One of the first exhibitions that’s likely to open after lockdown comes from London’s very own Gilbert and George, in their trademark style of large bold photo canvases
On display at the White Cube gallery, the exhibition, New Normal Pictures is a series of new works created during the covid lockdown at their home studio in Spitalfields, based on photos taken of the two of them before the lockdown occurred.
In their collages, the artists appear as zonked figures amongst disorientating London cityscapes that are embedded with often-overlooked objects such as litter, railings, drug bags, shovels, and old trinkets. These items are like a ‘palette’ of primal images throughout the pictures, creating all-too-real arranged visions of our world today and beyond.
These have then been composed into collages and blown up to a huge technicolour scale. It’s apt that the gallery is the White Cube, as it needs the whiteness of the gallery to offset the colours of the collages.
Being a private gallery, it can, somewhat controversially, open earlier than the big museums and galleries — so the exhibition is currently expected to open on Tuesday 13th April.
It’s only open for a few weeks at the White Cube in Mason’s Yard in Central London, and only Tuesday to Friday even then. You need to book tickets in advance here.
Coinciding with the exhibition, Gilbert & George have created limited charity editions of two sets of their plates made for The Canvas Café in London for the project ‘Double Helpings’, which helps some of the city’s most vulnerable residents. Each presented as two plates together, BEARDLIGHT and BEARDTOAST from 2021 and ROSY and ON THE BENCH from 2020, these limited editions are individually numbered and are accompanied by a photograph of the artist and a certificate of authenticity. Interest can be registered here.