Gilbert and George

Gilbert and George

Gilbert Prosech and George Passmore are the artist behind the collaboration Gilbert & George. The collection ‘Sonofagod’ was released in 2005 and question the fact ‘Was Jesus Hetrosexual?’ Right now the work could influence the Russia Anti-Gay Law as right now gay people are being locked up for being gay. The question of Jesus’ sexuality would affect people’s views on the situation. As we can see religion has influenced their artwork which can be seen through the stained glass type of art they produced and all of the religious imagery used in the paintings.

The piece I am showing has many different themes about it. The first theme that I noticed was the man in the centre, as the person has red skin this could be a representative of the devil, as well as that the man is dressed in a business suit which business is associated with money therefore this could be a representative of money being the root of all evil. As well as that as the other two figures (Gilbert and George) are white skin they could be a representative of Heaven and the red skinned character could be a representative of hell. Furthermore, the piece has hands joined together which could mean prayer or accepting communion in church. The painting is also in a stained glass fashion which is found in churches however it is used in a completely different contrast here. The two characters to the side of the painting (Gilbert and George) are both putting their fingers up, this could be telling religion to ‘Fuck off.’

This painting does not give you what it means straight away you have to study the painting to get the meanings of it. As many things are going on in the painting it takes time to figure out meanings for each part. The painting in question doesn’t look like a real stained glass window as the colours are too vibrant however that is what George and Gilbert use to make there paintings more eye catching.

They have used oil paints for this to make the colours stand out and to also make it look similar to stained glass. The paintings take up nearly a full wall in the exhibition room.

This piece of art work is bright and colourful which makes it a happy piece of artwork, however the actual content of the painting is a completely different feel, it makes you question religion and what it is about as it has hidden meanings. I would use this for inspiration on my own work because they are very controversial artists which make a statement on the art word therefore will be remembered also they bring up questions about religion that would usually not be talked about.