Gilbert & George, a duo who first caused controversy in their ‘living sculptures’ of the 1970s, here explore themes of life and the human condition. George Passmore and Gilbert Proesch met at St Martin’s School of Art in 1967, and rapidly formed a partnership that has lasted their career. Their work is critical of normative hetero society - depicting cultural taboos and challenging artistic conventions.

The present lot demonstrates Gilbert & George’s bold engagement with sensitive issues: ‘We are dealing with universal subjects: death, hope, life, fear, sex, money, race, religion – these are things that are relevant to everybody’ (Artist Biography: Gilbert & George, February 2007, www.tate.org.uk). They have returned to the theme of the crucifixion a number of times, attracted to such a powerful image of pain and vulnerability. This image is not an expression of religious faith, but rather an exploration of the shared human experience of suffering. For the artists, Jesus’s suffering is a metaphor for a universal truth: "Our subject matter is the world. It is pain. Pain. Just to hear the world turning is pain, isn’t it? Totally, every day, every second. Our inspiration is all those people alive today on the planet, the desert, the jungle, the cities. We are interested in the human person, the complexity of life" (Artist Biography: Gilbert & George, www.whitecube.com). Unafraid to tackle such an iconic image, they impose their trademark format of the large grid, thereby fracturing the image of Christ on the cross. This work shares a common theme across their work: a rigorous examination of the body, often using their own, and the ego. The suffering of Jesus can also be interpreted as a metaphor for the sacrifice and personal investment of the artist to create a powerful work of art. The image of Jesus therefore represents the potential wealth of human emotion, "as a figure of pain, it’s extraordinarily powerful" (Artist Biography: Gilbert & George, www.tate.org.uk).