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Gilbert & George b. 1943 / 1942
Street Meet, 1982Mixed media241 x 350 cm; (94 7/8 x 137 3/4 in.)Copyright The ArtistFurther images
Gilbert & George are most renowned for their large-scale artworks, collectively known as 'The Pictures'. In the 1970s they began creating pictures of black and white images, soon arranging them...Gilbert & George are most renowned for their large-scale
artworks, collectively known as "The Pictures". In the 1970s they began
creating pictures of black and white images, soon arranging them into
grid-like structures; by 1974 they incorporated red
into their pictures; in the 1980s they introduced other bright
colours into their repertoire and adopted a more stylized and graphic
appearance in their pictures; and by the beginning of the 21st century fully embraced digital technology in their creativity.Street Meat,
1982, demonstrating the riot of colour that erupted in Gilbert &
George's works of the 1980s, comes from a series of photos depicting
young men, typically youth from the East End of London where the artists
have been firmly rooted since 1967, in staged, theatrical poses,
casting them as 'living sculptures'. George explained that these
photo-portraits were meant to counter negative stereotypes, particularly
of an art world who "couldn't handle works of modern art showing young
people from neighbourhoods where they themselves didn't want to live,
where they wouldn't even choose to go." Gilbert professed, "When using
models, we devoted all our power to making them totally beautiful."Provenance
Ileanna Sonnabend Gallery
Private Collection
Private Collection, ItalyExhibitions
New York, Sonnabend Gallery, Gilbert & George, Modern Faith, 1983
London, Ben Brown Fine Arts, Gilbert & George, Works from a Private Collection, 6 October - 6 November 2020
Publications
Carter Ratcliff, Gilbert & George: The Complete Pictures 1971-1985, London 1986, p. 200, illustrated in colour
Rudi Fuchs (ed.), Gilbert & George: The Complete Pictures 1971-2005, London 2007, vol. I, pp. 395, 441, illustrated in colour
