General Idea
Life & Work by Sarah E . K . Smith
General Idea , The Miss General Idea Pageant Entry Kit , 1971 , mixed media , dimensions unknown , edition of approximately sixteen , unsigned and unnumbered , components of original entry kits in various collections
In the 1960s and 1970s , newsletters and publications allowed artists creating mail art to find each other . These formats also documented projects and allowed works to be seen by new audiences . Early issues of FILE Megazine , a publication founded by General Idea in 1972 , featured mail art by prominent figures such as Ray Johnson and Robert Cumming ( b . 1943 ). FILE was a key resource as it offered an artist directory of mailing addresses of those interested in correspondence networks and published imagerequest lists from Image Bank until 1975 , allowing artists to submit and draw on specific images for circulation . In the mid-1970s , FILE began to orient itself as a self-contained artist project magazine and moved away from being a mail art resource . This shift mirrored larger developments within the mail art medium .
As FILE evolved , General Idea continued to collect mail art through Art
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Metropole . Founded by the artists in 1974 , Art Metropole is an artist-run centre that exists to this day in Toronto . One of the reasons for its founding was the volume of mail art and ephemera General Idea collected through FILE . Like FILE , Art Metropole promoted the work of other artists , within Canada and abroad , creating new networks and partnerships .
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