Gilbert and George
Andy Warhol
No, They’re not photographs.
But there is no doubt that photography played some role in the making of these prints. In many ways, I’d argue Andy Warhol portended (or at least advanced) the evolution of photography into its role as a versatile, relevant, and true medium in the realm of Fine Art.
Gilbert and George are also amazing artists in their own right.
Because I have a profound appreciation for all three artists involved in this image, I’ll share the digital chat card from the National Galleries of Scotland:
“Unlike many of his other celebrity portraits, these paintings of Gilbert and George, the British artist-duo, are sober and restrained in their treatment. The colours are toned-down and pastel-like and applied uniformly over each canvas. The screenprinted images in black ink are un-smudged and clearly defined. They are based on polaroids taken by Warhol, for which Gilbert and George posed in a highly self-conscious manner. In order to stress the formality of the portrait poses of the two artists (who specialise in staged photographs of themselves), Warhol has included the paper edges of the polaroids as narrow strips on either side of the figures.”
Image © The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts