Gilbert & George are terribly British

Gilbert & George met in 1967 at Saint Martin’s School of Art and decided almost immediately that the rules of contemporary art didn’t quite work for them.

So they became the art.

By 1969 they were calling themselves living sculptures, and they still do. They began dressing in identical tailored suits, performing synchronized movements and presented all aspects of their lives as works of performance art.

It was radical, but what made it all the more interesting was how restrained their lives were. In a non-conformist statement against the contemporary art movement they conformed their lives into rigorous consistency.

The tweed suits were always the same. Every meal was always the same – always at the same place. Every piece work was born out of this greater concept of self-representation.

From the early 1970s onward, they began producing large-scale, multi-panel photo-based works. Bright, brash, tiled like stained glass windows from some blasphemous cathedral.

At the centre of the pieces were Gilbert & George. Surrounded by urban debris, their own bodily fluids, racist graffiti, newspaper headlines, sexual innuendo and political slogans.

It was a slavish, fanatical devotion to a practice that never broke character.

Gilbert & George’s motto is part manifesto, part brand promise.

The kind of succinct idea that we all aspire to grow ideas from.

It appears on posters, gallery statements, and even some of their works. It’s short, emotional, and easy to remember. The kind of line that works across every touchpoint.

They’ve stuck to it for decades.

There has been no refresh or re-jig. No evolution or revolution. No tonal wobble. One simple idea hammered over and over again in all kinds of different shapes, sizes and forms.

The pair are an anachronism. Overtly stylized, affected and twee. They have an egalitarian stance that stems from their motto and yet have been staunchly pro-Thatcher and pro-Brexit.

They are terribly British on the surface (although Gilbert hails from an enclave in Northern Italy where most people speak German), and have lived proudly in East London for their entire career.

And yet the individuals with whom they share many political views with, would most likely be shocked by their flagrant homosexuality and the fact that many of their artworks contain their own shit, piss and semen.

They have never run away from these views. As said George to the Telegraph:

"You're not allowed to be Conservative in the art world, of course...Left equals good. Art equals Left. Pop stars and artists are meant to be so original. So how come everyone has the same opinion? ... We admire Margaret Thatcher greatly. She did a lot for art. Socialism wants everyone to be equal. We want to be different.”

Art for all means art for all.

They have never presented any other form. They have never sold out, because they have never bought in. They are unconventionally, unequivocally, uncompromisingly consistent in their Gilbert & George-ness.

Thanks for reading.

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Jonathan ✌️

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