GENERAL IDEA (Collective; Active 1969-1994),

'Dick All', 1993/2001 (cat. 9303)

SIGNED Limited Edition Handmade Cast Clear Crystal Glass Butt Plug

Cast glass crystal multiple. Each is handmade so measurements vary. Based on Marcel Duchamp's edition Wedge of Chastity (1954), but in this case a butt plug. Published by Editions Florence Loewy, Paris, France. SIGNED (engraved) 'AA Bronson for General Idea', dated '2001' and numbered (lettered) 'V' on bottom. Edition Size: 26, lettered A to Z. Dimensions (approx.): 6-1/4" x 2-1/4" x 2-1/4" (16 x 6 x 6 cm). Excellent condition (no chips, cracks or scratches).

PROVENANCE: Art Metropole, Toronto, Canada. Purchased in June 2003.

REFERENCE: 'General Idea Editions: 1967-1995', Blackwood Gallery, University of Toronto at Mississauga, ON, Canada, 2003. Catalogue Raisonne #9303:

Formed in Toronto in 1969 by AA Bronson (b. Michael Tims, 1946, Vancouver, Canada), Felix Partz (b. Ronald Gabe, Winnipeg; d. 1994) and Jorge Zontal (b. Slobodan Saia-Levy, 1944, Parma, Italy; d. 1994), General Idea is internationally recognized for work that tackled such subjects as the myth of the artist, the role of mass media, the relationship between the body and the identity, issues of gender and sexual repression, and famously HIV/AIDS activism at a time when talking about the disease was a taboo. The members of General Idea were key figures in the 1970-80s conceptual art scenes and, with equal parts humor and criticality, created work across a variety of mediums and platforms. Performances and fictionalized, self-referential mythologies played a large role in their work – the group staged beauty pageants, boutiques, television talk shows, trade fair pavilions, and more, and their work often took on unconventional forms of media such as prints, magazines, posters, crests, and postcards.

General Idea has been the subject of several major traveling museum exhibitions: The 1984 Miss General Idea Pavillion, Kunsthalle Basel; Stedelijk Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven; Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto; and the Musée d’art contemporain, Montreal (1984-85); The Armoury of the 1984 Miss General Idea Pavillion, Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo; 49th Parallel, New York; University Art Gallery, California State University, Long Beach; Contemporary Arts Museum Houston; and the Setagaya Art Museum, Tokyo (1968-87); Fin de siècle, Württembergischer Kunstverein, Stuttgart; Centre d’Art Santa Mònica, Barcelona; Kunstverein, Hamburg; The Power Plant, Toronto; Wexner Center for the Visual Arts, Ohio State University, Columbus; and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco (1992-1993); One Day of AZT / One Year of AZT, National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa (1994); Museum of Modern Art, New York (1996); General Idea Editions: 1967–1995, The Henry Art Gallery, Seattle; Centro Andaluz de Arte Contemporáneo, Seville; Kunstverein Munich; Kunst-Werke, Berlin; Kunsthalle Zürich; Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh; and Blackwood Gallery, University of Toronto, Mississauga (2003-2007); Haute Culture: General Idea | Une rétrospective, 1969–1994, Musée d’Art moderne de la Ville de Paris and Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto (2011); Broken Time/Tiempo Partido, Fondation Jumex, Mexico City (2016); and Museo de Arte Latinoamericano de Buenos Aires (MALBA), Buenos Aires (2017).

Additionally, General Idea has exhibited in the Canadian Pavilion at the 40th Venice Biennale (1980) and at Documenta 7, Kassel (1982).

General Idea’s work is included in the collections of important institutions worldwide, including the Museum of Modern Art, New York; the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, PA; the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL; the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, D.C.; the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA; the Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, Canada; the National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, Canada; the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, The Netherlands; the Kunsthaus Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland; and the Tate, London, UK, among others.

In 2022, the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa organized the most comprehensive retrospective of General Idea’s work to date, bringing together over 200 works. The exhibition’s 756-page publication stands as the definitive resource on General Idea. The retrospective is set to travel to Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, The Netherlandsm, 4/1 - 7/16/2023 and Gropius Bau, Berlin, Germany, 9/22/2023 - 1/14/2924.

SELECT RECENT SOLO EXHIBITIONS:

2023
GENERAL IDEA, Gropius Bau, Berlin, Germany
GENERAL IDEA, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Ecce Homo: The Drawings of General Idea, MAMCO Genève (Musée d’art moderne et contemporain), Geneva, Switzerland

2022
Ecce Homo: The Drawings of General Idea, The Drawing Center, New York, NY
GENERAL IDEA, National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, ON, Canada

2021
AA Bronson and General Idea: CIRCA presents VideoVirus on World AIDS Day, Video installation across billboards in London, Milan, New York, Seoul & Tokyo.

2020
General Idea: P is for Poodle, Mitchell-Innes & Nash, New York, NY
Rückblick: General Idea: Fin de Siècle, Kunstverein Hamburg, Hamburg Germany
Playing Doctor: General Idea Multiples, Agnes Etherington Art Centre, Queen's University, Kingston, Canada

2019
General Idea, Mai 36 Galerie, Zurich, Switzerland

2018
AA Bronson + General Idea: 50th Anniversary Exhibition, Maureen Paley Gallery, London, UK
35 Days of Film (group exhibition), Mitchell-Innes & Nash, New York, NY
Catch Me If You Can! AA Bronson + General Idea, 1968-2018, Esther Schipper Gallery, Berlin, Germany

2017
The Estate of General Idea: Ziggurat, Mitchell-Innes & Nash, New York, NY
General Idea: Photographs (1969-1982), MAMCO, Geneva, Switzerland
General Idea: Tiempo Partido/Broken Time, MALBA, Buenos Aires, Argentina

2016
General Idea: Tiempo Partido/Broken Time, Museo Jumex, Mexico City, Mexico

2015