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    General Idea Editions 1967–1995

    Lower Level Galleries
    June 02, 2007 — August 05, 2007
    AA Bronson, Felix Partz, and Jorge Zontal formed the artist collective General Idea in Toronto in the late 1960s. Forgoing artistic individuality for a corporate identity, they adopted such popular culture formats as the boutique, the beauty pageant, and fanzines, expressing counterculture and underground content in the guise of the mainstream media. Their work in a variety of disciplines gave way to a focus on editions. These mass-produced items — posters, wallpaper, magazines, postcards, prints, balloons, and pins — enabled them to explore in a broad fashion the manipulative functions of the contemporary media environment, particularly the spread of images like viruses, the stultifying effects of copyright, and the place of art in a society where such notions are prevalent. General Idea Editions 1967–1995 was a complete retrospective of General Idea’s edition-based works. The exhibition of over two hundred items included their first edition Artist’s Conception: Miss General Idea 1971 and their renowned reworking of Robert Indiana’s ubiquitous 60’s icon LOVE into AIDS (1987) that was distributed around the world in public art poster campaigns. In 1994, Partz and Zontal died of AIDS-related causes. The exhibition concluded with the group’s final object, XXX Voto (for the spirit of Miss General Idea) (1995), published by AA Bronson in memorium. Their work is acutely relevant as a model for collaboration, for the expression of queer identity, and for their incisive critiques of the power of politics and economics over artistic freedoms.
    ARTISTS
    AA Bronson
    Felix Partz
    Jorge Zontal
    General Idea
    CREDITS

    Curated by Sara Krajewski, Associate Curator.