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The Arts Intel Report

Gilbert & George: Works from a Private Collection

Oct 6 – Nov 6, 2020
12 Brook's Mews, London W1K 4DG

“We were the messengers of a new vision,” the artists Gilbert & George say of their decision, 50 years ago, to work together. “At that moment that we decided we are art and life, every conversation with people became art, and still is.” The two met in 1967, at Saint Martin’s School of Art in London. They discovered they had similar views, especially when it came to the credo “Art for All,” which they saw as a way to fight social injustice. They began to create together, first working on pictures in black and white, then incorporating grids, then popping in color and stylized graphics, then embracing digital technology. In this thrilling survey, two seminal works—Cock (1977) and Street Meet (1982)—and four “Postcard Art” pictures are among the works on view. —E.C.

Gilbert & George, “Three,” 1984. Copyright The Artist.