AUCKLAND.- Award-winning British artists, Gilbert & George, are exhibiting their cheeky, often provocative and always thought-provoking artworks in an exclusive exhibition currently on view at the Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki.

Gilbert & George: The Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland Exhibition 2022 was developed exclusively with Gilbert & George by Auckland Art Gallery. It presents an overview of their work in the 21st century – some of the most instantly recognisable contemporary art of our times.

‘Gilbert & George: The Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland Exhibition 2022 presents artworks from an artistic career that has courted controversy, challenged the status quo and championed alternative viewpoints,’ says Gallery Director, Kirsten Lacy

‘It is a wonderful coup that Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki is bringing Gilbert & George to Aotearoa for the very first time in an exhibition devised specifically for New Zealanders to enjoy.’

As founding figures of British conceptual and performance art, Gilbert & George describe their photomontages – comprising their carefully gathered photographs organised in multiple grids – as ‘pictures’

Gilbert & George have created art together since they met and studied at London’s St Martin’s School of Art in 1967. Since then, they have appeared as subjects in their artworks and shared a belief in ‘art for all’ and consider anything – and everything – as potential subject matter for their projects.

‘Internationally admired British artists Gilbert & George have worked together for more than five decades, describing themselves as living sculpture who are “two people but one artist”. Their pictures respond to our past, present and future worlds’, says Gallery Senior Curator, Ron Brownson.

Through their artworks, Gilbert & George have challenged taboos, fought artistic convention and taken a unique perspective on life today. Utilising their own bodies, nothing is too personal or too forbidden for these artists whose work is a visual portrait of contemporary life.

Gilbert & George were awarded the Turner Prize in 1986 and their work represented the United Kingdom at the Venice Biennale in 2005. The exhibition is supported by an accompanying softcover and signed hardcover publication, Gilbert & George: The Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland Exhibition 2022, which is published by Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki and will be available from the Gallery shop when the exhibition opens.