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General IdeaPlacebo Prototype1991
1991
About the Item
In 1967, General Idea was founded in Toronto by AA Bronson (b. 1946), Felix Partz (1945-1994), and Jorge Zontal (1944-1994). Over the course of 25 years, they made a significant contribution to postmodern and conceptual art in Canada and beyond.
The group was both prolific and multi-disciplinary long before it became de rigueur. They worked across a wide range of media including photography, sculpture, painting, mail art, video, installations, multiples, and performance.
With their subversive approach and interest in parody and appropriation, General Idea addressed a broad range of social (and art-world) issues such as the cult of the artist, mass media, queer identity, and consumerism.
At the onset of the AIDS crisis in the 1980s, the illness (and the apathy/ignorance toward it) became a dominant theme in their work.
During this period, pills and capsules became a critical and omnipresent part of daily life for Partz and Zontal, who were both treated for the disease before their death in 1994.
Their frustration and skepticism towards the pharmaceutical industry, namely the astronomical costs of treating the illness and the apparent sluggishness in launching medications, became a focal point in their oeuvre and served as an avenue to investigate the industry and the individual's dependence on their production.
The pill became a recurring trope in their critique of the response to the AIDS crisis and was realized in a multitude of iterations. Included here is an in-situ photograph from the 2023/2024 General Idea retrospective at The Gropius Bau, Berlin, featuring "Green (Permanent) Placebo" 1991.
This hand-painted pill is completed in General Idea's signature shades of fluorescent blue and red. The pared-back aesthetic is indicative of General Idea's work from the 1990s when their output became notably sleek and minimal.
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“Pla©ebo Prototype”
Canada, 1991
Fluorescent acrylic on wood
Signed, dated, placebo stamped, and inscribed on verso
6.5"W 2.5"H 1.25"D (work)
Very good condition
- Creator:
- Creation Year:1991
- Dimensions:Height: 6.5 in (16.51 cm)Width: 2.5 in (6.35 cm)Depth: 1.25 in (3.18 cm)
- Medium:
- Movement & Style:
- Period:
- Condition:Very good condition.
- Gallery Location:Toronto, CA
- Reference Number:
General Idea
General Idea was commissioned by the Toronto Stock Exchange to install a work/mural. Shortly after the TSX published two prints, a lithograph poster and a limited edition print. However, most of the edition was destroyed/thrown away, when they moved from the trading floor at the TD Centre to their offices. As a result, the work has almost achieved mythological status amongst General Idea collectors.
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