WHITE AIDS #1 (green) WHITE AIDS #2 (red) WHITE AIDS #4 (blue)
1993
Set of 3 paintings ; gesso on canvas (preferably to be displayed on white-on-white AIDS wallpaper)
152.4 x 152.4 cm (60 x 60 in.) (each)
White AIDS #1 (green), White AIDS #2 (red), White AIDS #4 (blue) is a series of three large-scale paintings. At first sight, viewers see three monochrome paintings but upon closer inspection, they see the word ‘AIDS’ appearing in overprinting.
The General Idea collective appropriated the typography of Robert Indiana's Love, 1964. They start the AIDS series in 1987 for the charity event Art Against AIDS. In 1989 and 1990, two members of the collective are diagnosed with AIDS. This work criticizes the silence that shrouds the disease and the marginalization of those affected. The technique they use symbolically enhances their statement: the canvases are covered with gesso, a paint mixture used in priming canvases against the wear and tear of time.
White AIDS #1 (green), White AIDS #2 (red) and White AIDS #4 (blue) were first shown by the Pinault Collection in the exhibition The Illusion of Light at Palazzo Grassi, in 2014.
The General Idea collective appropriated the typography of Robert Indiana's Love, 1964. They start the AIDS series in 1987 for the charity event Art Against AIDS. In 1989 and 1990, two members of the collective are diagnosed with AIDS. This work criticizes the silence that shrouds the disease and the marginalization of those affected. The technique they use symbolically enhances their statement: the canvases are covered with gesso, a paint mixture used in priming canvases against the wear and tear of time.
White AIDS #1 (green), White AIDS #2 (red) and White AIDS #4 (blue) were first shown by the Pinault Collection in the exhibition The Illusion of Light at Palazzo Grassi, in 2014.
Exhibitions
Photo:Andrea Rossetti
Exhibition view, Esther Schipper, Berlin, 2013.