Art Historian, Gregory Salter states that: “the art of Gilbert and George in the 1970s in relation to the concept of the threshold. The threshold is used as a means of addressing the shifting, and potentially disintegrating, boundaries of space, politics, morality, and society that are represented, with reckless ambiguity, in Gilbert and George’s pictures.” The duo choose a theme out of "death, hope, life, fear, sex, money, race and religion, and all of the subjects that surround those fields". Gilbert and George claim that their approach to art has always been anti-elitist. Adopting the slogan 'Art for All', they aimed to be relevant beyond the narrow confines of the art world. Between 1970 and 1974 they made drawings (referred to as 'Charcoal on Paper Sculptures') and paintings to give a more tangible form to their identity as 'living sculptures'.
Singing and living sculptures Whilst still students, Gilbert & George made
The Singing Sculpture, which was performed at the
National Jazz and Blues Festival in 1969 and at the
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 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 dissociate their art from their everyday lives, insisting that everything they do is art. They were listed as among the fifty best-dressed over-50s by
The Guardian in March 2013.
The Pictures in 2022 The pair are 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. Their work has addressed a wide variety of subject matter including religion and patriotism. The two artists also often appear in their own "pictures". They have described their "pictures" as a sort of "visual love letter from us to the viewer". In 1986, Gilbert & George were criticised for a series of pictures seemingly glamourising '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. The pair starred in a documentary series,
The Fundamental Gilbert and George, in 1997 for
London Weekend Television (LWT). It went on to win the
BAFTA Award for the best documentary series. A book,
The Complete Pictures, 1971–2005, published in 2007 by
Tate Modern, includes over a thousand examples of their art. In May 2007, Gilbert & 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.
Jack Freak Pictures Jack Freak Pictures is, to date, the largest series of work created by Gilbert & George. According to
Michael Bracewell "the
Jack Freak Pictures are among the most iconic, philosophically astute and visually violent works that Gilbert & George have ever created." The Union Jack and Gilbert & George are the two dominant pictorial images – appearing contorted, abstracted, and sometimes complete. The entire series is set in the East End of London indicated by flags, maps, street signs, graffiti and other less obvious motifs such as brickwork and foliage that can be found there. After showing at
White Cube's Hoxton and Mason Yard galleries in 2009 the exhibition travelled to the Croatian
Museum of Contemporary Art, Zagreb; The
Kröller-Müller Museum, the Netherlands; Centro de Arte Contemporaneo de Malaga, Spain;
Arndt & Partner gallery, Berlin; the Baronian Francey Gallery, Brussels; and the Bozar Center for Fine Arts,
Brussels.
Later work In 2019, Gilbert & George held their first solo exhibition in Asia at Lehmann Maupin, Hong Kong, presenting the series
THE BEARD PICTURES. During lockdown amid the
COVID-19 pandemic, Gilbert & George started an online video diary, posting weekly updates on life in their newly limited circumstances. The bulletins, often short films, were a continuation of their usual creative habit of documenting social change. ==Awards and honours==