Gilbert & George, BONE TIES (2022), via Lehmann Maupin
This month at Lehmann Maupin’s New York exhibition space, artists Gilbert & George present a body of new works, unified under the title THE CORPSING PICTURES, and centering on concepts of death and humor in equal measure. The exhibition comprises a suite of richly colored pictures starring the artists themselves in various poses of alarm and resignation as bones encroach in intricate patterns over their faces and bodies. Employing their signature use of bold color and symmetrical composition, Gilbert & George confront the subject of mortality and life itself.
Gilbert & George, PALLIASSE (2022), via Lehmann Maupin
The show seems to explore and continue the artists’s interpretation and expansion of the body as a site for performance and exploration. “Corpsing” is a term that comes from theater. It refers to the instant an actor breaks character by doing something unprofessional such as accidentally laughing or moving when they are supposed to be playing dead. In such moments, the character is revealed as an actor, the illusion broken, and the scene killed. In many of THE CORPSING PICTURES, Gilbert & George stare out at the viewer, breaking the fourth wall through direct address and deliberately embracing the cardinal mistake of rookie actors by “corpsing” death. Each picture is richly colored in a red and gold palette that features Gilbert & George alternately ensconced, entombed, and enclosed behind a lively formation of bones. Skeletons of various origins make a sepulchral appearance. Many are human (BONE BOX and HA HA have a distinctly archeological character); some are vegetal (RIB TIES and TIES include the delicate fringes of desiccated flora); other bones are implied, as in CHAINS, which features no visible bones at all but simply Gilbert & George–still enfleshed–whose skeletons provide the armature for their signature suits.
Gilbert & George, HA-HA (2022), via Lehmann Maupin
The heft and character of the bones play out a drama of memento mori told in visually striking vignettes. EQUALS centers two large bones across the bodies of Gilbert & George, playfully recalling the adage that death is the great equalizer. KISS BONE anoints the pair with the kiss of death or life–a hulking X formed by two massive femurs. BONE WHEEL, on the other hand, features delicate patterns of bones arranged in pleasing ornaments across the picture plane. Indeed, THE CORPSING PICTURES are insistently horizontal, signaling the position of final repose by references to pavement, litter, vegetation, prone bodies, and upturned shoe soles. Many of these bones are no longer held in vertical alignment by ligaments and muscles, but clattered to the floor–perhaps the result of a divining incantation or a diverting game such as pick up sticks.
Twisting the body towards meditations on both death and its framing in life, the show closes August 18th.
Gilbert & George, EQUALS (2022), via Lehmann Maupin
– D. Creahan
Read more:
Gilbert & George at Lehmann Maupin [Exhibition Site]
