Dimensions: displayed: 2422 x 2014 mm
Copyright: © Gilbert and George | CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 DEED, Photo: Tate
Curator: Gilbert and George's "Happy," currently residing in the Tate Collections, presents a striking, large-scale photographic composition. Editor: Well, "happy" isn't the first word that springs to mind. More like… a bad dream. Yellow and red hands reaching out, that upside-down face—it's unsettling! Curator: The artists employ a grid-like structure, compartmentalizing the imagery, which serves to both isolate and connect these disparate elements. Editor: It's like two separate selves wrestling for dominance. The top half feels restrained, almost clinical, while the bottom half is pure, raw emotion. Curator: Indeed, the work plays with binaries: control versus release, consciousness versus the subconscious, even life and death, perhaps. Editor: I see it as a mirror reflecting the absurdity of trying to be happy all the time. Maybe it’s about the performance of happiness rather than the real thing. Curator: The strategic deployment of colour—the jaundice-like yellow and the visceral red—intensifies these contrasts, creating visual tension. Editor: I love how they push the boundaries of what art can be. You either love it or hate it, but you definitely feel something. Curator: It certainly presents a potent semiotic field. Editor: It gets you thinking, doesn't it? Maybe that's the point of it all.
Comments
Join the conversation
Join millions of artists and users on Artera today and experience the ultimate creative platform.
tate 28 days ago
⋮
Known by their first names, Gilbert Proesch and George Passmore began their artistic collaboration over thirty years ago. In 1970 they began calling themselves 'living sculptures' and made themselves the primary subjects of their art. Large-scale photographic works, made up of smaller photographs structured into a regular grid, are characteristic of their work of the last quarter century. 'Happy' is from a series titled 'Modern Fears' (1980-81). These works deal in a pictorially heraldic way with everyday life, fears, fantasies and moods of the artists. Here they are presented as two gargoyles. Their expressions are grotesque and irreverent. Gallery label, August 2004
CollectMore like this
