A Salute to Art and Artists!

Art for Art’s Sake

Who would think of taking the toy poodle, symbol of everything too cute and chi chi and making it an icon for oneself? Three artists, calling themselves General Idea and working as a non-ego driven collective over several decades are the basis of a two floor exhibit at the AGO and their efforts amused and astounded me. And yes, they mocked themselves as poodles. The entire exhibit, from the paint dipped blue poodle ears to the heraldry, is definitely smile inducing, even when coupled with skulls and X’s to invoke the killer potency of AIDS, the scourge that killed two of these genius young men. But as I watched and read about their concepts such as the Miss General Idea Beauty Pageant, unorthodox in the extreme, what struck me about General Idea was the fact that they were able to work together, creating everything from wallpaper to pasta art, and never once take individual credit for a piece or an inspiration. They worked side by side for years and the volume of their output appears prodigious and massive.

As I wandered from display to display, I was knocked out by the courage that they, and all artists, have, putting themselves in the world’s face, not becoming bankers or insurance salesmen/women, but fearlessly taking brush to paper (or spaghetti to canvas) to amuse, annoy, stimulate, instruct and inspire.
The whole AGO and all galleries everywhere are filled with the stunning or even mundane creations of artists who delivered up their souls for the rest of the world. Bravo!

And I want to give a shout out to my fellow blogger Annie English, who is tirelessly exploring TO in her Day in the Life of A Torontonian, http://torontohappenings.blogspot.com/ letting us see inside her head at what she likes, feels, tastes, smells and hears. Hey Annie – tell me more! I will wait to see what you thought of the AGO’s General Idea Exhibit. I don’t know if we agree, but let’s get it out there, as a form of art too!