Gilbert Proesch (born in 1943 in Italy) and George Passmore (born in 1942 in England), known simply as Gilbert & George, met on 1967 while studying sculpture at St. Martins School of Art in London.
In 1969, while still students they made The Singing Sculpture, for which they covered themselves with bronze powder, stoddo on a table on a gallery space, and mimed to a recording of Flanagan and Allen's song Underneath the Arches, sometimes for hours at a time. For this performance and others, they were dressed in matching business suits, which they refered to as "their responsibility suits of their art". If they moved at all it was in a mechanical manner. They were "living sculptures".
The decision to perform live required the two artists to travel around for their work to be on display. Furthermore, they needed to work collectively and collaboratively. So, as a result, they sacrificed their own individual private lives for the sake of their art. Also, by creating the name "Gilbert & George" they made very clear that responsibility for the work needed to be shared by the both of them at the same level.
Gilbert & George changed radically the concept of sculpture, leading the traditional definition into a generic term in wide use in contemporary days.They turned life into art. Their purpose consisted in breaking social and ethical taboos and in dissolving the boundary between the private and the public sphere. In doing so, they focused on themes such as alcoholism, unemployment, violence, nudity, depictions of sexual acts, racial tension, homosexuality, AIDS and bodily fluids (faeces, urine and semen).
Over the years, Gilbert & George have expressed themselves through a variety of mediums: books, drawing, mail art, video, painting and photographic montages among others.
From 1969 to 1975, they completed a number of "postal sculptures" cards containing images and messages sent out in editions to friends and colleagues
They also made a series of charcoal-on-paper sculptures featuring natural designs that covered entire walls.
Until 1974, they made a lot of black-and-white photographs.
During the last 1980s and the 1990s, Gilbert & George produced numerous series of exuberant, large-scale montages of photographs.
Their peaces of art can value 60.000 to 300.000 euros.Very expensive although their interest is not to sale, but to confront people with their art work.
Online gallery and exhibitions:
http://www.designboom.com/weblog/cat/10/view/7529/gilbert-george-jack-freak-pictures-exhibition.html
Sources:
Ruhrberg, Karl. Art of the 20th Cebtury, parte 1. 2000. Köln: Taschen GmbH. (page 726).
Schmid, Hans. Concepts of Sharedness: Essays on Collective Intentionality. 2008. Germany: Outos Verlag. (pages 25 and 26).
Taylor, Brandon: Sculpture and Psychanalysis, Volume 5. 2006. USA: Ashgate Publishing Limited (pages 139 to 157).
Warren, Lynne: Encyclopedia of 20th Century Photography. 2006. Great Britain: Taylor and Francis Group LLC (page 611).
