General Idea | Infe©ted Coeur Volant

General Idea

Infe©ted Coeur Volant

Toronto, Canada: General Idea, 1994

23.5 x 23.5 x 2.5 cm

Acrylic, wax on heart-shaped medium-density fibreboard

Edition of 4 signed copies

Infe©ted Coeur Volant is the lesser-known cousin to General Idea’s signature work, the Image Virus. Both involve the appropriation of other artists works (Robert Indiana and Marcel Duchamp) in service of a project tackling the AIDS crisis. 

Duchamp’s Coeur Volant [see previous post] is a graphic work that creates the optical illusion of a pulsing heart. By replacing the original's blue and red palette with their signature colour palette, General Idea render the heart lifeless, a victim to contagion.

As far as I can glean, the edition of four refers to four separate and unique sets of six unique, hand-painted hearts. A black on black version is in the permanent collection of the Art Gallery of Vancouver, white on white is in the permanent collection of the Museo Ettore Fico in Turin, Italy, and a blue version (inspired by Yves Klien) has been held in a private collection in Switzerland since 2009.

This stand alone, outside of the edition, and is inscribed:

"Fern, I had this made up from one of Felix’s colour studies. We made 6 extra hearts to paint in miscellaneous colors as gifts for friends - and this one is for you. Love AA.”

I can only assume it was to Fern Bayer, who lived in the same Bloor Street apartment building complex as AA Bronson, and worked for him for many years. She is almost certainly one of the world’s leading experts on General Idea (and super-sweet, to boot). 

Like the AIDS works before it, the Infe©ted Coeur Volant was also produced in multiple iterations, including a T-shirt, a print, wallpaper and Boutique Ceurs Volants, a three-dimensional free-standing sales exhibit, selling the posthumously produced Dick All buttplug, itself also reportedly based on a work by Duchamp (Wedge of Chastity, 1954).