General Idea Leather and Denim Copyright #1, 1987
The work shows the standard copyright symbol, a c with a circle around it. It is made using leather applied to denim.
Between 1987 and 1988 General Idea created their Copyright series. The series included a number of works of which some are painted on canvas, some are bleached on jeans and others made using leather strips.
By using the "copyright" sign as an aesthetic symbol General Idea posed the question “Can you copyright a copyright sign?” At the same time, by interrogating the ownership of creative output, the work draws attention to General Idea's own artistic practice that was based on the notion of collectivity. Within the context of the art world General Idea understood the “C” in copyright also as an allusion to the role collectors, critics and curators played.