Skip to main content

General Idea, Working Together

By: Christine Battye, Curatorial Intern at Nanaimo Art Gallery

As an undergraduate student, I only briefly studied the artist collaborative General Idea. When I was asked to catalogue the General Idea works in the Nanaimo Art Gallery Collection, and began researching them, I was amazed at the scope of their practice. I wanted to learn more about General Idea. Once I got into the research and discussed it with my artist friends, I was surprised they were unfamiliar with General Idea. I became inspired to share what I learned, which led to this online exhibition. It will feature five art pieces by General Idea that are in the Gallery’s permanent collection: two versions of A Poodle Creates a Portrait of General Idea as Three Pee Holes in the Snow (Parachute Magazine cover and print edition) (1981), When the Fur Flies (1986), Lucre (1989), and Eye of the Beholder (1989). These works were donated to the Nanaimo Art Gallery by Bob Foley and Virginia Wiebe in (2023).

General Idea formed in Toronto in 1969 and consisted of three members: A. A. Bronson, 1946- , Felix Palaz 1945-1994, and George Zontal 1944-1994. By working together they challenged conventional understandings of what artists are, and how they create. General Idea considered themselves one artist and established the General Idea Corporation of which each of them owned an equal share. “Essentially, we incorporated General Idea Bronson Wallpaper.com (2022) with the three of us as equal partners.”The members made a commitment to work and live together until 1984, however, when their self imposed deadline came, they were still inspired to keep creating together as they felt their work as General Idea remained unfinished.

When I first looked at the pieces, I didn’t understand General Idea’s work, but was curious about the concepts behind the art. I discovered that General Idea’s art is considered part of the Conceptual movement which began in the 1960’s and continues today. I remembered that conceptual art focuses on the idea or concept behind the art rather than the physical object. General Idea’s viewers need to be active participants and think beyond the visual object.

Framed artwork featuring a red and black emblem with the words
General Idea, _Eye of the Beholder_
General Idea, _When the Fur Flies_
General Idea, _A Poodle Creates a Portrait of General Idea as Three Pee Holes in the Snow_ 2023.05 Print _ Offset
General Idea, _A Poodle Creates a Portrait of General Idea as Three Pee Holes in the Snow_ (Parachute Magazine Cover)

After spending some time with the art and listening to interviews with A.A. Bronson, I began to appreciate how the artists in General Idea always made references to one another. There appears to have been no hierarchy within the group. They were friends and colleagues. A fun part of the research was to see if I could spot the references to the three of them in each piece of art.

In the early days they began to create installations in their apartment. According to Bronson, they were experimenting because they were broke, bored, and unemployed. Smith General Idea: Life & Work.” Before 1980, they began working on projects that took inspiration from the media. Their first collaborative project that included artists across Canada was the Mail Artist Network. This involved sending art to fellow artists through the Canadian postal service. Through the Mail Artist Network, artists were encouraged to add to each other’s work based on the Project. An example was the Untitled (Mail Art Project) 1969. This project consisted of 8 unsigned, unnumbered self published cards with different images and instructions on the cards. All but one of the cards had instructions to copy the card 5 times and to send it to 5 friends, but one of them instructed the recipient to burn the card.

General Idea initiated the distribution of the cards by handing them out on the street and sending them to friends. It’s unknown if their return address was included on the original 8 cards.

In 1972 General Idea began working on the Canadian art magazine, FILE Megazine which was funded by the Canadian Government’s Local Initiatives Program, according to Bronson.General Idea – Interview with AA Bronson – Centre Culturel Canadien.” Centre Culturel Canadien. (2014). General Idea wanted to create a national artists community. The magazine was a direct parody of Life magazine and it copied their cover format, using the same initials and text style. General Idea wanted to create a magazine that was published by artists as a platform for the arts. FILE Megazine would be in circulation across Canada until 1989. In many ways it was their first multiple. A multiple is a series of artworks made with the intention of selling in a limited edition that can be signed by the artist. General Idea would keep making multiples throughout their career. While working on the production of the Megazine, General Idea would continue to use print media to reach a broader audience.

In 1981, they would be commissioned to create the cover of the bilingual, Canadian art magazine, Parachute. On the cover of issue #25, General Idea would employ an image of a poodle titled: A Poodle Creates a Portrait of General Idea as Three Pee Holes in the Snow. As the name suggests, the white poodle is depicted against a black and brown background, with three gold streams of pee into the snow, each of the three pee holes representing a member of the group. According to Bronson, in The Secret Life of Canada podcast (2024), the poodle theme would become a symbol for their queer identity. I like how General Idea challenged conventional perceptions of sexuality with the seemingly innocent imagery of the poodle.

They also questioned traditional conventions of beauty and value with the depiction of the poodle in a “camp” style.“Camp” is defined as “something so outrageously artificial, affected, inappropriate, or out-of-date as to be considered amusing”, according to Merriam-Webster (2024).

In 1981, General Idea reproduced A Poodle Creates a Portrait of General Idea as Three Pee Holes in the Snow as an offset print edition. I believe this work shows how General Idea began to function as a corporation, producing their art as if it were a consumer product.

Five years after General Idea produced the cover for Parachute, they would create a second offset lithograph image of the poodle. In 1986 General Idea would be even more candid about their parity of the corporation. When the Fur Flies is rendered in the shape of a brown crest that depicts a pink poodle with three yellow mushrooms in the background. At this point in their career, the poodle had been established as a camp icon for their practice, acting as a corporation mascot.

The same year, with Lucre (1986), General Idea continued to use the crest shape as a medium of parody, this time using a fabric patch crest like the athletic crests on high school team jackets. The Lucre crest mimics a logo with the name General Idea in white at the top, with three large black dollar signs on a red background below. This represents the beginning of the group’s use of specific colours that would emulate a trademark colour palette of red, white, and black. The artists are showing how a corporation uses colours for associations with their products. The three dollar signs suggest that each member is equally important to the success of General Idea because it takes multiple people working together to make a corporation profitable. Was it also a tongue in cheek statement about their desire and need to make some money? After living and successfully working in Canada and Europe, General Idea wanted to gain recognition in the United States, and in 1986 they collectively decided to relocate to New York. Not long after the move, Palaz returned to Toronto, Zontal would remain in the USA, and Bronson would travel between Canada and the U.S.A. During this time, they continued their collaboration relying on the phone and the fax machine to work together.

General Idea would parody a corporation, often returning to their trademark colours, logo and incorporating the copyright symbol. Eye of the Beholder, (1989) features a black skull, has two white copyright symbols for the eyes, and the General Idea logo in white at top. This would mark a change in how they depicted the group. In the previous works there would always be three of the same objects to represent them individually. Eye of the Beholder would have a single skull to reflect them thinking as one. Bronson said in The Secret Life of Canada podcast (2024) they had developed a hive mind mentality. Merriam-Webster (2024) defines hive mind as “collective thought, ideas and opinions of a group of people functioning together as a single mind. “ It’s interesting to consider that if General Idea thought of themselves as one artistic mind from the beginning, then why did it take them so long to produce art representing them with a single image?

In the 1980’s the AIDS epidemic would begin impacting North American society, and HIV AIDS became part of the public discourse. Both Palaz and Zontal would be diagnosed HIV positive a year apart, as a result the topic of AIDS would dominate the later years of General Idea’s art production. The diagnoses led to them reuniting in Canada so Palaz and Zontal could get medical care. Sadly, Palaz and Zontal both died in 1994, leaving Bronson responsible for the legacy of General Idea. Each piece in this exhibition illustrates how General Idea worked together and used conceptual art to challenge conventional understandings of what artists are and how they create art.


Work Cited

“Barbara Fisher” “General Idea Editions 1967-1995” (Blackwood Gallery, 2003).
“Benoit, Loiseau” AA Bronson on the radical, enduring legacy of General Idea, Wallpaper.com ,October 06,2022

“General Idea – Interview with AA Bronson’ – Centre Culturel Canadien.” Centre Culturel Canadien. June 12, 2014. Video, 16 ;48, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0istPcv8FSw.

“Wainwright, L. S.”. “conceptual art.” Encyclopedia Britannica, October 25, 2024. https://www.britannica.com/art/conceptual-art
The Secret Life of Canada General idea”. CBC Podcast , 2024.
“ Art Canada Institute – Institut de l’art canadien, Sarah EK. “General Idea: Life & Work.” Art Canada Institute – Institut de l’art Canadien, www.aci-iac.ca/art-books/general-idea/. Accessed 24 Sept. 2024.

https://www.cbc.ca/listen/cbc-podcasts/203-the-secret-life-of-canada.
“Sontag, Susan”. “2 ‘Notes on “Camp.”’” Camp, June 1, 2019, 10–10. https://doi.org/10.1515/9781474465809-006.
.
“America’s Most Trusted Dictionary.” Merriam-Webster. Accessed November 15, 2024. https://www.merriam-webster.com/.

Photo Credits

General Idea, A Poodle Creates a Portrait of General Idea as Three Pee Holes in the Snow (Parachute Magazine Cover), MediumPrint / Magazine
edition Limited edition, Publisher/producer parachute magazine, issue number 25, Date 1981, Gift of: Bob Foley and Virginia Wiebe in (2023).

General idea, A Poodle Creates a Portrait of General Idea as Three Pee Holes in the Snow, MediumPrint / Offset, Edition 30, Date 1981, Gift of: Bob Foley and Virginia Wiebe in (2023).

General idea, When the fur Flies, Lithograph Offset
Print editions 27, Date 1986, Gift of: Bob Foley and Virginia Wiebe in (2023)

General Idea, Lucre, Chenille Yarn Felt, edition Unlimited edition, Date 1989, Gift of: Bob Foley and Virginia Wiebe in (2023).

General idea, Eye of the beholder, Felt Chenille Yarn
edition Unlimited edition, Date 1989
Gift of: Bob Foley and Virginia Wiebe in (2023).

ćuý'ulhnamut

ćuý’ulhnamut

Nanaimo Art Gallery is situated in the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territory of Snuneymuxw First Nations, and we are grateful to operate on Snuneymuxw territory.

ćuý'ulhnamut

ćuý'ulhnamut

Nanaimo Art Gallery is situated in the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territory of Snuneymuxw First Nations, and we are grateful to operate on Snuneymuxw territory.