That Playful Duo Returns
By Carol Vogel
The British duo Gilbert and George like creating work that turns heads. Often laced with politics — economic, social, sexual — their art has embraced subjects ranging from pornography to pandemic diseases, vaudeville to scatology.
Always eager for the unexpected, Cecilia Alemani, director of the High Line’s art program, asked the artists to come up with the next image for a 25-by-75-foot billboard at West 18th Street and 10th Avenue, in a parking lot next to the elevated walkway.
The artists suggested reviving a work they created three decades ago. Titled “Waking,” it is a photo piece from 1984 that belongs to the Guggenheim Bilbao in Spain and depicts the artists standing amid a bevy of attractive young men. It will be on view from Sept. 3 through Oct. 1.
“With all the talk today about urban life and gay marriage,” Ms. Alemani said, “it seems even more appropriate now.”