General Idea
Life & Work by Sarah E.K. Smith
At this time General Idea created some
work using the beauty-pageant format and the
figure of Miss General Idea emerged as a muse
for the group. Of the pageant, Partz explained,
“It was our examination of the existing art world
… a questioning of the process by which
masterpieces are created … validated …
selected and worshipped.”31 The 1970 Miss
General Idea Pageant, 1970, was staged as
part of their multimedia event What Happened,
1970, in the Festival of Underground Theatre at
the St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts and the
Global Village Theatre. The group continued with
this format for The 1971 Miss General Idea
Pageant, 1971, an elaborate project that
culminated in a performance in Walker Court at
the Art Gallery of Ontario. The pageants speak
to the group’s early interest in employing satirical
mimicry of popular forms as a means of social
critique. As curator Frédéric Bonnet noted, the
group understood that the artist “was no longer
Felix Partz and Miss Honey on the set of The 1970 Miss General Idea Pageant, 1970, a component of the
project What Happened, 1970, part of the Festival of Underground Theatre, St. Lawrence Centre for the
Arts, Toronto, 1970, photograph by General Idea
someone who made things to hang on walls, but
a commentator on society.”32
In 1972 General Idea had their first
exhibition at a commercial gallery: Carmen
Lamanna Gallery in Toronto. This marked the beginning of the group’s relationship with
gallerist Carmen Lamanna, an individual who had a significant impact on their oeuvre.
That same year, when they were in their mid-twenties, Partz, Zontal, and Bronson made
a commitment to live and work together until 1984.
33
This solidified the group’s tripartite
structure: as Partz explained, “It became quite clear, that Jorge, AA and myself were the
actual ongoing core members of General Idea, and the ones that were most involved.”34
By this point the trio had established a domestic relationship, and their art
production was a part of their lives together. Bronson described the significance of
selecting the year 1984: “We thought of that as a kind of Orwellian symbol of the future,
and I think that date kept us together: we could always say, well, it’s only seven more
years, or, well, it’s only four more years, and so on, until our living and working together
had become so habitual that we didn’t know how to do anything else. We were addicted
to the intensity of our own total living/working relationship.”
35
In the mid-1970s the
artists began to clarify their identity, in contrast to the previous ambiguity of the group’s
membership. Partz described their aim as akin to an advertising campaign: “to define
who General Idea was, visually.”
Pilot, 1977.
9
36
This can be seen in Showcard Series, 1975–79, and