General Idea
Life & Work by Sarah E.K. Smith
General Idea’s Putti, 1993, a large-scale installation created from a commercially
available seal pup–shaped hand soap placed on a beer coaster.
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Ten thousand of the
soaps were assembled to create a gallery installation and were available for viewers to
take, with the suggestion to leave a $10 donation for a local AIDS charity.
General Idea, Imagevirus (Amsterdam), 1991, chromogenic print (Ektachrome),
76 x 50.4 cm, edition of six plus one artist’s proof, various collections
General Idea, General Idea’s Putti, 1993, found seal-shaped soap on printed
pulpboard, 4 x 8.5 (diam.) cm, edition of 10,000, some signed, unnumbered, various
collections, photograph by Peter MacCallum
The significance of General Idea’s activism cannot be understated. At the time
AIDS was a taboo topic surrounded by fear. Speaking to the climate of the era, artist and
writer John Miller explained, “In 1987 especially, identifying oneself as HIV-positive
differed from coming out. You could lose your job and your friends. Others still might
want to quarantine you. Even obituaries skirted all mention of the disease.”51
In the late 1980s General Idea’s AIDS work took on personal significance. One of
the group’s closest friends (who helped in producing Going thru the Motions, 1975–76,
and Test Tube, 1979) died of AIDS-related causes in 1987 in New York. The group
served as primary caretakers for the last weeks of their friend’s life.
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Partz and Zontal
were diagnosed as HIV-positive in 1989 and 1990, respectively.53 Both artists publicly
disclosed their status and, until their deaths in 1994, General Idea continued to create
poignant and engaging artwork addressing AIDS.
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