I had the intense pleasure of visiting the beautiful Brooklyn Museum this past weekend and attending the Gilbert & George exhibition. If you don’t know who they are, or much about they’re work I strongly suggest you go along. This is their first international tour in more than 20 years and is as dramatic, emotional, subversive and as provocative as ever. The duo’s work is definitely unique and tackles (rather brutally at times) themes such as faith, religion, sexuality, superstition, race and identity, urban life, terrorism and AIDS related loss.

My personal reaction, whether I liked a particular piece or not, was profound. My particular interest is the approach they employ and the deeply ‘graphics’ style of their work and the high level of engagement with the visitor - something I feel is very difficult to achieve in a static, passive medium such as this. Perhaps some lessons to be learned here while applying to digital / interactive design, advertising and marketing campaigns and messaging?

Here’s a great review in the New York Times.