Gilbert & George (b. 1943, San Martin de Tor, Italy & 1942, Plymouth, United Kingdom) met in 1967 in art school at Saint Martin’s, where they first developed their signature form of “living sculptures” by walking around the streets of London with their heads and hands coated with multi-color metallic powders. Since then, they have lived and worked together, their individual identities subsumed into a vision of animate sculpture, becoming representations of the universal human condition, which is a central theme in their work. Their embrace of video technology, along with their well-known photo-collage works, allowed Gilbert & George to extend their living sculptures beyond a particular time and place and broadcast their art to wider audiences, establishing their motto of “art for all.”
Shortly after art school, they moved to London’s East End, then a bustling immigrant and working-class neighborhood, which has served as their home and studio for almost 50 years. Their changing neighborhood, which has become a gentrified creative center, has significantly influenced their work. The artists often appear in their work as witnesses to life unfolding in the sociopolitical and urban conditions of this area. Through imagery specific to London and the East End in particular, Gilbert & George create an ongoing portrait of the city that includes street signs, ginkgo trees, graffiti, postering, and gum-stained sidewalks.
Gilbert & George received their B.F.A.s at the Munich Academy of Art, Germany, and Oxford Art School, England, respectively and received their M.F.A.s from Saint Martin’s School of Art in London. Recent solo exhibitions of their work have been organized at Auckland Art Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand (2022); Schirn Kunsthalle, Frankfurt, Germany (2021); Kunsthalle Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland (2020); Astrup Fearnley Museet, Oslo, Norway (2019); Reykjavic Art Museum, Reykjavic, Iceland (2019); Louis Vuitton Foundation, Paris, France (2019); Helsinki Art Museum, Helsinki, Finland (2018); Ludwig Museum of Contemporary Art, Budapest, Hungary (2017); Museum of Old and New Art, Tasmania, Australia (2016); Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY (2015); Diechtorhallen, Hamburg, Germany (2011); the Kröller-Müller Museum, Otterlo, the Netherlands (2010); de Young museum, San Francisco, CA (2008); Milwaukee Art Museum, Milwaukee, WI (2008); Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY (2008); and the Tate Modern, London, United Kingdom (2007). Select recent group exhibitions featuring their work include The Double: Identity and Difference in Art Since 1900, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. (2022); Alter Egos | Projected Selves, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY (2021); Trauma: Shooting the Pulitzer & 15 Minutes, Daejeon Museum of Art, Daejeon, South Korea (2021); The World Exists To Be Put On Postcards: Artists’ Postcards from 1960 to Now, British Museum, London, United Kingdom (2019); The Royal Academy of Arts Summer Exhibition 2017, Royal Academy of Arts, London, United Kingdom (2017); Take Me (I’m Yours), Jewish Museum, New York, NY (2016); A Journey Through London Subculture: 1980s to Now, Institute of Contemporary Art, London, United Kingdom (2013); Regarding Warhol: Sixty Artists, Fifty Years, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY (2012); ARTandPRESS, Martin-Gropius-Bau, Berlin, Germany (2012); BP British Art Displays 1500- 2009, Tate Britain, London, United Kingdom (2009); and Passports: Great Early Buys from the British Council Collection, Whitechapel Gallery, London, United Kingdom (2009).
Gilbert & George’s work is in numerous international public and private collections, including the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia; Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL; Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY; Musée d'Art Contemporain de Bordeaux, Bordeaux, France; Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH; Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, Bilbao, Spain; Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin, Ireland; Istanbul Modern Art Museum, Istanbul, Turkey; Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY; Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, Fort Worth, TX; Museum Ludwig, Cologne, Germany; Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, IL; Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, CA; Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, Australia; Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY; National Galleries of Scotland, Edinburgh, Scotland; National Museums, Liverpool, United Kingdom; National Museums, Holywood, Northern Ireland; North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, NC; Nouveau Musée National de Monaco, Monaco; Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, PA; Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane, Australia; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA; Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, NY; Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, the Netherlands; Stedelijk Museum voor Actuele Kunst (S.M.A.K.), Ghent, Belgium; and Tate, London, United Kingdom.
Gilbert & George have received honorary Doctorates of Art from Plymouth University, United Kingdom (2013); Open University, Buckinghamshire, United Kingdom (2012); University of East London, London, United Kingdom (2010); and London Metropolitan University, London, United Kingdom (2008). They have received numerous awards, including the South Bank Award and The Lorenzo il Magnifico Award in 2007; the Special International Award, Los Angeles, in 1989; and most notably, the Turner Prize in 1986.