LONDON.- The Serpentine Gallery presents the first complete exhibition of Gilbert & George’s The Dirty Words Pictures, 1977, on view until September 1. This show brings together all 26 works from this seminal and powerful group of pictures. The Dirty Words Pictures, 1977 juxtapose graffitied swear words and slogans with disturbing images of urban life and the bleak presence of the artists themselves. The Dirty Words Pictures were themselves directly concerned with the state of Britain, if not exactly with the state itself. Although it is 25 years since these works were produced, the world has not substantially changed, notwithstanding the greater public tolerance of expletives. Relentlessly exploring aspects of 20th-century turmoil, the pictures reveal the changing face of urban living and shifting attitudes towards sexuality. These challenging pictures ask many questions of the viewer, such as, what is more obscene expletives or social injustice?


Gilbert & George are among the most famous and thought-provoking artists of our time. Their art has been the subject of major museum exhibitions throughout the world from London to China, including the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York and the Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris. Now entering their 60s, Gilbert and George might almost be described as a national institution, if not a national treasure, were it not that such descriptions would diminish them.