and I, I very quickly had to go see it myself, um, and had-- did not know about Sturtevant before that moment, um, and had an opportunity to see, you know, her, uh, repetitions, um, of Duchamp, um, which we'll talk about a little later, I think, um, but also Warhol, uh, all of the sort of pop artists.

Um, I don't remember if that show had the, like, Felix Gonzalez-Torres in it, um, but it's something I've been reading about more recently as preparing for this conversation.

Um, and, uh, so that was in 2014, but then in 2015, Rainer came to visit me-- well, came to Berlin and I was there and we hung out.

And, uh, one of the ways we hung out was we went to the Hamburger Bahnhof to go see a Sturtevan- Sturtevant exhibition that was on view there.

Um, uh, and there does seem to be, um, a degree to which just the kind of attention that's necessary to recreate something, um, uh, is, um, I don't know, almost like a powerfully ritual act.

Like you really have to know something so well to be able to reproduce it, um, so that it can have a, a kind of, um, uh, you know, an emotional, uh, dimension of a kind of coping strategy or a kind of way of carrying something into the future.

I mean, that seems especially the case for something like the, the Felix Gonzalez-Torres or where you really are, um, you know, uh, showing a kind of devotion to something by carrying it into the future and, and, and not, um, sort of refusing to, to let its existence be a, um, something that's over.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah, yeah

Um, and, um, yeah, I, like, was really interested in, in doing a lot of figurative work, um, and, um, referencing some other queer artists, um, like Felix Gonzalez-Torres.

Um, and I think, um, you know, some of these classes in undergrad too were, um, inspiring me to kind of like be, like, a little bit more outside my box.

Um, and I kind of-- I, I found performance, um, there.