- 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 artworkWriter, 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
PARADISICAL PICTURES suggest a chapter in a story that has been
unfolding before them and will continue beyond them. This 'paradise' is
not a destination but a stage on a longer journey. It is a dream of
paradise and the exploration of an archetype that is both secular and
sacred.The paradise of these PARADISICAL PICTURES proposes a more
ambivalent view - a place of biomorphic mutation, exhaustion,
watchfulness and possession.Hurtwood's Special Edition of PARADISICAL
PICTURES is released to celebrate the opening of the Gilbert & George
Centre and will include original artwork.
