Images, subjects and bodies collide throughout their art, which is often a roller-coaster of brutality, tenderness, threat, the pretty and the disturbing.
It is also frequently filthy, in every sense.
Adrian Searle, The Guardian, 2007
Curator: David Neuman
10 years ago, in 1997, Magasin 3 presented an exhibition with Gilbert & George - the first in Sweden.
Additionally, the two artists designed the catalogue and poster for the highly appraised exhibition.
Read more about the exhibition at Magasin 3, 1997 >
This spring 2007, the artist duo have their largest exhibition ever at Tate Modern, London. In conjunction with this and as a homage to the artists, Magasin 3 Stockholm Konsthall presents works from its collection by Gilbert & George.
Read more about the exhibition at Tate Modern, 2007>
Gilbert & George, the well-tailored artists, have become an iconic image in themselves, as they appear frequently in their own art. They have said "We want to discover and understand all the good and evil in ourselves."
Not only do they create art - but are art. They use themselves as human examples of universal issues such as death, life, hope, fear, sex, money, race and religion, transgressing the taboos of our civilisation by incorporating blood, sperm and excrement in their work.
In the early days of their now 40 years as artists, they coined the phrase "living sculptures". Their breakthrough came with the work "The Singing Sculpture" (1969). Standing on a table, they sang and danced to the tune of "Underneath the Arches". The lyrics are about living in the street and escaping into dreams. This is an old familiar tune in England but it is also emblematic of the outcasts of society.
A review of the exhibition at Tate Modern sums up their oeuvre: "Images, subjects and bodies collide throughout their art, which is often a roller-coaster of brutality, tenderness, threat, the pretty and the disturbing. It is also frequently filthy, in every sense."
(The Guardian, Adrian Searle)
Gilbert was born in the Dolomites, Italy, in 1943, and George was born in Devon, England, in 1942. They met as art students at St Martin's School of Art in London in 1967 and have lived and worked together since then.
