Gilbert & George

by Jan Debbaut, Michael Bracewell, Marco Livingstone

Gilbert and George have become international art stars, exhibiting worldwide since the 1970s. Accompanying the retrospective exhibition of their work—which will travel to America in 2008— Gilbert & George is a unique introduction to these extraordinary artists.

The book reproduces previously unpublished installations, drawings, and ephemera and includes original critical essays, an illustrated chronology and a bibliography designed by the artists.

EXHIBITION
Tate Modern, London, February 13–May 7, 2007
de Young, San Francisco, February 15–May 4, 2008
Milwaukee Art Museum, Milwaukee, June 6–August 31, 2008
Brooklyn Museum, New York, September 2008–January 2009

Genres: Art

208 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2007

Reviews

[Ray Dunsmore · Rating 4 out of 5]

If I'm gonna be totally honest here, Gilbert & George are a total relationship goal. Life partners in creative mischief? Sign me right the hell up for that. The art is a reflection of themselves and the culture surrounding them, like any other art - but the two put this fact very plainly on the surface in a particular way that makes their work entirely theirs. By their latter-day schizophrenic digital statements on fundamentalist religion and the harsh polemics of existence in the 2000's, you get the sense that nothing like this will probably ever be made by anyone else. A singular, striking, shockingly honest vision.

[Tim]

It's always a special experience to enter G&G's world. This book comes from a 2007 retrospective at Tate Modern. Looking at the pictures in a book is not quite the same as being surrounded by them in a gallery. The post-1975-or-so ones can more or less take it but the earlier stuff I at least, with my ageing eyesight, can hardly make enough out of to respond to them.
They are so deadpan, and at the same time so weird. Yet also in some ways very straightforward, presenting words and poster-coloured assembled images without giving any directions about what you should make of them. But given the hugeness of the pictures, especially en masse, you have to respond to or at least face their chosen themes: the presentation is totally in your face. And the artists are very often in the picture, which I take it means something like their embracing, or acceptance, of the reality they present.
I can see why a lot of people don't like this stuff. I wouldn't say I *like* the pictures exactly myself; but they make for an exhilarating and er - meditative, kind of? - experience, looking, often, at the things we generally don't look at, least of all in public.
I dunno.

[Jesse · Rating 3 out of 5]

Caught this exhibition with my best friend (and most preferred fellow museum-explorer) last year at the de Young in SF, its sole engagement on the West Coast. Unfortunately, it doesn't translate well, as Gilbert & George work on a scale that only the most cavernous of spaces can hold, and the impact is inevitably lost when converted to book-size reproductions. But even if it feels like a magnifying glass is sometimes necessary while flipping through this book (so many details are lost!), G&G's cheekily irreverent and often downright subversive exuberance and verve inevitably filters through. This catalogue is dominated by the images, however, and for once I would have appreciated a bit more text providing some analysis to help me decode some of the more opaque corners of this highly personal body of self-created mythology.

"At every stage, in every new group of pictures, Gilbert & George have continued to speak unreservedly of the condition of their lives and their state of mind. Working pointedly within a society that prizes reticence to the point of hypocrisy, this naked and almost unmeditated self-exposure has been their extraordinary gift to anyone confronted by their art. It constitutes an affecting avowal of our shared, and highly imperfect, humanity."

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a lot of reading required in this one -- maybe 30 pages worth of info and lots of sumptuous color plates -- but it gave me enough background to enhance my appreciation of Gilbert & George and their working methods. Because it's published by Tate Modern, you're not going to see much in the way of negative critique, but if you're new to these Living Sculptures as I was, it's a good way to get a little taste. Pairs nicely with the "World of Gilbert & George" film, too.