A.A. Bronson, White Flag #8, 2015
A.A. Bronson
Canadian, born 1946
White Flag #8, 2015
AA Bronson, nee Michael Tims, Vancouver, Canada,1946, was a founding member of the artists' group General Idea, During their twenty five year association, General Idea produced work in every conceivable medium, pioneering video and performance work as well as producing artist’s books, photographs, sculptures, multiples, prints as well as installations, and public art projects. They sought to examine and subvert social structures, taking particular interest in the products of mass culture. They began publishing their ideas and work in File, a quarterly journal published in Toronto. In the late 1980s they focused their attention on the AIDS epidemic. General Idea ended when Bronson’s partners died of AIDS in 1994.
Since then AA has worked and exhibited as a solo artist, often collaborating with younger generations Since 1999 he has worked as a healer, an identity that he has also incorporated into his artwork. From 2004 to 2010 he was the Director of Printed Matter, Inc. in New York City, founding the annual NY Art Book Fair in 2005. In 2009 he founded the Institute for Art, Religion, and Social Justice at Union Theological Seminary in New York City, which he now co-directs. In 2013 he was the founding Director of Printed Matter's LA Art Book Fair. He has taught at UCLA, the University of Toronto, and the Yale School of Art.
He has had solo exhibits in the UK, Berlin, Finland, Basel, Munich, Austria; 10th Gwangju Biennale, Gwangju, Toronto.Group exhibitions include The Jewish Museum, New York; Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago; The Balcony, Toronto National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa; LA, Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles.