General Idea
The main goal of the art collective General Idea is to use the power of communication to highlight taboo issues. The collective was active in the 1980s and included three American artists – Felix Partz, Jorge Zontal and AA Bronson. AA Bronson is the only one still alive today. Their art was born from the fallout of Pop Art, an important 1960s art movement fascinated by the themes of performance, mass media and advertising. It’s no coincidence that General Idea’s first works weren’t in fact paintings or sculptures but postcards, prints, posters, wallpapers, balloons and other sorts of similar cheap objects and souvenirs. In fact, General Idea produced ‘viral’ art before this word had the meaning it has today. Their works and the messages they convey are like viruses that multiply and infiltrate our minds like an epidemic. Ironic and serious at the same time, they can seem light-hearted but they actually deal with important themes, which they make the public aware of in a very direct way.
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The main goal of the art collective General Idea is to use the power of communication to highlight taboo issues. The collective was active in the 1980s and included three American artists – Felix Partz, Jorge Zontal and AA Bronson. AA Bronson is the only one still alive today. Their art was born from the fallout of Pop Art, an important 1960s art movement fascinated by the themes of performance, mass media and advertising. It’s no coincidence that General Idea’s first works weren’t in fact paintings or sculptures but postcards, prints, posters, wallpapers, balloons and other sorts of similar cheap objects and souvenirs. In fact, General Idea produced ‘viral’ art before this word had the meaning it has today. Their works and the messages they convey are like viruses that multiply and infiltrate our minds like an epidemic. Ironic and serious at the same time, they can seem light-hearted but they actually deal with important themes, which they make the public aware of in a very direct way.
