Gilbert & George review, 21st Century Pictures: Hayward Gallery exhibition is quite hectically of the moment

Mark Hudson | The Independent | 6th October 2025

As art students Gilbert and George sang pre-war songs, their faces painted bronze. Since then their endlessly provocative work has addressed sex, money, race, the tabloids and (particularly) religion. They have become, says a writer, the “scabrous chroniclers of London in the tradition of Hogarth”. Some think their act has become formulaic but it is still “quite hectically of the moment.” A curator discusses some of their works here.