General Idea 1968 General Idea Shaped Ziggurat #2, 1986

In 1968 Felix Partz—one of the three members of the Canadian artist's group General Idea—travelled to Europe and Tangiers, Morocco. Upon his return to Canada, Partz created a series of Ziggurat paintings (1968–1969) inspired by the architecture and decorative patterns he had viewed on his travels, conjugated in a variety of bright colors on large canvases. The ziggurat is a type of pyramidal stepped temple tower in ancient Mesopotamia, around 2000–500 BCE. The paintings’ formula is a precise arrangement of zigzags that fit together like puzzle pieces. The series was later appropriated into the oeuvre of General Idea.