Writer, novelist and cultural commentator Michael Bracewell explores the paradise behind the PARADISICAL PICTURES; the 35 artworks made by Gilbert & George in 2019. The artists' work confounds and rejects all art historical classification or affiliation to other schools or movements in art. As affirmed by the PARADISICAL PICTURES, there is no formalist, aesthetic or conceptual precedent to the ideology and vision they convey with such intensity.
The paintings are fantastical, allegorical, narrative, representational, psychedelic, absurdist, modern yet archaic, surrealist-grotesque, inflected with both tragedy and comedy, filled with pathos, touchingly eloquent of human frailty, age and exhaustion. The art of Gilbert & George is a visionary art, above all – reports from a cosmic journey through life that begins on the streets of London.
- The book focuses on the fantastical, allegorical and psychedelic PARADISICAL PICTURES by Gilbert & George, arranged in chronological order
- Includes a fascinating commentary of the paintings by writer Michael Bracewell
- Hurtwood's Special Edition of PARADISICAL PICTURESis released to celebrate the opening of the Gilbert & George Centre and will include foiling, colored edges and original artwork