They are coming to Auckland! Opening Saurday 4 June – Adults $24.50
We are excited that Gilbert & George are coming to Auckland Art Gallery…One Saturday in London back in 1995, Jay and I decided to go to York Hall in the east end for a Turkish bath - before having a soak we headed off for lunch at E Pellicci in Bethnal Green Road. The place was packed but the only space available was at a table occupied by Gilbert & George! The waitress asked if we minded sharing…
When I asked Jay to pass the salt - George pushed it across the table to me. That afternoon was one of the funniest lunches I have ever had. They are nice. Quirky and eccentric - I saw them again - years later at Dennis Severs’ funeral.
I’d first saw them in Amsterdam- they had a video show at the Museum of Modern Art there - they were seated at a table in their trademark suits looking out on a London street. All they said and keep repeating for over an hour “Gordon’s makes us very drunk!” Sounds boring but trust me you had to be there.
Back in 1995 I went to their show at The South London Art Gallery in Camberwell. Entitled 'The Naked Shit Pictures' (+ The Naked Shit Model) the pair are often controversial, sometimes cheeky and always questioning. British artists Gilbert & George have been creating art together ever since they met in 1967 at one of London’s leading art schools. From the very beginning, they have appeared as subjects in their own art and shared a belief in ‘Art for all’.
For Gilbert & George anything – and everything – is a potential subject matter for art. They have peered closely at the big questions of life: religion, sex, violence, hope, addiction and death. Through their films and ‘LIVING SCULPTURE’, they have challenged taboos, fought artistic convention and taken a fresh look at the way we live now. From their own bodies to their long-time home in London’s East End, nothing is too personal or too forbidden for these two artists whose work is a portrait of life today.
Developed exclusively with Gilbert & George by Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, The Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland Exhibition brings together existing and new work from the 21st century to look back over a joint career that has courted controversy, challenged the status quo and championed alternative views. Exhibiting work direct from Gilbert & George’s own personal collection, it brings some of the most exciting of British art to New Zealand for the very first time.
http://www.aucklandartgallery.com/.../gilbert-and-george...
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