Gilbert & George. Drifters
30 May 2026 - 1 April 2027
Two smartly dressed men, often with a glass in their hands, wander through the rough East London of the 1970s. In Drifters, you see Gilbert & George at the start of their career: young, ambitious and searching for a new form for their art. Due to a lack of funds, they produce charcoal drawings, but would much rather create large-scale photographic works. The presentation combines the large drawings of Drifters with two early photographic works, Destructivism and Carefree, and other Drinking Pieces from that period.
Art about real life
After graduating from the Saint Martin’s School of Art, Gilbert & George go to live and work in Spitalfields, a run-down neighbourhood in London’s East End. This is near the Truman Brewery where gin is produced. They aim to create ‘art for all’, in response to the aloof conceptual art that was becoming popular at the time. Their work is about real life: about the city, about going out, about drinking, and about themselves.
Drinking as the subject
The works in this presentation form part of the so-called Drinking Pieces (1971–1974), in which drinking is both a subject and an integral part of their lives and artistic practice. The duo make no distinction between drinking and working, and elevate boozing to an art form. Gilbert: ‘But at that time, 1972, ’73, I think that drunkenness took over (…). We had money for the first time and we did a lot of drinking, a lot of partying.’ George: ‘We used drinking as the subject and content. Why not use drink as the subject if it is part of your life?’
Drifters
Drifters was created in 1972 for an exhibition in Rome. The large charcoal drawings were made to fit the gallery space and consist of separate sections filled with words and images. Amidst the tangle of branches, Gilbert & George themselves are depicted, ‘suited and booted’. Many words refer to alcohol and drunkenness, such as ‘Gin and Tonic’ and ‘Brazenly Plastered’ (extreme intoxication). Other words, by contrast, refer to their posture as English gentlemen. Together with the photographic works, Drifters shows how Gilbert & George experimented and, step by step, developed the visual language that would later make them world-famous.
