Too often retrospectives at major museums do not really succeed in allowing people to appreciate and understand the work of the artists concerned. Hype and overcrowding can lead to the feeling of being carried from room to room on a conveyor belt, with little chance to appreciate the art in front of you. Suddenly, you find yourself in the gift shop whereupon you feel duty bound to buy the catalogue in order to understand what you have just "seen."  It seems one approach to retrospectives is to offer little by way of depth, preferring instead to rely on the artists well known works in order to attract large crowds; or curators can take the opposite route--swamping the viewer in detail to the point where he/she is wholly unable to pull back and comprehend/enjoy the totality of the artists work. 

Imagine my surprise after attending Major Exhibition, the Tate Modern's current retrospective of the work of Gilbert & George. The exhibit succeeds in tracing the work of the artists in a way that is engaging and detailed, but not to the point where you lose sight of the direction of the artists' overall catalogue of work. This exhibit is preceded by the artists' choice to show snapshots of their work, such as last years SONOFAGOD pictures exhibited at White Cube.

Major Exhibition allows viewers to enjoy the work of Gilbert & George as something close to a whole.  In isolation their style is provocative, their execution stunning, and the power of their work clear; however being able to see the progression of their work over the years allows the viewer to appreciate the wider achievement of the East End duo over the last four decades.

The show gives you an idea about the development, over a seemingly short space of time, of a style that is unmistakably that of Gilbert & George. Their early charcoal sketches, although similar in terms of tonality and scale to later works, were quickly left behind as the artists adopted the medium of photography, what is known now as their signature. The emergence of rectangular photographic grids that we recognize as characteristic of the majority of their work has enabled Gilbert & George to express themselves as a duo without the telltale individuality of handmade marks on paper and canvass.  As the grid style developed over time, the use of color clearly became more and more widespread, with the effect that recent works such as WAS JESUS HETEROSEXUAL? feel like blazing bright stained glass windows relative to earlier black and white works such as DUSTY CORNERS.

Through a mix of sheer scale and the juxtaposition of images and words (sometimes profane but not excessively so), the grids wield great power. Whilst early works are clearly inward looking (such as BLOODY LIFE which alludes to the artists' lives in Spittalfields and their proclivity for drunkenness), by the late 1970s the focus shifts to issues significant to greater society.  COMMUNISM uses contrasting images of the Nat West tower--a huge skyscraper in London's financial district--and “communism” scrawled in graffiti on a filthy urban wall to reflect the battle of ideas that divided the world at that particular time.

Communism, Gilbert & George

COMMUNISM is but one example of Gilbert & George's ability to connect with their audience about substantial issues. From general ideological struggles of the later 20^th century, the doldrums of the 1970s, the racial tensions that marked the 1980s, to the arrival of fundamentalist terrorism in all of our lives at the start of the 21st century, Gilbert & George have been able to pass meaningful and effective comment through their work. Major Exhibition not only reflects this fact, but makes central the point that this show has been entirely composed of images discovered in close proximity to Gilbert & George's East London home. The exhibition showcases the telling of a much wider history through iconography and imagery, both spectacular and mundane, found in a particular corner of the earth.  By suggesting the intimacy of these overarching social and cultural issues to their own lives, the artists substantiate viewers' own anxieties.

Another major facet of Major Exhibition demonstrates the different tones of voice that Gilbert & George have been able to adopt over the years. The spectrum is wide, with works such as BLEEDING and CHERRY BLOSSOM communicating with dark brutality, and others such as YOUTH ATTACK speaking in a far more light-hearted and colorful manner. The bringing together of so much of Gilbert & George's work leaves us with an overview of both the light and the dark side of the two gentlemen from E1. As a show, it should also be praised for offering an insight into the personalities behind the work, making use of interviews and candid video footage to allow visitors to better comprehend how Gilbert & George feel about their own work. Their passion for their work is clear, but to those who are not familiar with Gilbert & George as individuals, their quiet and soft spoken manner seems somehow at odds with many of the cutting statements that their work consistently makes. 

As a retrospective, Major Exhibition should be held in high regard. It offers a manageable amount of material in order to understand the development of Gilbert & George as artists. Major Exhibition allows visitors to begin to understand how the artists have sparked debate. The balance achieved between detail and some kind of larger overview is something for which to be grateful. Whilst Major Exhibition enables the viewer to feel familiar with so much of Gilbert & George's work, it is not overwhelming, and allows the viewer to appreciate their wider social relevance.

http://www.tate.org.uk/modern/exhibitions/gilbertandgeorge/