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About the exhibition
Gilbert & George with their Object Sculptures on the roof of St Martin's School of Art, London, 1968

1967 Gilbert and George meet at Saint Martin’s School of Art and Design in London. George describes it as “love at first sight”. The two young sculptors soon begin seeing themselves as “living sculptures”.

Gilbert & George, MORNING LIGHT ON ART FOR ALL. A LIVING SCULPTURE created for the Evening Standard newspaper, 1972 © Gilbert & George

1968 Gilbert & George rent a room on 12 Fournier Street in the East End, then a run-down outskirt. Years later they buy the building, making it their home, studio and a part of their art.

Gilbert & George, A POSTAL SCULPTURE, 1969 © Gilbert & George

1969 Gilbert & George send hundreds of handmade post cards. Neatly printed is the artists’ home address and later on, also their phone number. Hardly anyone calls.

Gilbert & George performs ”Singing Sculptures” 1991

1969 Gilbert & George come across an old record with Flanagan and Allen singing the famous ditty “Underneath the Arches”. “That’s it, this is us” was their immediate reaction.

Gilbert & George, MAGAZINE SCULPTURE, 1969 © Gilbert & George

1969 ”The magazine Studio International censored two offending words in our first ‘Magazine Sculpture’, George the Cunt and Gilbert the Shit. We realized that we were on the right track.” – Gilbert & George

Gilbert & George, GORDON MAKES US DRUNK, 1972 © Gilbert & George

1972 Gin and tonic is the duo’s favourite cocktail. They chose Gordon’s because it is “the best”. The brand is considered hopelessly unfashionable at the time.

Gilbert & George, BENT, 1977 © Gilbert & George

1977 “We left our house. We opened the door and went into the world. And what did we see? Big piles of shit! Big piles. And we saw all this aggression. The world was in turmoil.“ – Gilbert & George

1981 “We wanted to put everything we could think of, everything we knew, everything we dreaded, everything we hoped, everything we loved, everything in.” – Gilbert & George

Gilbert & George, ARMED FAITH, 1982 © Gilbert & George

1984 In the 1980s, AIDS was a new and terrifying disease. The tabloids ran alarming headlines about “the gay plague”. Many friends of Gilbert & George are diagnosed with the terminal disease.

Gilbert & George LIFE, 1984 © Gilbert & George

1990 As part of a new openness in Russia, controversial Western artists are invited to exhibit their works in Moscow for the first time. The Soviet Union collapses the following year.

Gilbert & George, BUM HOLES, ur serien NAKED SHIT PICTURES, 1994 © Gilbert & George

1994 Gilbert & George achieve technical perfection with their unique printing process. Their images are composed from detailed sketches. The result appears only when each image is developed and assembled.

Gilbert & George, RAIN ON US, ur serien THE RUDIMENTARY PICTURES, 1998 © Gilbert & George

1998 “Our cities, your tears, their money, the rain, our sexuality, your sweat, their views are all in THE RUDIMENTARY PPICTURES.” – Gilbert & George

Gilbert & George, FATES, 2005 © Gilbert & George

2003 Negatives, fixatives and darkrooms are replaced with computers. Gilbert & George unsentimentally change technique, and the only thing they miss is the rubber gloves, which are no longer needed.

Gilbert & George, METALEPSY 2008, JACK FREAK PICTURES © Gilbert & George

2008 “An encyclopedia of altered states: the lucid dreams of shamanic vaudevillians, drawn from the streets of East London” – Michael Bracewell on JACK FREAK PICTURES, comprising 153 pieces

Gilbert & George, SCAPEGOATING, 2013 (detail) © Gilbert & George 

2013 ”We took it from a sticker, I think: ‘Why are people scapegoating Islam?’. But also because everyone is scapegoating each other.” – George on the title SCAPEGOATING

Gilbert & George, BEARD REVIEW, 2016 © Gilbert & George

2016 “We see it as an exploration of our modern times. You switch on the news and you see barbed wire and bearded people.” – Gilbert & George on the series BEARD PICTURES