General Idea

GENERAL IDEA "AIDS STAMPS", 1988

In 1967, General Idea was founded in Toronto by AA Bronson (b. 1946), Felix Partz (1945-1994), and Jorge Zontal (1944-1994). Over the course of 25 years, they made a significant contribution to postmodern and conceptual art in Canada and beyond.

The group was both prolific and multi-disciplinary long before it became de rigueur. They worked with photography, sculpture, painting, mail art, video, installation, multiples, and performance.   

With their subversive approach and interest in parody and appropriation, General Idea addressed a broad range of social (and art-world) issues such as the cult of the artist, mass media, queer identity, and consumerism.

This sheet of stamps is an iteration of their most famous and iconic work. Appropriating Robert Indiana’s “LOVE”, General Idea subverted his masterpiece to read "AIDS" while using the same font and bold color arrangement of red/green/blue as the original. The success of this poignant appropriation led to General Idea creating an ongoing body of work around the idea of "Image Virus".

These postage stamps are arguably one of the best iteration from this era. Similar to a virus, stamps are activated by saliva (a bodily fluid) and then employed to travel to another (often remote) individual. The stamps are also an unconscious nod to the early days of General Idea when they were engaged with mail art.  Amusingly Robert Indiana also designed a genuine American postage stamp using his LOVE design in the early 1970's. 

Questions about this product? Contact us or call +1.416.704.1720

"AIDS Stamps" 

Canada, 1988

Offset on perforated paper

Signed and numbered by the artist

From an edition of 200

Self-published

11''H 9.5"W (work)

14"H 12.5"W (framed)

Very good condition.  


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Occasionally we will recommend that an artwork be removed from its frame for shipping. Larger framed works are typically framed with plexiglass. We export over 80% of what we sell, so we are comfortable shipping anywhere. 

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