Mondo Cane # 2 (9 Figures) 1983
Poodles, Banal and Effete
In the 1980s painting was complicated. After performance and conceptual art in the 1970s, it seen by many in the art world as a conservative medium pandering to the market: paintings were easy to sell. Engaging in these debates, General Idea used painting subversively, working with a traditional format to carry provocative content.
Their Mondo Cane paintings – featuring orgiastic Day-Glo poodles in various sexual positions – reference frank Stella’s Protractor paintings from the late 1960s. Stella’s work was purely geometric, whereas General idea turned to figurative painting with allusions to sexuality. Watchdogs, retrievers and gay companions, the poodles might also be understood as avatars for the artists themselves.
Mondo Cane # 2 (9 Figures) 1983
Poodles, Banal and Effete
In the 1980s painting was complicated. After performance and conceptual art in the 1970s, it seen by many in the art world as a conservative medium pandering to the market: paintings were easy to sell. Engaging in these debates, General Idea used painting subversively, working with a traditional format to carry provocative content.
Their Mondo Cane paintings – featuring orgiastic Day-Glo poodles in various sexual positions – reference frank Stella’s Protractor paintings from the late 1960s. Stella’s work was purely geometric, whereas General idea turned to figurative painting with allusions to sexuality. Watchdogs, retrievers and gay companions, the poodles might also be understood as avatars for the artists themselves.