Gilbert & George: What The Papers Say

The artists insist they are “not against anything” – even religion or political correctness. “It’s just, how can we form ourselves to hurt less?” George asks. “How can you stop someone being arrested today in Nairobi for having a different sexual orientation and never coming out of that bloody lockup? How can we stop that?”

Political correctness historically served an important role, particularly in elevating the rights of gay people. The liberal press, Gilbert says, used to be “closet homophobes”. “The LIBERAL press,” George repeats, for added emphasis. “I remember they used the term ‘filthy queers’ which they’re not allowed to use, right? But by saying: ‘Gilbert & George must be very unhappy having been called ‘filthy queers’ for all these years.’”

“The Times?” Gilbert asks.

“No, that was the Guardian. The rightwing press would never do that. They’re too polite. They may be unpleasant but they’re polite.”

The Guardian seem to have given them nothing but blanket and ovating coverage these past few years, I note.

“That’s recent,” George says.

“And quite interesting because we always buy the Telegraph,” Gilbert adds.

“Always,” George echoes...

From that rare beast, a rather boring interview with the terrible twins, Guardian online.

PS Here's the Guardian's five star review of their new exhibition, Banners, Art as undeniable as a punch in the face. And the Telegraph's one star review, Probably their worst show yet.

Gilbert & George: God Save

From an excellent profile of the chuckle brothers in the Daily Telegraph.

PS I thought I'd made a BRILLIANT point before about G&G as Tory anarchists, by way of Edward Said, George Orwell and Jonathan Swift, but this seems to have been lost in the ether.

As you were.

Gilbert & George: Against Nature

The messages appear deliberately provocative, but Gilbert and George suggest they are both honest and positive. Burn that Book, for instance, symbolises being liberated from the regimen of organised religion and schools, while Fuck the Planet is inspired by the writings of Prof James Lovelock, which Gilbert and George first read more than 20 years ago.

“We need to just leave nature alone,” says George. “Human beings should only be in the city because it makes them freer and more tolerant than the ones isolated on top of the mountain. Nature breeds intolerance and excessive love of nature always leads to totalitarianism. Love of soil is the worst.”

Gilbert nods, adding: “It’s the same as the love of God, who is just another dictator.” ...

Those lovable septuagenarian juvenile art school pranksters, Gilbert & George, are winding up Guardian readers again today.

Their new exhibition, The Banners, is at London's White Cube Gallery from Wednesday November 25th.

Gilbert & George: With Telephone Box

"London's the new Babylon, don't you think? Nobody can understand each other, but it is all happening"

Is there an artist or writer they both particularly admire?

"Obviously William Blake. He personified what you could call looking at the world in a different way."

Telegraph, London's artists, curators, actors, musicians and writers on creativity.

Also contains Peter Ackroyd and Grayson Perry. 
 

Gilbert & George: With Victoria

They have been the most notorious duo on the British art scene for almost five decades – outraging, inspiring and amusing the public in equal measure.

But now, for the first time since they started collaborating, Gilbert & George are to become a trio.

Saturday marks the debut of Gilbert & George with Victoria, a transgender nurse. She is the only other person to whom they have awarded the title of “living sculpture” alongside themselves.The trio will take the stage at the Serpentine Gallery in London at the gallery’s 10th annual “marathon”, which features writers, thinkers, artists and scientists. This year’s theme is “transformation”.

“When we heard transformation was the theme, we realised we had our transformation,” George says. “We’ve never worked with another person like this before. On Saturday we will be Gilbert and George and Victoria. This is the first time we’ve had another living sculpture with us.”

The pair met Victoria, who lives and works in the UK, by chance in Monaco. Victoria was there for her birthday and was introduced to the artists by their assistant.

Victoria, 30, arrived from the Philippines as a student in 2009 and now works as a nurse in a hospital in Harrow on the Hill, north-west London. She has taken hormones since she was 18 and lived as a woman for the past two years.

Victoria has never been involved in the art world before. “It’s a very big pleasure,” she says. “Though I feel nervous – it’s the first time I’ve done anything like this.”

Gilbert says: “We have the best transformation. There is nothing better than a living transformation.” ...

The Independent.

Gilbert & George: At Home With...

LOL etc.

The Guardian.

PS Fagburn's been for tea and cake there, you know...

Dozy: 1944-2015

Fagburn is sad to hear of the passing of Dozy - of Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick and Tich fame.

Thanks for this if nothing else. x

PS And for The Fall's cover of your number one hit single, The Legend Of Xanadu, obvs!

Gilbert & George: The Horror

The secret of our relationship is that we woke up to the reality of the horror of the world every day. Somewhere at this very moment somebody is killing somebody in streets and in houses all over the bloody world. Quite amazing.

Observer.

Tom's new showbiz pals!

We always eat out but we’re not very big eaters. We have the same dish until we decide to change. It’s one less time-wasting decision to make in the day. We need an empty desert in front of us in order to create. Acres of empty land.

I've had tea and cakes at their house and there were quite clearly signs of an Indian take-away being eaten the night before.

Just saying.

Gilbert & George: & Tom

Sorry, this is too funny for words!

Gilbert & George: Scapegoating

@ White Cube Bermondsey.

Gilbert & George: Love Always And All Ways

From an amusing live readers' Q&A on Guardian online.

A major new exhibition SCAPEGOATING PICTURES for London opens at White Cube on Friday.

Gilbert & George: At Home With...

We see this as a sort of common room, free for people to come and read a book in. Although there are no books here, we’ve thousands in our house next door. We like to look out into the street to see the reflections in the car windows, roofs and bonnets down below. The reflections make it into a sort of Alice in Wonderland world. We like the smell of this room: it comes from the paint on the doors, which is mixed with linseed oil and lead, as it would have been originally in this Queen Anne house. The furniture in the room is minimal and mostly 19th century. We started to collect 19th-century furniture in the mid-70s because it was available and affordable. It seemed it was being discriminated against, just as we ourselves were at the time; anyone who mentioned the word ‘Victorian’ meant ‘Victorian rubbish’. We felt we were in the same boat so were inclined to defend it.

In place of news, here's Gilbert & George in the Mail On Sunday taken from a new lavishly-tooled coffee table book, An English Room.
Fagburn has taken tea and cakes in that room, incidentally. 
Never got asked back, but I feel we bonded.
Alan Bennett's favourite place appears to be his bookshelves.

And in other gayer property news, the bona lattie in Mayfair once owned by Alexander McQueen ("the flamboyant fashion designer" The Mail On Sunday) - is for sale. A snip at £7.25 million.

Gay Marriage: Those Gay Celebs Opposed to Gay Marriage In Full

On Channel 4 News on Thursday, Sharon Jones of Cunts For Marriage made much play of how "plenty of lesbian and gay people" had signed her petition for inequality, discrimination and homophobic bigotry.
Jon Snow asked her how many, but she couldn't say - because she couldn't know and had probably just made it up.
There are probably a million or three lesbians and gay men in the UK, so it's not impossible that some have signed up to be denied their rights.
Jones also mentioned "those who have spoken publicly in support of this petition".
Which got me wondering about those gay celebrities and public figures who have come out and spoken out against gay marriage.
Here's that list in full.

1. Christopher Biggins.
2. Julie Bindel.
3. Brian Sewell.
4. David Coburn, cunt from UKIP.
5. Err, that's it.

Hardly a stellar list, is it?
And, as you can see, they are all bigots or barking or both. 
Well done.

PS The Independent's Diary has claimed Gilbert & George are opposed to gay marriage - but the quote they used to illustrate this doesn't really back this up.
Gilbert: "Who wants to be married in a church? Not us in a million years; we wouldn't go near one... For us it is very simple; our motto is 'Burn religion'."
Perhaps they are opposed full stop - but Gilbert is only saying here they don't want one.

Gilbert & George: Two Into Three

Gilbert & George's new exhibition, London Pictures, is now open for business at White Cube Gallery.
Which one?
Err, three of them in London - Bermondsey, Hoxton, St James's - and the one in Hong Kong.
How perverse!
Here's an interesting, in depth interview with the good/bad old boys from The Guardian last week.
Though these things tend to repeat the same "Did you know?" fascinating facts about G&G that most people reading it will already know.
George used to be married to a woman!
They never eat in their own house!
They're pretty reactionary!
(Though this might be a joke).

Gilbert & George: Drunk

"The artists Gilbert and George spent nearly a tenth of the Tate Gallery's annual entertainment budget during a single boozy 1970s lunch with curators, archive material shows. The curators' excuse? It was research.
"In 1974, Tate employees, including Anne d'Offay, wife of the influential art dealer Anthony d'Offay, entertained the pair with a lunchtime binge. The artists drank "the majority" of three bottles of wine and 12 glasses of vintage port. The corresponding expense claim, 8 per cent of the Tate's annual budget for entertaining, angered senior figures at the gallery.
"Unfortunately, Gilbert and George consumed an astronomical amount of drink," said Mrs d'Offay, the Tate curator who submitted the expenses claim. "You can imagine that it was impossible to stop them ordering without creating a rumpus. By continuous questioning under the guise of hospitality we extracted a good deal of important information," Mrs d'Offay added.

From The Independent.
The meal for five people cost £31.27.

Here's a clip of Gilbert & George's 1971 short film, Gordon's Makes Us Drunk - now owned by Tate Modern.

The One Show: With Gilbert & George

Pure class.

I missed this programme on Wednesday - thanks to The Observer for the tip-off.
Watch it here.

Gilbert & George: Two Gentlemen Sharing

'About their own relationship they are — publicly at least — unsentimental. I ask if monogamy was essential to them. “That depends whether it is the weekend,” George says. Gilbert giggles. They had a civil partnership recently, which they celebrated with an Indian meal accompanied by their assistant and the bloke who is renovating their house. They say that it was primarily to protect their estate and the museum that they are planning — at their Spitalfields complex — after their deaths.
Gilbert: “Because if one of us died out of the blue, we’re finished. Everything would go to either my family or George’s.”
Me: Did it not mean anything to you as a couple?
Gilbert: “Solid. More solid.”
George: “But we didn’t want to do a straight imitation thing.”
Gilbert: “It felt resolute.”
I ask if they argue and George throws back his head and exclaims. “Ah, the great heterosexual question!” Not even artistic differences? “We have learnt how to deal with them. We have a system that works,” Gilbert says.'

The Times Review interviews Gilbert & George
As ever with features on G&G the subtext is that the fact that they are two elderly men living together and/or in a relationship is the real proof of what utter weirdos they are...

Gilbert & George: Urethra Postcard Pictures White Cube London SW1, from January 14th