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White AIDS #3

A work made of gesso on canvas.

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  • A work made of gesso on canvas.

Date:

1992

Artist:

General Idea
Canadian, 1969–1994

About this artwork

General Idea was formed in 1969 by AA Bronson, Felix Partz and Jorge Zontal.

AA Bronson, born Michael Tims, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada (born 1946).

Felix Partz, born Ronald Gabe, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, 1945-1994.

Jorge Zontal, born Slobodan Saia-Levy, Parma, Italy, 1944-1994.

The group was dissolved with the deaths of Partz and Zontal in 1994.

For 25 years, General Idea forged a single, mythologized identity, presenting self-conscious parodies of the art world and consumer culture. In 1987, in response to an invitation to create work for the Art against AIDS benefit, the group appropriated the colors and design of Robert Indiana’s widely quoted LOVE (1965), reconfiguring the image to read AIDS. Producing wallpaper, stamps, public sculpture, posters, and bill-boards, General Idea spread its AIDS logo throughout art institutions and transportation systems in the United States and Europe. The letters in White AIDS #3 are obscured by layers of white gesso, a haunting, somber reflection on the epidemic that would take the lives of two of the three members of the group.

Status

Currently Off View

Department

Contemporary Art

Artist

General Idea

Title

White AIDS #3

Place

Canada (Artist's nationality:)

Date  Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

1992

Medium

Gesso on canvas

Dimensions

152.4 × 152.4 cm (60 × 60 in.)

Credit Line

Gift of Society for Contemporary Art

Reference Number

2010.547

Extended information about this artwork

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.

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