Jorge Zontal

Slobodan Saia-Levy (born 1944 in Parma, Italy – February 3, 1994), publicly known as his pseudonym Jorge Zontal,[1][2] was a Canadian artist.

Life

Zontal was born in Parma, Italy, in 1944, the son of Yugoslav refugees. He grew up in Caracas, Venezuela, and in 1968 he earned a degree in architecture at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, where he also studied film making and acting. Zontal died in Toronto on February 3, 1994, of AIDS-related causes.[3][4][5]

Work

Soon after graduation, he met Felix Partz and AA Bronson while working on a film in Toronto and their group, General Idea, formed in 1969, soon became an active part of the Canadian and then the international art scene.[4] They made plans for the Miss General Idea Pageant and the 1984 Miss General Idea Pavilion as early as 1970.[6] Their multi-disciplinary work partakes of parody and includes photographic elements.[6] They sought publicity and theatre using as media, videos, scripts, artifacts and other forms of documentation to engage the art world and themselves.[7]

Further reading

• General Idea: Life & Work, by Sarah E.K. Smith published by the Art Canada Institute.

References

1. General Idea biography ~ Electronic Arts Intermix Archived 2007-11-08 at the Wayback Machine
2. Filice, Eugenio (August 30, 2006) [2002]. "Canadian Art". In Summers, Claude J. (ed.). glbtq: An encyclopedia of gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and queer culture. Chicago: glbtq, Inc. Archived from the original on 2007-04-16.
3. 2002 Laureates ~ Canada Council for the Arts Archived 2012-04-06 at the Wayback Machine
4. Smith, Roberta (8 February 1994). "Jorge Zontal, 50, Partner in Canadian Art Group". New York Times. Retrieved 14 September 2015.
5. J. Keri Cronin; Kirsty Robertson (23 September 2011). Imagining Resistance: Visual Culture and Activism in Canada. Wilfrid Laurier Univ. Press. pp. 95–. ISBN 978-1-55458-311-9.
6. Langford, Martha (2010). "A Short History of Photography, 1900-2000". The Visual Arts in Canada: the Twentieth Century. Foss, Brian, Paikowsky, Sandra, Whitelaw, Anne (eds.). Don Mills, Ont.: Oxford University Press. p. 299. ISBN 978-0-19-542125-5. OCLC 432401392.
7. Wood, William (2010). "Sculpture and Photography since 1960". The Visual Arts in Canada: the Twentieth Century. Foss, Brian, Paikowsky, Sandra, Whitelaw, Anne (eds.). Don Mills, Ont.: Oxford University Press. p. 319. ISBN 978-0-19-542125-5. OCLC 432401392.