‘Sex, death, race and religion’ – these are the topics that the London-based artists Gilbert and George announced they wanted to cover in this talk with Dr Nicholas Cullinan of the National Portrait Gallery. On Context offers insights into the artist’s relationship to concepts: from sculpture to the city, ‘picture making’ to posterity. Gilbert and George resist many of the contexts and interpretations projected onto their practice: trying to keep their work as accessible and open as possible, reflecting their self-proclaimed belief in ‘art for all’. 

'We like to let the pictures make themselves as much as possible. We like to think that there are other forces apart from us, being in the studio knowing what to do. […] When we go to the studio in the morning and see what we were doing the day before, it’s always impossible for us to reconstruct exactly how we arrived at it.' – Gilbert & George 

Gilbert and George live and work in London and since they met in 1967, they have made over 100 museum exhibitions. In 2023, the Gilbert & George Centre opened in East London. Dr Nicholas Cullinan is Director of the National Portrait Gallery, London. 

Find images of the artwork discussed here.

About Frieze Masters Podcast

Series two of the Frieze Masters Podcast is now available, bringing you our annual programme of live talks – the Frieze Masters Talks programme – curated by the Director of the National Portrait Gallery, Dr Nicholas Cullinan. These eight conversations between leading artists, writers, museum directors and curators all reflect the ethos of the Frieze Masters fair: looking at the past with a contemporary gaze.

The Frieze Masters Talks programme and the Frieze Masters Podcast are brought to you by Frieze in collaboration with dunhill, the foremost British luxury menswear house.

This podcast is a Reduced Listening production. The producer was Silvia Malnati and sound engineer was Andy Fell.

About Frieze

Frieze is the world’s leading platform for modern and contemporary art, dedicated to artists, galleries, collectors and art lovers alike. Frieze comprises three magazines – 𝘧𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘻𝘦, Frieze Masters Magazine and Frieze Week; five international art fairs – Frieze London, Frieze Masters, Frieze New York, Frieze Los Angeles and Frieze Seoul; and No.9 Cork Street, a permanent gallery space in the heart of London. 

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