It may be a surprise that the title to Gilbert & George’s new exhibition at Thaddaeus Ropac, “NEW NORMAL PICTURES,” predates the pandemic. Presenting a fresh body of works created over the past two years, it happens to arrive at a moment when experiences of altered daily reality have come to dominate life across the globe.

For Gilbert & George, the meaning of the phrase goes beyond its nearly exhaustive use during recent waves of lockdown. Taking it as an alternative for the term “existential,” the artist duo adopts it to denote a sense of normality that undergoes constant adjustment and renewal. Their creative practice, which first took shape when the two met as art students in 1967, also resonates with this concept. Claiming that art is an evolution, the pair has tirelessly explored the absurdities of an ever-changing modern life.

Gilbert & George, GROUND FLOOR, 2020. Mixed media 20 panels 254 x 377 cm

A 20-panel mixed media picture, “Ground Floor,” depicts the pair in front of their home at 12 Fournier St. in London. For five decades, the building has served as the epicenter from where the two embarked on street-level explorations of the city and excavated inspirations along the way. Comparing their journeys to a modern-day version of The Pilgrim’s Progress, Gilbert & George are convinced that the street offers an endless supply of subjects for art varying anywhere from death to fear, sex, religion, and hope.

Everyday life informs Gilbert & George’s practice not only on the conceptual level, but also through visual imagery. Red electric boxes, scattered all over the streets of London, form the central motif in “230V AC.” In an almost mischievous gesture, the pair has added the royal crest and golden dog to its rustic body, bringing visibility to the typically overlooked sight and turning it into a monument endorsed with new cultural value.

Gilbert & George, BALLOON STREET, 2020. Mixed media 36 panels 302 x 571 cm

The exhibition demonstrates a stylistic continuation of the pair’s iconic “pictures” — usually large-scale photo works that juxtapose visual elements to create a suggestively comical, yet eerily disturbing effect. First rendered in black and white, the pictures later began to acquire bold colors such as red and yellow. The pair, who have called themselves “living sculptures” and whose public image is closely intertwined with their art-making, are constantly featured in these works. In “New Normal Pictures,” the pair appears in their trademark, brightly colored suits, often in awkward poses as if in shock or a dizzying state of disorientation.

Gilbert & George, BAG DAY, 2020. Mixed media 28 panels 254 x 528 cm

While Gilbert & George’s pictures have long captured a world that is bizarre and chaotic, the sense of the uncanny seems to escalate in the new group of works. In “Bag Day,” gigantic bags of drugs are pictured afloat — free of gravity — while the pair sits on what appear to be gravestones. Frightened expressions have crept onto their faces as they gaze off into the distance, as if visualizing an approaching catastrophe. The seemingly predictive power of the title, after all, may not be a complete coincidence.

“NEW NORMAL PICTURES” is on view through July 31 in Paris and accompanied by an online exhibition.

(link: https://ropac.net/online-exhibitions/39-gilbert-george-new-normal-pictures/)