Gilbert & George: 1968 to 1980

In our century, art-making has become a commonly exercised privilege. For Gilbert and George, it is a duty to be performed. Art is their burden, willingly though sometimes painfully shouldered. As they say in A Day in the Life of George & Gilbert (1971), 'Being living sculptures is our life blood, our destiny, our romance, our disaster, our light and life'. The path is sometimes difficult, especially when it requires them to stand and wait - as George did in Posing on Stairs, a living sculpture the artists presented at the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, in 1969. While George availed himself of a handrail, Gilbert sat on a step. Each was in 'complete control', to quote the first of The Laws of Sculptors, which they set forth in 1968. Neither moved, save to breathe, for the entire five hours of the work's single spell of visibility. By exercising aesthetic control over themselves alone, Gilbert and George turned it from a privilege to a burden. Posing on Stairs had to be endured, but only by the artists.