R. Fuchs, ed., Gilbert & George, The Complete Pictures, 1971-2005, Volume 2: 1988-2005, London: Tate, 2007, p. 1101 (illustrated)
Catalogue Essay
“ We like it very much when the pictures take over. When they’re bigger than the viewer. You go to a museum to look at a picture, but we like it when the picture looks at you.” GILBERT & GEORGE
Gilbert & George have for nearly fifty years produced an indelible body of work that is inseparable from their double. Under the motto, “Art for All”, the artists strive for accessibility of their work to all viewers. Wheel, 2004, depicts the artists superimposed with an urban automotive aesthetic, that retains a formal classicism. Their images are created through a mirror effect lending their bodies a rigidity much like that of an ancient Egyptian or medieval statuary. Their eyes continue this quotation of history through their elongated flat white corneas and dark oversized pupils. The symbolism progresses even further with the large ovals surrounding the bodies appearing as Gothic cathedral niches. The overall echoing symmetry to the composition lends a kaleidoscopic feel.
Though Gilbert & George employ several art historical themes within this piece, they have also sampled the contemporary urban styles within this work. The elevation of the wheels from luxury material item to high art imagery, along with the large “2004” stretching across the top of the work, repurpose tropes particular to the design of Hip-hop music albums. This is reinforced with the use of the Ferrari logo colors as the palette for this work. Wheel is a harmonious mix of art historical forms and ideals of symmetry repurposed using the tropes of Hip-hop aesthetic and shows the commitment the artists have to their motto: “Art for All”.