The Meaning of the Earth

Wolf Jahn is deeply knowledgeable about Gilbert & George's work and practice, having written extensively about them over the past 40 years, including the book The Art of Gilbert & George (Thames & Hudson, 1989) The Meaning of the Earth has been designed to reflect the anarchic nature of Gilbert and George's practice. Only Gilbert and George's works are allowed to sit large across the pages - all other works and comparative images are deliberately shrunk down and thrown into the margins - reflecting the importance of the unique system of meaning they have wrought within their practice The cover and printed edges of the book are illustrated with original artwork created by Gilbert & George especially for the book
The Meaning of the Earth offers a retrospective on the lives and work of the relentlessly controversial artists, placing them within the context of twentieth century British culture. Wolf Jahn tells the story of how Gilbert & George found their identity in opposition to pervasive ideas around social conformity and religion after meeting in 1967.\nThe artists staged an internal revolution, mining their psyches to create visionary and unwaveringly modern art. The ‘two people but one artist’ ask the questions that gnaw at us all: ‘Where do we come from?’, ‘Who are we?’ and ‘Where are we going?’ The book meditates on the artists’ role in this century, connecting their beginnings as Living Sculptures to their pictorial work of today.\nThe Meaning of the Earth is a continuation of Jahn’s 1989 work, The Art of Gilbert & George. The author writes a playful philosophical interrogation of Gilbert & George’s work that truly grasps its cosmic scale.