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Gilbert & George ‘The Banners’ (2015)

£10

Text by Michael Bracewell
Designed by Gilbert & George
297 x 210 mm, softback
40 pages, 31 colour illustrations
ISBN 978-1-910844-0-69
Published by White Cube, November 2015

Gilbert & George have long produced catalogues to accompany each new group of pictures they make, in limited runs, many of which are now collectors’ items. This modest publication, designed by the artists, joins this library of titles, in keeping with their deep held belief of ‘Art for all’.

Including 30 individual works, the series by Gilbert & George, titled simply THE BANNERS, uses hard-hitting slogans to address belief and conformism with a straightforward and uncompromising visual language. While THE BANNERS continue Gilbert & George’s exploration of urban text and typography, such as newspaper headlines, posters, flyers, street signage and sex advertisements, they also relate more specifically to a ‘living sculpture’, created for the ‘Extinction Marathon’ held in 2014 at the Serpentine Gallery, London. For this event, Gilbert & George stood silently in front of an audience for just over four minutes, each respectively holding a banner that read ‘BURN THAT BOOK’ and ‘FUCK THE PLANET’.

Long-time advocate for Gilbert & George, the writer and novelist Michael Bracewell once again offers an inciteful and nuanced reading of these simple statements; statements that, represented in the distinctive handwriting of Gilbert & George, reveal complex layers of meaning.

Michael Bracewell is a British writer and novelist, the author of six novels and two works of non-fiction, including the highly acclaimed England is Mine (1997).