Customer-approved HAROLD TOWN "BITS" SINGLE AUTOGRAPHIC PRINT, 1956

Since General Idea formed in Toronto in 1967, they have made a remarkable and inimitable contribution to postmodern art. With their subversive approach, their work addresses a broad range of social issues, including consumerism, media consumption and the AIDS epidemic.

Founding member AA Bronson once explained, “General Idea was at once complicit in and critical of the mechanisms and strategies that join art and commerce, a sort of mole in the art world.”

One of their frequent motifs involved hijacking established icons or tropes, replacing them with new symbols that injected new meaning into the piece. Flags, crests, and emblems were ideal mediums used to perpetuate their ideas.

In “Nine Lives,” a trio of copyright skulls becomes a macabre and stylized group portrait. Many of their creations depict three elements or characters, perhaps a representation of the three artists.