Living Sculpture

"…out of the blue we had this idea to be living sculptures and I/we believe this is the biggest invention we ever did for ourselves, to make us ourselves part of the artwork"	"The moment two people reach an agreement you can advance, if not its just a discussion and argument, the sooner you get rid of that stressful thing the better…two people but one artist"	"A grid system is very good for making composition, it is much simplier to make a composition when you have a system, you are restricted in some way but in another way you are able to compose much better."
"we did living sculpture we think performance art is the art that alienates huge sections of society…like a normal sculpture in a museum but a living one"	"There is always a time delay with art which says something…the pictures stay the same but the mindset of the people adjust and change with time…"	"The classic example … Queer when we showed it first in America there was a horrible rumble from the gay community thinking it was a negative picture. We went back to New York two years later and people were dancing the night away with t-shirts with queer as fuck…"

(1)

Gilbert and George claim they never argue – they share completely the genesis – they are two as one. Interesting when they are not talking they fall into a death like mime. A switch on and off. Now George is telling us one of his stories and Gilbert interjects the punch line. But when not talking about themselves the eyes deaden and animation stops. They are so machine like and their artwork mechanised placed together ‘randomly’ so their joint creation has removed the singular author and placed it within the realms of the mechanical reproduction - part of the machine? Metonyms

The Dirty Words pictures were created in 1977 (and not exhibited all together until this year’s Serpentine show) they took me back to my school books covered in the names of punk bands I hardly knew – I had all the worst records - being a kid - I didn’t understand Sham 69’s 'I want to get my end away' – all I knew was it annoyed Dad - I was writing stories about racial tension with words like ‘slash’ for urinate and drawing pictures of skinheads beating up blacks with graffiti sprayed on walls in the background. Standing in the gallery I step through that time portal and here is 1977 again as created by ‘two men in funny suits’. Black and white photographic panels with red - instead of blue biro on dun coloured text books.

"These are some of the first pictures which are entirely involved with the city…these are the first pictures which made us come up against all those thoughts and feelings that we knew we would have to address one day and which we all have to address some time…culture is in advance of politics – so first the writers write their books the poets write their poems the artists make their pictures then the opinion of the population changes." (1)

The red panels and rivers of blood? Their cameras with long lenses capturing the streets of London - covered in dirty words, litter, tramps, pubic school boys and rastafarians. These early images where 'stolen' in that they were illicitly taken from a safe distance - this was before Gilbert and George had the courage to invite 'models' into their studio. I wonder if their stealing of 'soul' makes these early pieces stronger than the later posed images? They are true reflected fragments of 'life'. The living sculptures then photographed themselves and flattened out their image with those disparate factions. Because they attach their own portraits are they implicit with the guilt - bodily encompassing the FEAR that dare not speak its name?

	…the sense of progress and security begins, for some to be fringed with doubt. There is inflation, decimalization, oil shock, IRA bombs, industrial strife. Mass immigration is changing the face of England, nowhere more than in Southall. These things are not distant, like the floating silver bubbles of the 1960s. They hector and threaten a whole raft of what once were certainties: civility, stability, money’s absolute value; whiteness, and superiority over what are politely referred to as ‘our colonial cousins’ or ‘coloureds’. The National Front march in Southall in the 1970’s. Although it is an axiom of Jack’s and Jean’s philosophy that everyone has a right to say what they think, they dislike the NF as bolshie and troublemakers, and wrong. Everyone’s the same, wherever you go, Jack would always insist. At the same time, they are uneasy at the speed of what is a remarkable transformation of their world. There are rumours that whole families of Asians are tunnelling through the walls and living secretly in lofts. And there is the smallest part of both of them that believes it. (2)

	...East end of London. After the war the area was blisteringly poor yet gloriously alive. It reeked of the past, and absorbed George as just another outside, indifferent to his peculiarities. This is the genius of the East End, even if the newcomers do not speak a word of English. (3)

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