I are cultured

For the first time since a visit to the tate Modern a couple of months ago, I indulged in some A!R!T! yesterday at the exhibition of Gilbert and George's "Dirty Words Pictures" at the Serpentine Gallery in London's trendy Hyde Park.

It's a fairly small exhibition, 26 photo montages from 1977, the year of the Queen's Silver Jubilee. The artice linked above gives much more detailed background info than I could manage (not to mention a more knowledgeable and worthy artistic criticism).

And it rocks! I've said countless times I have barely any understanding of the language of art, and I clam up whenever I try to describe my feelings towards it. But this show made me feel disturbed and amused, but more than anything, at ease. Familiarity was a constant factor, both relating to the viewer's own experience at to repetition within the images themselves. The dirty words themselves were possibly the least powerful images shown, reminiscent of juvenility among the seriousness of each tableau.

The presence of Gilbert and George in each picture gave a personal context to each, but each time they were represented differently, as benign deities or put-upon proletarians.

But more than anything, one of the primary emotions the show encouraged in me was nostalgia. I was 3 years old when the photographs were taken, and the tone and content of them conjures almost-forgotten images from the greatest depths of my memory. Thick-rimmed spectacles, old-fashioned signposts and a plethora of Austins, Rovers and Wolseleys - almost memories I can't be sure I have myself, but rather may have picked up from images of the 60s and 70s. Still, the slightly flat, depressing nature of the urban environment reminds me of how 5-year-old mark perceived Wandsworth in, say, 1979, and it had probably the most striking effect on me.

As an effort to capture a point in time, both specific and vague, the show works wonders. It doesn't heavy-handedly force the viewer to take up every intended reference point, but successfully melds the scopophilic desires of the audience with the intentions of the artists. I know I should concentrate more on the hard-hitting comments the exhibiton makes on decay, oppression and privilege, but all I can do is respond in a personal way.

Whatever you think of this drivel, if you're in London and can get there before the show ends on September 1st, then give it a go. It's free, it won't take more than half an hour, and it's a lovely place to see art.

Posted by biondino at August 07, 2002 10:18 PM