General Idea
Life & Work by Sarah E.K. Smith
Mondo Cane Kama Sutra 1984
General Idea, Mondo Cane Kama Sutra, 1984
Fluorescent acrylic on canvas, set of ten paintings, each 243.8 x 304.8 x 10 cm
Collection of the General Idea Estate
Mondo Cane Kama Sutra, a coded depiction of General Idea’s queer identity,
showcases the trio’s ability to mix humour and sexuality. The ten works in the piece also
provide a symbolic portrait of General Idea, in line with the group’s ongoing interest in
self-representation. Created in a period in which sexuality was off-limits in the art world,
the works explicitly reference homosexuality. In Mondo Cane Kama Sutra, the ménage
a trois is an apt representation of the three artists, whose art making was enmeshed
with their daily lives.
Each of these large paintings depicts a trio of stylized orange, yellow, and pink
fluorescent poodle silhouettes in various sexual positions. Formally, the work is a riff on
American abstract painter Frank Stella’s (b. 1936) “Protractor” series, which featured
raw canvas separating different colours.
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