From the early 1970s through the late 1980s, the daring Canadian artist collective General Idea created an international network of mail art via FILE Magazine, a self-produced periodical featuring contributions from various artists. A significant number of submissions came from Genesis Breyer P-Orridge, the late avant-garde visual and performance artist known for pushing boundaries both in the UK and globally. Now, a selection of P-Orridge’s mail art from around 50 years ago is on display at Art Metropole in Toronto, drawn from the National Gallery of Canada’s collection. This exhibition, running until May 31, marks a brief homecoming to the space General Idea inaugurated in 1974.
P-Orridge’s contributions, including letters, collages, and photographs, capture the early stages of the artist’s career as a founding member of the groups COUM Transmissions and Throbbing Gristle. The mail art movement, known for its accessibility and personal touch, was a fitting platform for experimental artists like P-Orridge, whose work defied conventional market norms. However, the movement wasn’t without its risks; in 1975, P-Orridge faced legal issues for creating provocative collages of Queen Elizabeth. Born Neil Megson in Manchester in 1950, P-Orridge was drawn to art, counter-culture, and the occult from a young age, eventually adopting the pseudonym Genesis P-Orridge in 1969 after a transformative experience at a communal living space.
During a family trip in 1969, P-Orridge experienced a disembodiment episode, leading to the creation of COUM (Cosmic Organicism of the Universal Molecular) Transmissions, a collective embracing Dadaism, surrealism, and punk culture. P-Orridge, alongside collaborators like Cosey Fanni Tutti, produced shocking exhibitions and performances that challenged societal norms around sexuality and media. In 1976, P-Orridge and Tutti formed Throbbing Gristle with Peter “Sleazy” Christopherson, pioneering the industrial music genre with performances that included dark and provocative themes.
P-Orridge’s mail art from this era, part of the Art Metropole collection, serves as an unofficial archive of both COUM Transmissions and Throbbing Gristle. The exhibition features performance scripts, decorated envelopes, and critical reviews, returning to Art Metropole after the collection was transferred to the National Gallery of Canada in 1999. The show coincides with the 50th anniversary of Throbbing Gristle’s first performance in 1976.
Among the exhibition highlights are P-Orridge’s postcard “cut-ups,” Dadaist collages inspired by William S. Burroughs and Brion Gysin’s work. These pieces laid the foundation for Pandrogeny, a gender expression project P-Orridge embarked on with spouse Lady Jaye, involving bodily transformations to blur their individual identities. In a 2019 interview, P-Orridge explained that their project aimed to achieve a “third thing,” embodying a shared identity as an expression of profound love and a challenge to societal norms.
