Gilbert & George
dal 18/11/2009 al 7/1/2010
Segnalato da
18/11/2009
Gilbert & George
Bernier - Eliades Gallery, Athens
Jack Freak Pictures. The archetypal motif of the monumental series is the red, white and blue of the Union Jack. This globally familiar and fetishised emblem stands at once for Pop-cultural cool, nationalist hooliganism and the tumultuous history of Great Britain. As the core pictorial element of the Jack Freak Pictures in an assemblage of old medals, flags, maps, street-scenes, signs and graffiti, the Union Flag is at once pompous, patriotic, ironic, ambiguous and absurd.
The terrible twosome return to Greece five years after their last show at the Bernier-Eliades Gallery and two
years after their epic retrospective at the Tate Modern, the biggest solo exhibition in the history of the
museum. We are pleased to present a selection of works from the latest and single largest body of work ever
by Gilbert & George – the JACK FREAK PICTURES.
Over the past forty years Gilbert (b. England, 1942) & George (b. Dolomites, 1943) have challenged the themes
of race, sex, death, fashion, religion, politics, nakedness and individuality with performance, film, photography
and their now signature format of large-scale vibrantly colored photographic grids.
The art of Gilbert & George is ‘’Art for All’’. In the belief that everything is potential subject-matter and that art
embodies the ultimate self-sacrifice, they come to embody their own source of subject-matter. From the
infamous ‘Living Sculptures’ of the late 60s onwards to the most recent Photo-Pieces in the 21st century, the
inseparable duo are instantly recognizable throughout their work as subject and object alike.
This much anticipated new series is perhaps the most aggressive and multifaceted yet in its content and form.
According to the writer Michael Bracewell, “the JACK FREAK PICTURES are among the most iconic,
philosophically astute and visually violent works that Gilbert & George have ever created.”
The archetypal motif of the monumental series is the red, white and blue of the Union Jack. This globally
familiar and fetishised emblem stands at once for Pop-cultural cool, nationalist hooliganism and the
tumultuous history of Great Britain. As the core pictorial element of the JACK FREAK PICTURES in an
assemblage of old medals, flags, maps, street-scenes, signs and graffiti, the Union Flag is at once pompous,
patriotic, ironic, ambiguous and absurd.
The extreme (ab)normality of modern living under a nation, is called into question and capsized, heralding a
demonic celebration of the individual as beauty and as beast – of your average JACK as an actual FREAK.
The dark setting of East London, where the duo have been living and working for the last four decades, is
turned inside out to expose colorful and crazed esoteric landscapes, kaleidoscopically cut up and cloned to
frame the infamous ‘gaze’ of Gilbert & George looking out from the world of JACK FREAK – a surreal world
that’s more real than ever before.
For all further inquiries please contact the press office at
pressoffice@bernier-eliades.gr
or on +30 210 34 13 937
Opening November 19, 2009
Bernier - Eliades Gallery
11 Eptachalkou Street Athens
The gallery remains open Tue- Fri, 10:30-20 and Sat, 12-16
free admission