[Back to artist listing] GILBERT & GEORGE
A Portrait of the Artists As Young Men, 1970; The Nature of Our Looking, 1972
October 3–November 14, 2008

MTV 44 1/2, the outdoor, gilded screen located in the heart of New York City’s Times Square, will continue its video exhibition series curated by Creative Time with early works by Gilbert & George, opening October 3. The films shown, A Portrait of the Artists As Young Men and The Nature of Our Looking, are from 1970 and 1972, respectively, and are timed to correspond with the artists’ major retrospective at the Brooklyn Museum, on view from October 3 to January 11.  

Creative Time kicked off At 44 1/2 the overwhelmingly successful presentation of Shallow by Malcolm McLaren, and was followed by selections from Mark Tribe’s Port Huron Project, reenactments of classic New Left speeches. And from November 15 to December 31, a program featuring Matt Calderwood, Mika Rottenberg, and Guido van der Werve will be shown. 

The larger than life 44 1/2 high definition screen is located on Broadway between 44th and 45th Streets, directly across the street from MTV’s offices and studio. This video program is part of Creative Time’s long history of presenting public art in Times Square, and will continue to be featured on 44 1/2 with at least four artist projects annually. 

“This is a tremendous opportunity to continue Creative Time’s seven-year history of presenting video art in Times Square,” said Anne Pasternak, president and artistic director of Creative Time. “We are thrilled to be working with MTV, an organization that has long been at the forefront of music and visual culture, and to support the dreams of artists by presenting their work in the media capital of the world.”  

“More than 27 years ago, MTV helped give birth to a new video medium by showcasing music videos,” said Jeff Yapp, Executive Vice President, Program Enterprises, MTV Networks Music & Logo Group. “It’s only fitting that now, by working with Creative Time to feature this amazing group of artists, we’re exposing millions of visitors who travel through the Cross Roads of the World in Times Square to video art.” 

RETROSPECTIVE
The Brooklyn Museum will be the final venue of an international tour of the first retrospective in more than twenty years of art by the internationally acclaimed artists Gilbert & George. On view from October 3, 2008, through January 11, 2009, the exhibition comprises more than ninety pictures produced since 1970, among them more than a dozen that will be seen only in the Brooklyn presentation. The exhibition was organized by Tate Modern, London, with the support and collaboration of the artists, who consider this to be the definitive presentation of their art. It traces their stylistic and emotional evolution through their pictures and works in other media, ranging from Charcoal on Paper Sculptures from the early 1970s to postcard pieces, to ephemera, dating back to the 1960s.  

ABOUT GILBERT & GEORGE
Gilbert was born in San Martino, Italy, in 1943. He studied at the Wolkenstein School of Art, the Hallenstein School of Art, and the Munich Academy of Art. George was born in Devon, England, in 1942 and studied at the Dartington Adult Education Centre and the Dartington Hall College of Art, as well as at the Oxford School of Art. Both attended St. Martin’s School of Art in London. For more than forty years they have lived and worked in East London in a house on Fournier Street that they have said is, in many ways, a part of their art.