Biographical Artists Research part 2 - Gilbert and George

Continuing of from my lengthy analysis on R.B. Kitaj, I have now done some research on a pair of artists and performers known as Gilbert and George.

2.) Gilbert and George

Gilbert Prousc (or Gilbert Proesch) and George Passmore (both born on 17th September 1943(Gilbert) and 8th January 1942 (George)) are a collaborative duo who work together on creating interesting pieces of artwork, they have been making artwork together since they first met when they were studying the art of sculpture at St Martin's School of Art on 25th September 1967, and they both make a really great team. Although their primary work mainly consists of photographs made to resemble stained glass paintings, they like to refer to their work as sculptures. They got the idea for their "Singing Sculpture" performance from wanting to make themselves into sculptures. They can also be very low brow at times with their work but I'll hopefully not dwell into those kinds of pictures down the line, I'am trying to make this blog more accessible to everyone of all ages, though with these guys that might be a little bit hard. So now that we've gotten that out of the way, let's get down to analyzing these fellows' artwork.

Existers, 1984

In the 1980's Gilbert and George's pictures tend to include a cast of young men. They had installed special lighting equipment into their studio, and they were able to capture the images of youths to great degree of control. In pictures such as this, the guys are arranged into interesting compositions, represented as living embodiments of potency and strength. This work got some controversy, because the artists were accused by critics for exploiting the young men, wrongly calling them rent boys or East End thugs. It is interesting to note that while both Gilbert, George and the youths have light grey skin, their clothes have bright colours, and that not only gives the picture an interesting effect, but it also adds a lot of vibrance to the composition.

Death Hope Life Fear 1984

Gilbert and George have been working together since 1968, and over the years their artwork had been getting more complex and surrealistic since the early 1980's. They had dealt with a wide variety of themes over the years, but one of common themes that they convey tends to be "the social and spiritual situation of urban man". This picture is one in a "group of large complex allegories of fundamental aspects of the human condition", which was another theme that they had conveyed in the  early 1980's. The composition is rather interesting because it displays both of the artists right in the centre of the picture starting out small, but then getting bigger and bigger as they go along, while they are rising upwards to two monstrous mouths that in my opinion, looks like they belong to a green skinned monster that looks like it's going to eat the duo. They are also both surrounded by flames which are apparently supposed to be transferred through their purple suits to apparently give a pulse of life. The other two fellas take up the space in-between the artistic duo because they are have taken up the role in Gilbert and George's artwork as the ideal male image in what maybe a homage to Classical and Renaissance art. (Also it looks like one the guys is having a wee, I just thought I would make an observational comment on that!) It is also interesting to note that were the skin of the artists and the men are grey, (except for the "monster" whom skin is a dark shade of green) the colours for the rest of the picture are very bright and vibrant with a mixture of primary and secondary colours. Wow that was a very lengthy essay! now let's move onto another piece.

England 1980

This is one of their much earlier 1980's artwork, it's a photo collage featuring the artists themselves. This picture contains 30 pictures pasted together to make a single piece of artwork. The pictures of Gilbert and George standing in a pose (making a salute to England) is in greyscale and they are both filled in by six photographs each (which equals twelve might I add!), the other pictures are in colour. Red for the rose in the middle and Gilbert and George crouching down making faces, whom are supposed to be the artists' "gargoyle alter egos" (the rose being filled in by two photographs with the two pieces of Gilbert and George being filled in by four photographs each) and green for the rose leaves in between the rose itself (with the leaves both being filled in by four photos each). The reds are primary so that it both tries to make the monstrous alter egos look scary and gives the rose it's colour, while the greens are dark and they make the rose leaves a lot more darker than they are in real life.

Happy 1980

This picture is from a series of artwork called 'Modern Fears' (1980-81). It displays a pictorially heraldic display of different emotions. Whether it would be everyday life, fears, fantasies and the different moods of the artists themselves. The red at the bottom supposedly represents both fear and anger, while the yellow on the top represents happiness, wisdom and tranquillity.

In the end, Gilbert and George are a comedy duo who make really interesting collages that they like to proclaim as sculptures, while they also like to add vague social commentaries into their work that leaves the viewers up for debate and interpretation. All in all their pictures can often be fun to look at sometimes, because they can, more often than not, be really vibrant and colourful as well as interesting.

Next post we will be looking at Banksy, this'll be a fun evaluation.