16 July 09
Nettle Dance - Gilbert & Georgewww.whitecube.com
Gilbert and George are back and they are as controversial and eccentric as ever. This new exhibition features a collection of large and provocative mixed-media collages that demonstrate the pair’s eagerness to give the Union Jack – and other typically British motifs – a right visual beating! Ouch!
Gilbert and George are back and they are as controversial and eccentric as ever. This new exhibition features a collection of large and provocative mixed-media collages that demonstrate the pair’s eagerness to give the Union Jack – and other typically British motifs – a right visual beating! Ouch!
A selection of the ‘JACK FREAK PICTURES’ are on show at the White Cube's Mason’s Yard and Hoxton galleries, they comprise the single largest series of work ever made by the illustrious British duo. It is their third show at White Cube and the first in London since the monumental retrospective at Tate Modern in 2007. Brilliant stuff... Funny, provocative and very Gilbert & George!
According to the writer Michael Bracewell, “the ‘JACK FREAK PICTURES’ are among the most iconic, philosophically astute and visually violent works that Gilbert & George have ever created.”
Gilbert& George said: “We were amazed when we finished making the pictures to realize that we had used so few subjects in them,” said George. “The series involves one page from London A-Z, us, medals, and the trees from our backyard. There’s very little subject matter, all made in a complex machine of different thoughts, different feelings, different hopes, different fears, different dreads—every aspect of human emotions that lie inside everyone, wherever they live in the world.”
9 out of 10
