General Idea
Life & Work by Sarah E. K. Smith
Nightingale Gallery, Toronto A Toronto gallery founded in 1968 by Chris Youngs, an American expatriate, and an important site for experimental and conceptual art. Its group show Concept 70, 1970, was one of the first in Toronto to include video art. In 1971 Nightingale became A Space, an artist-run centre.
Novick, Honey( Canadian, n. d.) An icon of the Toronto counterculture since the 1970s, Novick is a singer, songwriter, voice coach, and poet who performs folk standards, children’ s songs, avant-garde jazz, and classical music in seven languages. She has sung for Pierre Elliott Trudeau, at Carnegie Hall, and at the opening of Walker Court at the Art Gallery of Ontario. Using the pseudonym Miss Honey, she won The 1970 Miss General Idea Pageant, 1970, General Idea’ s first such event.
Paige, Mimi( n. d.) An artist and muse of General Idea. She was involved in the collective’ s early events and publications, and also appears in some of their videos, including Loco, 1982. She was one of four people crowned Miss General Idea in the collective’ s satirical and experimental beauty pageants( Paige was retroactively crowned winner of the 1968 Miss General Idea Pageant).
Pop art A movement of the late 1950s to early 1970s in Britain and the United States, which adopted imagery from commercial design, television, and cinema. Pop art’ s most recognized proponents are Richard Hamilton, David Hockney, Andy Warhol, and Roy Lichtenstein.
Rochdale College Rochdale College was founded as a free university in 1968, structured around a co-op living space. A haven for idealists in its early years, the college later fell into disrepute, harbouring drugs and alleged gang activity, as well as having financial problems. The college was closed in 1975.
Smith, Jack( American, 1932 – 1989) An important figure in the New York underground cinema scene of the 1950s and 1960s, despite gaining little recognition during his life. Smith was inspired by B movies and interested in exaggerated performance, and while his films are campy and sexually provocative they are also poignant commentaries on sincerity and theatricality.
Smith, Richard( British, b. 1931) A painter and teacher whose work typically explores the communicative potential and functions of basic geometric forms. It combines elements of both Pop art and Minimalism, styles that Smith first encountered and experimented with when he moved to New York City from London in 1959.
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