CHINA: Artists Gilbert and George hold world premiere of their exhibition 'London Pictures' at the newly-opened White Cube gallery in Hong Kong

Record ID: 191179

  • Title: CHINA: Artists Gilbert and George hold world premiere of their exhibition 'London Pictures' at the newly-opened White Cube gallery in Hong Kong
  • Date: 2nd March 2012
  • Summary: HONG KONG, CHINA (MARCH 1, 2011) (REUTERS) WHITE CUBE GALLERY WHITE CUBE SIGN VARIOUS OF ARTISTS GILBERT AND GEORGE POSING FOR PHOTOGRAPHERS GILBERT AND GEORGE POSING WITH FINGERS IN EACH OTHER'S MOUTHS AND WALKING OFF GILBERT AND GEORGE ADDRESSING PRESS CONFERENCE (SOUNDBITE) (English) ARTISTS GILBERT AND GEORGE, SAYING: George: "This is why we have two very important cries." Chanting in unison: "Ban religion! Ban religion! Decriminalise sex!" WORK CALLED "MAN STABBED" ON DISPLAY WORK CALLED "VICE" ON DISPLAY (SOUNDBITE) (English) ARTISTS GILBERT AND GEORGE, SAYING: George: "We believe that everyone understands what is inside everybody which is death,'' Gilbert: ''Hope.'' George: ''Life.'' Gilbert: ''Fear'' George: ''Sex'' Gilbert: ''Money'' George: ''Race'' Gilbert: ''Religion" George: ''We're only dealing with the universal elements and we love to do that with people wherever they live.'' Gilbert: ''And we do believe that these subjects are universal. They are not London.'' VARIOUS OF WORK CALLED "VICTIM (SOUNDBITE) (English) ARTISTS GILBERT AND GEORGE, SAYING: George: "We all are interested to de-shock and we feel very privileged to bring our exhibition of our London pictures to Hong Kong. We love showing our pictures wherever there are people." Gilbert: "We feel we're not trying to shock anything. This is the reality that we found in London. Because we didn't invent this title. They are there."
  • Embargoed: 17th March 2012 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: China, China
  • Country: China
  • Topics: Arts
  • Reuters ID: LVA9ESLQAHTRNOQM8FRU2BSC2MEW
  • Story Text: Death, hope, life, fear, sex, money, race and religion through Britain's tabloid headlines is the subject of the latest art exhibition from British art duo Gilbert and George which premiered in Hong Kong at the new White Cube Gallery on Thursday (March 1).
    The immaculately dressed Gilbert Proesch and George Passmore, met at art school in London in the late 1960s and are among Britain's best known artists. The pair still live, work and eat together every day in the same cafe and restaurants near their east London home.
    With their early work aimed to shock the establishment, the "illustrious British duo" are now considered "godfathers" of the contemporary art scene, but they insist their work remains as subversive as ever despite their new insider status in the art world.
    "This is why we have two very important cries," George told an audience before they chanted in union: "Ban religion! Ban religion! Decriminalise sex!"
    Often dark, sometimes humorous, the 'London Pictures' are made up of 3712 newspaper posters, 'stolen' by the artists over six years from newsstands near their home in east London.
    "We believe that everyone understands what is inside everybody which is death," said George before they alternatively say: "hope, life, fear, sex, money, race, religion."
    "We're only dealing with the universal elements and we love to do that with people wherever they live," said George.
    "And we do believe that these subjects are universal. They are not London," said Gilbert.
    The headlines range from the shocking "man stabbed in face" to the bizarre "shooting victim brought back to life" laid over photographic images of the artists themselves.
    The 292 pictures are the largest series of work to date created by the artists, 22 of which are being shown in Hong Kong before going on a global tour.
    The couple who married in 2008, and who often speak in tandem, said that their conservative views, polite behaviour and meticulously well-groomed appearance allowed them to explore subversive subject matter without offending.
    "We all are interested to de-shock and are very privileged to bring our exhibition of our London picture to Hong Kong. We love showing our pictures wherever there are people," said George.
    "We feel we're not trying to shock anything. This is the reality that we found in London. Because we didn't invent this title. They are there," said Gilbert.
    Gilbert was born in the Dolomites, Italy in 1943; George was born in Devon in 1942. Together they have participated in many important group and solo exhibitions and were among the first Western artists to exhibit in China at the Shanghai Art Museum and the National Gallery in Beijing in 1993.
    "It was extraordinary. It was such an amazing experience. It was as though the young people were trying to eat the pictures. They'd never seen one picture of ours before and they were extraordinarily excited. It was thrilling that time," said George.
    "And we met all the dissident artists and we went to the studios and they all became enormously famous," said Gilbert.
    Gilbert & George won the Turner Prize in 1986 and exhibited at the British Pavilion at the Venice Biennale in 2005.
    They also had a major retrospective at Tate Modern in London in 2007, which, rather than consigning them to art history, inspired them to create new works.
    Founded in 1993, White Cube has long been associated with a group called the Young British Artists that emerged in the 1990s including Damian Hirst and Tracy Emin.
    The 6,000-square-foot space in a new building in Hong Kong's central business district is its first branch outside Britain.
    The gallery chose Gilbert and George for their inaugural exhibition of 'London Pictures' because of the iconic status of the artists globally.
    "I think it's quite interesting because Gilbert and George were some of the first western artists to show in mainland China in 1993 in both Beijing and Shanghai. Gilbert and George are also some of the most immediately recognisable and celebrated artists, certainly of their generation. But they're kind of the godfathers in a way to so much that happened in England and America from the 1970s," said White Cube Asia director, Graham Steele.
    Steele said that Hong Kong was a natural choice for their new branch having been working with Asian artists for the past seven years and the Gilbert and George show would resonate particularly well with the people here.
    "Because the pictures are difficult, these pictures are unrelenting. These pictures force you to spend time with them and they're about out daily lives. They're about the way in which individuals live in metropolitan areas with millions of other people and what happens when that happens, the kinds if relationships that break down, the kind of pain and tragedy that somehow invariably come out and the sort of shot through with sense of humour, moments of joy and happiness that characterise our daily lives. And what Gilbert and George are asking with these series, 'is this the world that we live in? Is this the world we want to live in?' Because in a way it is," said Steele.
    Many western galleries are pinning hopes for future growth on Asia, particularly China, where a strong economy and increased thirst for art has made it the biggest market for fine art in the world.
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