‘Bring out the liberal from inside the bigot’
The feeling that this is a monumental show is immediate: Big walls, big works, big words from the masters of discussion-making, writes Michael Holland.
The duo take aim at the biggest areas of conversation and conflict: Sex, religion, money, fascists and race. They say they want to ‘Bring out the bigot from inside the liberal… and the liberal from inside the bigot’, and these are the topics to do just that.
But Gilbert & George do not sit back and watch the battles begin, they back up their opinions by putting themselves in their art; it is them saying, this is what we believe. And their art demonstrates that they have no truck with religion and do their best to provoke those who do; that they want the racists and fascists booted out, and that they abhor the lurid headlines when someone has lost their life at the hands of a killer, they mock the tabloids while looking out from the picture; their eyes asking why. In all their art their expressions give nothing away, no hint to their thoughts other than what the work says. They leave it to the religious and the racist and the editors to work it out.
Working in digital the bold colours sometimes clash but the huge gallery allows each work to have its own space and not be caught up with what it hangs next to.
The exhibition often asks more questions than answers any, so we wonder who these young men are whose ads have been turned into art; what do the postmarks stand for, why does the recognisable shape of the vulva appear regularly, or the pelvic bone? Obviously a metaphor, but for what?
The number of large artworks spread over several floors shows that they never stop working and brings home that we are already a quarter of the way through this hundred years. Thankfully, Gilbert & George’s 21st Century Pictures show a rapid passing of time while they still hold the same moral ideals as they did six decades ago.
There are some works that allude to time passing and death approaching by having the year formed in Roman numerals with human bones, images of graves and asking about the after life, but these artists will live on until the next century and beyond.
Hayward Gallery until January 11th 2026.
Booking and full details: https://www.southbankcentre.co.uk/whats-on/gilbert-george-21st-century-pictures/
