The candy works are manifestable; the artworks are not physically permanent, they can exist in more than one place at a time and can vary from one installation to the next in response to the decisions made by the exhibitor, the interactions of audiences, and changing circumstances.

[6][7] “Untitled” (Portrait of Ross in L.A.) was first exhibited in a solo-presentation of the artist's work at Luhring Augustine Hetzler Gallery in Los Angeles, California, which was open from October 19 – November 16, 1991.

[4] The work was included in Could Not Bear the Sight of It: Contemporary Art Interventions on Critical Whiteness, an exhibition at the Jane Addams Hull House-Museum in Chicago, IL in 2012.

"[citation needed] In 2016, "Untitled" (Portrait of Ross in L.A.) was installed at The Metropolitan Museum of Art as part of the exhibition Unfinished: Thoughts Left Visible.

The exhibition centered on the question of when an artwork is considered finished, and included works which were left incomplete by their makers, as well as those which were intentionally unfinished as a way to embrace unlimited possibilities.

[citation needed] The Art Story Foundation viewed the candy-eating aspect as "[one becoming] complicit in the disappearing process - akin to the years-long public health crisis of HIV/AIDS.

Joshua Chambers-Letson was quoted in an October 2022 article for the Chicago Tribune: “Felix left a lot of responsibility in the hands of the people who exhibit the piece, and he was very generous in allowing spectators to produce any meaning that they need to in relationship to the work….

Felix secured for the rest of all time that there would be a reference to Ross (in the work).”[12] In January 2023, Artnet News published an article that commented on these wall labels, saying "what the incident at the Art Institute illustrated was the complexities and nuances inherent to Gonzalez-Torres's work—and the intense personal connection to his story that many feel.