THE ESTATE OF GENERAL IDEA GI Photographs_FINAL | Page 32

POLAROIDS (SEX AND RESPONSIBILITY), 1976-78
Polaroids (Sex and Responsibility) consists of a set of nine Polaroids taken by General Idea between 1976
and 1978. It belongs to a series of 26 plus 2 variants, all produced during those years. Each set varies in terms
of motifs. This specific work features three portraits of AA Bronson, and one of Jorge Zontal, their face covered in
gold leaf directly applied onto the Polaroids. The other photographs picture found images taken from magazines,
including one portrait of Adolf Hitler, composing a visual collage.
According to an interview given by General Idea in 1982, the series was “… primarily for a local audience, a
photo piece–a narrative that used people we know in roles. They were both untypical works and done for local
audiences … very much a photographic concern. It grew out of doing covers for FILE. It was like creating little
advertising sets, which also developed into the whole Colour Bar Lounge (1979)…”
(Judy Annear, “An Interview with General Idea,” Art & Text (“Pool-side Issue”), Prahran, 8 (summer 1982–83), pp.
51-52).
Three Polaroid sets from the series are in the collection of the Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto.
Two sets were included in the recent exhibition General Idea Photographs: 1969-1982, MAMCO, Geneva
(May 31 – September 10, 2017).
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