General Idea
Life & Work by Sarah E. K. Smith
8. Of this decriminalization, Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau famously remarked,“ There’ s no place for the state in the bedrooms of the nation.” CBC Digital Archives,“ Trudeau:‘ There’ s no place for the state in the bedrooms of the nation,” n. d., http:// www. cbc. ca / archives / entry / omnibus-bill-theres-noplace-for-the-state-in-the-bedrooms-of-the-nation. AA Bronson also cautions about reading too much into the impact of this bill on General Idea. To put it in perspective, he explains that the 1968 riots in Paris meant more to the group at the time. Bronson, correspondence with author, January 10, 2016. 9. The Body Politic had a widespread and significant national influence on the gay and lesbian movement and ran until 1987. Brenda Cossman,“ Censor, Resist, Repeat: A History of Censorship of Gay and Lesbian Sexual Representation in Canada,” Duke Journal of Gender Law and Policy 21, issue 45( 2013): 52. 10. In the 1980s, Toronto Pride Week took shape as a series of community- and corporatesponsored entertainment events that occur around the last week of June. This week was formally recognized by the City of Toronto in 1991. See Dylan Young,“ How Pride Became the Biggest Festival in Toronto,” Daily Brew, June 25, 2015, https:// ca. news. yahoo. com / blogs / dailybrew / howpride-became-the-biggest-festival-in-toronto-181756734. html; Chris Bateman,“ A Brief History of Pride in Toronto,” BlogTO, June 28, 2012, http:// www. blogto. com / city / 2012 / 06 / a _ brief _ history _ of _ pride _ in _ toronto /. 11. These charges were part of the broader debates over pornography and censorship in Canada in this period. In 1979 The Body Politic was acquitted, but further charges against the publication led to legal battles that continued into the early 1980s. See Brenda Cossman,“ Censor, Resist, Repeat: A History of Censorship of Gay and Lesbian Sexual Representation in Canada,” Duke Journal of Gender Law and Policy 21, issue 45( 2013): 52 – 53. 12. Louise Dompierre, interview transcript, New York City, July 26, 1991: 24, Manuscripts Series, Manuscripts for Publications and Artworks, General Idea fonds, National Gallery of Canada Library and Archives, Ottawa. While General Idea protested the charges against The Body Politic, the group’ s work was not aligned with the publication. Emphasizing the significance of irony in General Idea’ s work, Bronson made this distinction clear:“ The Body Politic … had a very particular gay aesthetic, very political and very … not ironic. No irony. It had no trace of irony, which is odd actually, because I always think of irony as an extremely gay characteristic.” Luke Nicholson,“ Being Framed by Irony: AIDS and the Art of General Idea”( MA thesis, Concordia University, 2006), 122. Douglas Durand,“ General Idea: Image and enforcement,” The Body Politic 64( June / July 1980): 31. 13. As John Paul Frederick Halferty notes, Operation Soap is referred to as Toronto’ s Stonewall. See Halferty,“ Political Stages: Gay Theatre in Toronto, 1967 – 1985,”( PhD diss., University of Toronto, 2014), 14. 14. AA Bronson, correspondence with author, January 10, 2016. 15. John Paul Frederick Halferty,“ Political Stages: Gay Theatre in Toronto, 1967 – 1985,”( PhD dissertation, University of Toronto, 2014), 14. 16. AA Bronson,“ AA Bronson Reflects on Sexual Themes in the Work of General Idea,” San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, http:// www. artbabble. org / video / sfmoma / aa-bronson-reflectssexual-themes-work-general-idea. 17. Later, representations of the trio as babies were further sexualized in works such as Oh Baby, Baby, Baby( a. k. a. Untitled( Oh Baby Oh Baby Oh Baby and Untitled # 1), 1984, a painting that depicts the silhouettes of three babies in a sexually suggestive position.
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