Felix_Partz
Felix Partz
Canadian artist
Ronald Gabe (1945 in Winnipeg, Manitoba – 1994) publicly known as Felix Partz, was a Canadian artist and cofounder of the artistic collective General Idea with Jorge Zontal and AA Bronson.[1][2]
Partz studied at the University of Manitoba School of Art in Winnipeg, experimenting with conceptual art. During his studies, Partz created Some Art That I Like (1967), a series of copies of more famous works and an example of appropriation.[3] The artist traveled in Europe and North Africa before settling in Toronto by 1969, where he ultimately became a member of the collective General Idea.[3]
He died on June 5, 1994, of AIDS-related causes.[4] Partz was photographed by collaborator AA Bronson in the final three weeks of his life, laying in bed alongside many of his favorite clothes and objects, including a photograph taken a few hours after his death, now held by the Whitney Museum.[3] Though graphic, the image is considered one of General Idea's most significant works, documenting the devastation of the AIDS epidemic in the 1980s and 1990s.[3]
At the time of his death he had just finished work on a series of AIDS-related General Idea projects that incorporated mutated simulations of works by Piet Mondrian and Marcel Duchamp.[5]
Canadian musician Peaches recorded a song entitled "Felix Partz" on her album The Teaches of Peaches.
