Jack Freak Pictures is Gilbert & George’s most extensive and ambitious series of works to date. Art critic Michael Bracewell described them as “The are among the most iconic, philosophically astute and visually violent works they have ever created.” Race, religion, sexuality and criticism of the British establishment are the core themes that this new exhibition explores. The common element running throughout the group is the flag of the United Kingdom (the Union Jack), as this flag’s historical and symbolic presence is the exhibition’s connecting theme. Moving beyond icons, Gilbert & George allow their motif to keep its own ambiguous rhetoric so they can create geometric abstract and figurative designs in red, blue and white to the maximum possible extent. These images examine the past, the present, and the future, their powerful iconography relentlessly exploring our human experience. The series of large works are reminiscent of Gothic stained-glass windows or giant kaleidoscopes.

The below video, shot at the galerie Thaddaeus Ropac  by jfloiseau, gives a short and small impression of the Jack Freak series by Gilbert & George.

Jack Freak Pictures will be on show at the Palais des Beaux Arts (Bozar) in Brussels from 28 October 2010 – 23 January 2011. The exhibition is touring various venues and countries across Europe until February 2012 and is supported by the British Council.

Remaining tour dates and locations:
Palais des Beaux Arts (Bozar), Brussels, Belgium
28 October 2010 – 23 January 2011

Deichtorhallen, Hamburg, Germany
24 February – 22 May 2011

Lentos Kunstmuseum, Linz, Austria
17 June – 9 October 2011

Laznia Centre for Contemporary Art, Gdansk, Poland
10 November 2011 – 6 February 2012

Photos Gilbert & George | Photo top by Arndt & Partner, Berlin 2009 | Video by jfloiseau | Palais des Beaux Arts (Bozar)

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The below video shows The Ten Commandments for Gilbert & George and is a conceptual performance piece created by Gilbert and George in 1995. Although this avantgarde piece is already an older work from the oeuvre of Gilbert & George, the statement  is still very powerfull nowadays and has not lost any of its universal content and values. 

In this performance the duo artists  have written the Ten Commandments for themselves and although commandments are rigid rules in nature, these ones command the follower to be free minded, to be expressive, and to be spontaneous.

Thou shalt fight conformism
Thou shalt be the messenger of freedoms
Thou shalt make use of sex
Thou shalt reinvent life
Thou shalt create artificial art
Thou shalt have a sense of purpose
Thou shalt not know exactly what thou dost, but thou shalt do it
Thou shalt give thy love
Thou shalt grab the soul
Thou shalt give something back

Photo and video: Gilbert & George | Ubuweb

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