062 ARTISTS STUDIOS


PIONEERING ARTIST duo Gilbert and George are world renowned for their visually impactful and sometimes shocking artworks, which they have created together since 1967. Rejecting the elitist, dispassionate and overly formal art practices of the late 1960s, Gilbert Prousch (b.1943) and George Passmore (b.1942) decided they would produce ‘art for all’, embracing colour, sentiment, emotion and sexuality, which at the time were considered taboo. Soon after leaving St Martin’s School of Art and unable to afford a studio, they declared themselves ‘living sculptures’. Refusing to separate life from art,


they put themselves at the centre of their work, from their earliest performances as ‘singing sculptures’, to their colourful large- scale, multi-panelled photo works juxtaposing self portraits with gritty images of urban life, nature, religious symbols and, controversially, their own bodily excretions. Having tackled head-on the realities of modern life, warts and all, for more than 50 years, the artists are now considering their legacy and have opened a new museum in London’s East End dedicated to preserving their life’s work.


Situated within a leafy cobbled courtyard, Te Gilbert & George Centre is housed in a former brewery dating from the 1830s, which, despite falling within the Brick Lane conservation area, is not listed. Te site, which is accessed from Heneage Street next to the Pride of Spitalfields pub, immediately appealed to Gilbert and George when they discovered it in 2015. ‘You walk in there and it is like a magic garden,’ said the artists, who were keen to preserve its heritage while breathing new life into the historic fabric of Spitalfields. Te Centre, which has been designed by SIRS architects in close collaboration with the artists, comprises three state-of-the-art exhibition spaces over three levels totalling 280 sq m, as well as a reception and projection room, where visitors can watch the 1981 feature-length film Te World of Gilbert & George, a singular portrait of the artists examining the multiple themes of their work – religion, race, sex, death, drunkenness, fear, money, beauty, humour and poetry – while taking in the urban East End landscape as it was at the time. Te film is an essential introduction to the artists’ practice and still functions as a statement of their beliefs


despite being more than 40 years old. Te artists have also created a small walled front garden and large green wrought iron entrance gates with an ornate design based on their initials.


Building work began in June 2019 and was completed in December 2022, during which time the old brewery underwent a remarkable transformation. A large basement was constructed under its existing footprint and a new overground structure built to provide barrier-free access and sufficient gallery height. In a departure from the sterile


ALL IMAGES: THE GILBERT & GEORGE CENTRE


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