'Gilbert and George continue a tradition in England of visionaries who are both remarkable artists and remarkable poets.'
– David Sylvester

'I urge anyone interested in contemporary art and contemporary London to read The Words of Gilbert & George.'
– Lisa Liebmann in Bookforum

'Gilbert & George are among the most original, forceful and profound artists of their generation ... in the line of Spencer and Bacon as artists who are prepared to square up to the great issues of the human condition.' – The Burlington Magazine

Notoriously controversial statements, writings, interviews and manifesto art works from 1969 to 1997 by Gilbert and George are collected here for the first time. This important anthology includes previously unpublished material as well as the complete text of the artists' rare book Side by Side (1971), passages from Dark Shadow (1974) and the complete unedited transcript of the artists' film The World of Gilbert & George (1980). Illustrated with almost thirty years of portraits of the artists by photographers such as Cecil Beaton, David Bailey and Wolfgang Tillmans, this book also includes conversations with Anne Seymour, Gordon Burn, Shere Hite,
Wolf Jahn, Dave Stewart and many others. This is a delightful compendium, revealing these artists' prodigious talent for creating paradoxes which, surprisingly, bring hope and passion out from the midst of the neon rush of post-war culture.

Gilbert and George (b. 1943 and 1942) are two of the most important living British artists on the international scene. Immensely popular and instantly recognisable by their inscrutable manner and formal dress, their work has been the subject of major exhibitions throughout Europe, Asia, and America, including a retrospective at Tate Modern in 2007.

Hans-Ulrich Obrist is Co-Director of the Serpentine Gallery in London and was formerly a curator at ARC Musée d'art moderne de la Ville de Paris and at the Museum-in-Progress, Vienna. With Marie-Laure Bernadac, he has also edited the collected writings and interviews of Louise Bourgeois, also published by Violette Editions.