29-08-2017, 10:52 AM
General Idea was a collective of three Canadian artists, Felix Partz, Jorge Zontal and AA Bronson, who were active between 1967 and 1994. As pioneers of conceptual and media art, their collaboration became a model for activities initiated by artists and continues to be a prominent influence on later generations of artists.
Initially working in Toronto, from 1968 to 1993 they divided their time between Toronto and New York before returning to Toronto during the last months of their time together.
The work of General Idea inhabited and subverted forms of popular and media culture, including beauty contests, boutiques, television programs, trade fairs and media. His work was often presented in unconventional media forms such as postcards, prints, posters, wallpaper, balloons, crests and pins. Self-mythology was a continuous strategy that informed his work. They created a fictitious system that self-referenced and legitimized, claiming a space for their local art scene in Canada.
From 1987 to 1994 his work dealt with the AIDS crisis, with works that included some 75 projects of temporary public art. Its main facility, A Year of AZT / One Day of AZT, was presented as a project at the Museum of Modern Art and now resides in the collection of the National Gallery of Canada. In 2006 the three giant inflatable pills from his 1991 PLA © EBO work were exhibited during Nuit Blanche of Toronto.
General Idea founded Art Metropole in 1974, a non-profit space dedicated to contemporary art in multiple formats: books for artists, multiples, video, audio and electronic.
Both Partz and Zontal died of AIDS in 1994. Bronson continues to work and exhibit as an independent artist, and was director of Printed Matter, Inc. in New York between 2006 and 2011. The General Idea Archive now resides in the National Gallery Gallery of Canada.
Initially working in Toronto, from 1968 to 1993 they divided their time between Toronto and New York before returning to Toronto during the last months of their time together.
The work of General Idea inhabited and subverted forms of popular and media culture, including beauty contests, boutiques, television programs, trade fairs and media. His work was often presented in unconventional media forms such as postcards, prints, posters, wallpaper, balloons, crests and pins. Self-mythology was a continuous strategy that informed his work. They created a fictitious system that self-referenced and legitimized, claiming a space for their local art scene in Canada.
From 1987 to 1994 his work dealt with the AIDS crisis, with works that included some 75 projects of temporary public art. Its main facility, A Year of AZT / One Day of AZT, was presented as a project at the Museum of Modern Art and now resides in the collection of the National Gallery of Canada. In 2006 the three giant inflatable pills from his 1991 PLA © EBO work were exhibited during Nuit Blanche of Toronto.
General Idea founded Art Metropole in 1974, a non-profit space dedicated to contemporary art in multiple formats: books for artists, multiples, video, audio and electronic.
Both Partz and Zontal died of AIDS in 1994. Bronson continues to work and exhibit as an independent artist, and was director of Printed Matter, Inc. in New York between 2006 and 2011. The General Idea Archive now resides in the National Gallery Gallery of Canada.