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Gilbert & George
Shortlisted: 1984, 1986

Gilbert and George met in 1967, and have worked together as one artist ever since. In the early 1970s they began to perform 'actions', referring to themselves as 'living sculptures'. They have worked in a variety of media, including video, drawing, painting and photography, though since 1980 their photographic pieces have been the main vehicle for their meditations on the human condition.

Coming 1983 Photo-piece, 242 x 202 cm © Courtesy the artists and Jay Jopling/White Cube (London) Photo: Courtesy Anthony d'Offay Gallery, London (Shortlisted 1986)

Gilbert Proesch was born in San Martino, Italy in 1943, and George Passmore was born in Devon in 1942. They met while studying at St Martin's School of Art between 1966 and 1968. They were shortlisted for the Turner Prize in 1984 on the basis of their acclaimed retrospective show that toured the United States. The pair later won the Prize with their second nomination in 1986, for their exhibition at the Guggenheim and their major European touring show that ended up at the Hayward Gallery.

This information has been taken from The Turner Prize: Twenty Years, by Virginia Button, Tate Publishing, 2003.

View Gilbert & George in the Tate Collection