16 photographs, gelatin silver print on paper with dye on paper mounted onto board
Tate Collection
Works with images
General Collection
ARTIST ROOMS
National Heritage Memorial Fund
Art Fund
Collection
<a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/gilbert-george-1163" aria-label="More by Gilbert & George" data-gtm-name="header_link_artist" data-gtm-destination="page--artist">Gilbert & George</a>
Hunger
ARTIST ROOMS
Acquired jointly with the National Galleries of Scotland through The d'Offay Donation with assistance from the National Heritage Memorial Fund and the Art Fund 2008
abstraction
adults
body
cartoon / comic strip
colour
emotions, concepts and ideas
figure
formal qualities
from recognisable sources
homosexuality
man
people
sex
sex and relationships
sexual organs
society
<p>‘We are driven by everything that is slightly taboo, by the forbidden.’ Sexuality is a central theme of Gilbert &amp; George’s work, which is explored in images that are often provocative and disconcerting. <i>Hunger</i> and <i>Thirst </i>show a sexual act that is depicted in a cartoon-like, almost diagrammatic, manner. The artists have commented on these works: ‘we wanted to confront the viewers in a museum, as normally you don’t see this stuff, and make them accept it. It was done in a cartoon like way because in reality they would never have been accepted at that time’.</p><p><em>Gallery label, February 2010</em></p>
paper unique 16 photographs gelatin silver print dye mounted onto board
13 February 2007 – 7 May 2007
2007-05-07
15 February 2007 – 7 May 2007
2007-05-07
2007-02-15
Tate Modern (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/modern/
9 June 2007 – 9 September 2007
2007-09-09
2007-06-09
Haus der Kunst (Munich, Germany)
17 October 2007 – 13 January 2008
2008-01-13
2007-10-17
Castello di Rivoli (Turin, Italy)
2007-02-13
Gilbert & George
Exhibition
13 April 2009 – 21 March 2010
2010-03-21
2 March 2009 – 21 March 2010
2010-03-21
2009-03-02
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2009-04-13
Gilbert & George
Collection based display
29 July 2010 – 12 December 2010
2010-12-12
29 July 2010 – 1 November 2010
2010-11-01
2010-07-29
Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art (Edinburgh, UK)
http://www.nationalgalleries.org/
2010-07-29
ARTIST ROOMS Gilbert & George
Collection based display
28 April 2018 – 2 September 2018
2018-09-02
28 April 2018 – 2 September 2018
2018-09-02
2018-04-28
Brighton Museum and Art Gallery (Brighton, UK)
http://www.brighton.virtualmuseum.info
2018-04-28
ARTIST ROOMS 2018: Gilbert & George
Loan-out
Hunger
frame (each): 606 × 505 × 23 mm
displayed: 2424 × 2020 × 23 mm
<a href="/search?gid=999999788" data-gtm-name="tombstone_link_bequest" data-gtm-destination="list-page--search-results">ARTIST ROOMS</a>
Acquired jointly with the National Galleries of Scotland through The d'Offay Donation with assistance from the <a href="/search?gid=999999967" data-gtm-name="tombstone_link_bequest" data-gtm-destination="list-page--search-results">National Heritage Memorial Fund</a> and the <a href="/search?gid=999999968" data-gtm-name="tombstone_link_bequest" data-gtm-destination="list-page--search-results">Art Fund</a> 2008
<div class="text">
<p>
<i>Hunger</i> consists of sixteen individually framed photograms arranged to produce a single image. The separate frames create thin black lines that form a four by four grid across the composition. Two erect penises emerge from the base of the image and diagonally cross the grid to be received orally by two heads that emerge from the upper corners of the composition. The reciprocity of their sexual act is highlighted by the use of red and yellow, which differentiates the ownership of the corresponding body parts. The figures and their genitalia are surrounded by white space. The title and date of the work, in addition to the artists’ signatures, are printed in black ink in the bottom right panel.</p>
<p>From 1981 onwards the range of Gilbert &amp; George’s visual repertoire expanded significantly with the introduction to their work of the photogram technique that was used to produce <i>Hunger.</i> To make such works the artists created stencils and laid them onto light-sensitive paper. By exposing it to light the image of the stencil became imprinted on the paper, onto which bright dyes were then selectively applied. The photograms were dry mounted onto thin board and framed in black-painted aluminium frames with Perspex glazing. When exhibited the framed works are hung on horizontal tracks.</p>
<p>The new use of photograms in their work coincided with increased sexual narrative in Gilbert &amp; George’s output. In the artists’ opinion, the success of the photogram was that it tempered the effect of this sexual content through the playful nature of the constructed images:</p>
<p class="cttext">
</p><blockquote>We wanted to confront the viewers in a museum, as normally you don’t see this stuff, and make them accept it. It was done in a cartoon-like way because in reality they would never have been accepted at that time.<br/>(Quoted in ‘Hunger’, National Galleries of Scotland, Edinburgh, <a href="https://www.nationalgalleries.org/art-and-artists/88829/hunger">https://www.nationalgalleries.org/art-and-artists/88829/hunger</a>, accessed 18 January 2016.)</blockquote>
<p>
<i>Hunger</i> presents fellatio as a fulfilling act. The work’s imagery implies that the artists’ use of the word ‘hunger’ references a sexual desire rather than a nutritional craving and that the sexual act depicted will ultimately alleviate this urge. Despite this, Gilbert &amp; George’s use of sexual imagery is not intended to alarm the viewer, nor is it included for voyeuristic reasons. The artists themselves have said that ‘shocking is a media idea, it is not an artist idea’ (quoted in Tate Modern<i> </i>2007, p.11). In art historian Wolf Jahn’s interpretation, the cartoonish rendering of explicit imagery can be seen as the artists utilising the medieval tradition of heraldry. Jahn observes that ‘this way of dealing with form, placing it on the picture surface and then distinguishing it by the use of colour, has important affinities with heraldry: its purpose is not realistic depiction but clear signalling. Coats of arms need to be instantly recognisable from a distance’ (Jahn 1989, p.327).</p>
<p>By differentiating the figures using colour, the viewer is able to easily identify the ownership of body parts, leading to a clear presentation of the piece’s central theme of male homosexuality. The use of photograms not only allowed the artists to present gallery audiences with sexual imagery, but also, more significantly, with homosexual imagery. <i>Hunger</i> was created only fifteen years after homosexual acts were decriminalised in the UK. Gilbert &amp; George have discussed the abuse they faced living in London as openly gay men during this period. In a 1974 interview with writer Gordon Burn, Gilbert explained that ‘It was the time of the queer-bashing’ (‘Gilbert &amp; George: Interview with Gordon Burn’, reproduced in Hans-Ulrich Obrist and Robert Violette (eds.), <i>The Words of Gilbert &amp; George</i>, London 1997,<i> </i>p.72). <i>Hunger</i> simultaneously speaks of social progress and the continued challenges that were faced by the gay community.</p>
<p>In conjunction with <i>Hunger</i>, Gilbert &amp; George created works including <i>Thirst </i>1982 (Tate <a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/gilbert-george-thirst-ar00174" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>AR00174</span></a>) and <i>Sperm Eaters</i> 1982 (reproduced in Tate Modern 2007, p.92). In addition to sharing visual similarities, these works also engage with the human body’s excretions. While scatological content had been implied or referenced in Gilbert &amp; George’s work before this point, it had not been so openly displayed (see, for instance, <i>George the Cunt and Gilbert the Shit</i> 1969, Tate <a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/gilbert-george-george-the-cunt-and-gilbert-the-shit-ar00170" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>AR00170</span></a>). Male sexuality had also played an important role in the artists’ work since their series <i>Red Morning</i> 1977 (see <i>Red Morning Trouble</i>, Tate <a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/gilbert-george-red-morning-trouble-t07155" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>T07155</span></a>), a title that perhaps refers to a new sexual awakening. Such imagery became more prevalent in <i>The Dirty Words Pictures </i>1977, with male genitalia first appearing in <i>The Penis</i> 1978 (reproduced in Jahn 1989, p.225). In <i>The Penis</i> a found graffiti drawing shows a penis ejaculating into a woman’s mouth with ‘SUCK’ written underneath it. Following <i>The Penis</i>, Gilbert &amp; George created a vast catalogue of works that examine sex, male sexuality and most significantly sex between men. Female sexuality is almost entirely excluded from these works, most likely because they are intended to speak for Gilbert &amp; George’s own personal experiences. This is discussed by art historian Marco Livingstone, who has argued that the artists have used male models exclusively in their work because the boys are ‘stand-ins for the artists themselves, which is one of the prime reasons that they never use females in their pictures’ (Marco Livingstone, ‘From the Heart’, in Tate Modern 2007, p.22). Livingstone observes that this exclusion has led to misconceptions that their art is misogynistic.</p>
<p>
<b>Further reading</b>
<br/>Carter Ratcliff, <i>Gilbert &amp; George:</i> <i>The Complete Pictures 1971–1985</i>, exhibition catalogue, CAPC Musée d’Art Contemporain de Bordeaux, Bordeaux 1986, reproduced p.184.<br/>Wolf Jahn, <i>The Art of Gilbert &amp; George</i>, London 1989, reproduced p.338.<br/>
<i>Gilbert &amp; George: Major Exhibition</i>, exhibition catalogue, Tate Modern,<i> </i>London 2007, reproduced p.91.</p>
<p>Daisy Silver<br/>The University of Edinburgh<br/>January 2016</p>
<p>
<i>The University of Edinburgh is a research partner of ARTIST ROOMS.</i>
</p>
</div>

Summary
2017-06-14T00:00:00
summary
SHORT_TEXT
<p>‘We are driven by everything that is slightly taboo, by the forbidden.’ Sexuality is a central theme of Gilbert &amp; George’s work, which is explored in images that are often provocative and disconcerting. <i>Hunger</i> and <i>Thirst </i>show a sexual act that is depicted in a cartoon-like, almost diagrammatic, manner. The artists have commented on these works: ‘we wanted to confront the viewers in a museum, as normally you don’t see this stuff, and make them accept it. It was done in a cartoon like way because in reality they would never have been accepted at that time’.
<br/></p>

Display caption
2010-02-18T00:00:00
display-caption
DISPLAY_CAPTION
abstraction adults body cartoon / comic strip colour emotions, concepts and ideas figure formal qualities from recognisable sources homosexuality man people sex sex and relationships sexual organs society