Lehmann Maupin presents THE CORPSING PICTURES, a new group of pictures by Gilbert & George. The exhibition marks their tenth solo presentation at the gallery. The exhibition comprises a suite of richly colored pictures starring the artists themselves in various poses of alarm and resignation as bones encroach in intricate patterns over their faces and bodies. Masterfully employing their signature use of bold color and symmetrical composition, Gilbert & George confront the subject of mortality and life itself with winking gallows humor, leaving each picture open to multiple interpretations.

Gilbert & George met as art students in 1967 at Saint Martin’s School of Art, where they developed the concept of “living sculptures.” Meticulously groomed and dressed in suits, the artists’ legendary promenades through the streets of London, heads and hands coated in metallic powders, formed the blueprint for future art that centered on the performative and sculptural potential of the body. Since then, they have lived and worked together in London’s East End, their individual identities subsumed into a vision of animate sculpture. Gilbert & George have long been beloved fixtures and keen observers of their changing world. As attentive to the detritus in the gutters of London as they are to the shifting social mores of the citizens who walk its streets, the artists have provoked strong reactions and critical thinking on subjects ranging from sex, violence, identity, and death.