Gilbert & George

Gilbert & George are two contemporary artists who work together as a duo.

Gilbert Prousch (San Martin de Tor, Italy, 17 September 1943) and George Passmore (Plymouth, United Kingdom, 8 January 1942 ) have become famous for their odd, highly formal appearance and manner. As an artist duo they occupy a unique position among contemporary artists and have built up a vast body of artworks that has earned them international acclaim.

Early life

Gilbert Proesch was born in San Martin de Tor in Italy, being his mother tongue Ladin rather than Italian. He studied art at the Wolkenstein School of Art and Hallein School of Art in Austria and the Akademie der Kunst, Munich, before moving to England. George Passmore was born in Plymouth in the United Kingdom, to a single mother in a poor household. He studied art at the Dartington Hall College of Art and the Oxford School of Art, then part of the Oxford College of Technology, which eventually became Oxford Brookes University.

The two first met on 25 September 1967 while studying sculpture at St Martins School of Art, now Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design, one of six colleges in the University of the Arts, London. The two claim they came together because George was the only person who could understand Gilbert's rather poorly spoken English. In a 2002 interview with Daily Telegraph they said of their meeting: "it was love at first sight.". They got married in 2008.

For many years, Gilbert & George have been residents of Fournier Street, Spitalfields, East London. Their entire body of work has been created in, and focused on, London's East End, which they see as a microcosm. According to George, "Nothing happens in the world that doesn't happen in the East End".

Singing & Living Sculptures

Whilst still students Gilbert & George made The Singing Sculpture, which was first performed at Nigel Greenwood Gallery in 1970.. For this performance they covered their heads and hands in multi-coloured metalised powders, stood on a table, and sang along and moved to a recording of Flanagan and Allen's song "Underneath the Arches", sometimes for a day at a time. The suits they wore for this became a sort of uniform for them. They rarely appear in public without wearing them. It is also unusual for one of the pair to be seen without the other. The pair regard themselves as "living sculptures". They refuse to disassociate their art from their everyday lives, insisting that everything they do is art.

The Pictures

The pair are perhaps best known for their large scale photo works, known as "The Pictures". The early work in this style is in black and white, later with hand-painted red and yellow touches. They proceeded to use a range of bolder colours, sometimes backlit, and overlaid with black grids. The artists themselves frequently feature in these works, along with flowers, youths, friends, and Christian symbolism.

In 1986 Gilbert and George were criticized for a series of pictures seemingly glamourizing 'rough types' of London's East End such as skinheads, while a picture of an Asian man bore the title "Paki". Some of their work has attracted media attention because of the inclusion of (potentially) shocking imagery, such as nudity, depictions of sexual acts, and bodily fluids (faeces, urine and semen). The titles of these works, such as "Naked Shit Pictures" (1994) and "Sonofagod Pictures" (2005), also contributed to the attention.

A book of their art, "The Complete Pictures, 1971–2005", published in 2007 by Tate Modern, includes over a 1000 examples of their art. This works out at 1 piece every 12 days on average for nearly 35 years.

In May 2007, Gilbert and George were the subject of the BBC documentary "Imagine", presented by Alan Yentob. At the end of the programme a picture entitled 'Planed' was made available as a free file download from the BBC and The Guardian websites for 48 hours. People who downloaded the files could then print and assemble the piece, and thus own an original Gilbert and George picture for free.

In 2000 they moved galleries to be represented by White Cube.

Awards

In 1981 Gilbert & George won the Regione Lazio Award (Torino), in 1986 the Turner Prize, in 1989 the Special International Award (Los Ageles), in 2007 they won the South Bank Award, as well as the Lorenzo il Magnifico Award (Florence).

In 2005 they represented the UK at the Venice Biennale. Their 2007 retrospective at Tate Modern was the largest of any artist held at the gallery.

In December 2008 Gilbert & George were awarded an Honorary Doctorate by London Metropolitan University.

Political stances

Gilbert & George are sort of an oddity in the artistic world because of their openly conservative political views and their praise for Margaret Thatcher. George claims never to have been anti‑establishment "you're not allowed to be Conservative in the art world, of course," he says. "Left equals good. Art equals Left. Pop stars and artists are meant to be so original. So how come everyone has the same opinion? (...) "We admire Margaret Thatcher greatly. She did a lot for art. Socialism wants everyone to be equal. We want to be different. We're also fond of the Prince of Wales: he's a gentleman".

Trivia

• Gilbert & George own one of the most powerful graphics workstation computers in the UK, needed to manipulate the huge file-sizes that producing their art requires.

• They have their own dance called the "bend-it".

• For thirty years, Gilbert & George breakfasted and lunched at Rosa's Café in Spitalfields, near their house. They were great friends of the owners and often were to be found in the cafe, even helping with clearing the tables. Since the closure of Rosa's some 10 years ago, they have been going to Rossi's for their breakfast and lunch.

• They are said to have dinner in the same Kurdish restaurant in Dalston at the same time every night. Gilbert & George walk there and return by bus or minicab.

• Martin Clunes, while a struggling young actor in the early 1980s, was a photo model for Gilbert & George. He can be recognised in their 1983 picture "World".

• Gilbert & George inspired two characters, Man Green and Man Yellow, Chief Constables of the Science Gestapo, in Grant Morrison's comicbook series The Filth. The two characters appear in pastiches of Gilbert & George's artwork, with the separate sections of the imagery acting as individual comic book panels.

• The music video for This Is How It Feels by Inspiral Carpets is visually styled on Gilbert & George's imagery.

• The look of Eurythmics singers Annie Lennox and Dave Stewart (both dressed in men's suits and ties) was said to be inspired by Gilbert & George.

• Billy Bragg, socialist English pop singer, refers to Gilbert and George in the chorus of "Take Down the Union Jack" on the 2002 album England, Half English.

• In the book Man, Machine and Music, Pascale Bussy claims that the look Kraftwerk adopted between 1974 and 1978 was partly inspired by Gilbert and George.

• Podcast Answer Me This! produced a jingle depicting Gilbert & George singing in the style of Gilbert and Sullivan.

Further reading

• Robin Dutt, Gilbert & George: Obsessions & Compulsions. London: Philip Wilson Publishers, 2004. ISBN 0 85667 570 9
• Gilbert & George: The Complete Pictures, Rudi Fuchs, Tate Publishing, 2007. ISBN 9781854376817
• Daniel Farson (2000). Gilbert and George: A Portrait. HarperCollins. London, 2000.
• White Cube, London. "Sonofagod Pictures", 2006
• "Intimate Conversation", Francois Jonquet, Phaidon, London, 2005
• "Gilbert & George, E1", Isabelle Baudino, Marie Gautheron & others, ENS Editions, lyon, 2005
• Robert Rosenblum, "Introducing Gilbert & George", Thames & Hudson, London, 2004
• "Perversive Pictures 2004", Sonnabend Gallery/Lehmann Maupin, New York, 2004
• "Thirteen Hooligan Pictures", Gallery Bernier/Eliades, Athens, 2004
• "London E1 Pictures", Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Paris, 2004
• "New Horny Pictures", White Cube, London, 2001
• Daniel Farson, "Gilbert & George: A Portrait", Harper Colins, London, 1999
• Daniel Farson, "With Gilbert & George in Moscow", Bloomsbury, London, 1991

External links

• 2008 Video Profiles made for the Milwaukee Art Museum
• 2007 interview from Independent on Sunday ABC Arts magazine
• Gilbert and George: Major Exhibition at Tate Modern, London, 2007
• Gilbert and George's film "The World of Gilbert and George" as a RealMedia stream at Tate Online (includes a question and answer session with the audience)
• Complete Biography
• Template:Worldcat id
• Arts: Gilbert and George on glbtq.com
• 'Gilbert and George unveil new hoodie art' – UK Guardian website, 23/5/2005
• Gilbert and George at Lehmann Maupin Gallery
• Gilbert and George at de Young - San Francisco
• Gilbert and George in the Video Data Bank
• Tateshots video - the artists speak about their 'Bomb Pictures'
• Gilbert & George at the Brooklyn Museum New York part 1 Video at VernissageTV.
• Gilbert & George at the Brooklyn Museum New York part 2 Video at VernissageTV.