Pierre et Gilles on view at
The New Museum of Contemporary Art

Pierre et Gilles :
Photo: The Idiot, 1977, Model: Iggy Pop




Pierre et Gilles : Medusa-Zuleika

NEW YORK, 27 September 2000 - The New Museum of Contemporary Art in downtown Manhattan has mounted the first museum survey in the U.S. of unique hand-painted photographs by the French collaborative team Pierre et Gilles. On view until 7 January 2001, the fifty-six pieces from over two decades employ props, make-up, costumes and theatrical lighting to produce idyllic scenes, which once photographed and printed, are then further manipulated with layers of paint and glaze.

Subject matter embraces a wide range of themes from sex, homoeroticism and the male nude to glamour and fame, religion and myth. Greek gods, film and pop music stars, French sailors, muscle men, Indian film stars and Roman Catholic saints comprise the image vocabulary of Pierre and Gilles.

Celebrity subjects on view include portraits of Iggy Pop, Yves Saint-Laurent and Catherine Deneuve from the 1970s. A more recent and complex treatment of sex can be found in the series Les Plaisirs de la Fôret (1995 - 1996).

While less well-known in the United States than the British duo Gilbert and George, Pierre and Gilles have an established reputation in Europe and have had an impact on fashion photography, European visual arts, advertising, media, and European gay culture. They have been partners in life for 25 years.

Pierre et Gilles will travel to the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco from 10 February to 6 May 2001.










Pierre et Gilles : Nina Hagen, 1993
Private Collection, Paris.

Pierre et Gilles: Dans Le Port du Havre, 1998
Model: Frédéric Lenfant
Private Collection, Neuilly, France.


Photos courtesy of Galerie Jérôme de Noirmont, Paris

New Museum of Contemporary Art
Manhattan, New York
15 September 2000 - 7 January 2001
Tel: (1) 212 219 12 22