Felix Partz (born Ron Gabe) was born in Winnipeg, and studied there at the School of Fine Arts. In 1968 Ron Gabe moved to Toronto, and met Jorge Saia and Michael Tims, in the shadowy corridors of Toronto's new cultural and sexual underground.

They became close friends and changed their names, respectively, to Jorge Zontal, AA Bronson and Felix Partz. Under these new names, and the corporate title General Idea, the young men launched a joint career in easel painting and installation art, performance, video, photography and even the manufacture of mass-produced souvenirs - a project unprecedented in Canada for its wit, sophisticated satire and penetrating intelligence.

When Partz and Zontal contracted the AIDS virus in the 1980s, General Idea turned their focus toward the AIDS crisis. Among many provocative AIDS-related works, they designed a logo for the disease borrowing Robert Indiana's well-known LOVE design, substituting the AIDS acronym for the word love.

In 1994, the art collective General Idea was dissolved, when Jorge and Felix both died of AIDS-related causes.