Gilbert & George put art on plates to help feed the homeless

Abstract

The artists Gilbert & George have said they are risking their reputation “as horrid people” with a philanthropic initiative to sell crockery glazed with their own works to raise money to feed the homeless.

The collaborative duo have been shunned by what they describe as “intolerant liberals” for their Conservative-supporting pro-Brexit politics but claim they are “the artists of the disenfranchised”. Now they have provided artworks to be transferred on to dinner plates that will be sold by a social enterprise near their home in the East End of London for £125.

The plates feature images of works from their latest exhibition, Paradisical Pictures, which has been touring globally and is currently showing in Los Angeles, where they visited the Skid Row homeless enclave. One of the works, On the Bench, shows the pair slumped on a bench in a cemetery, apparently asleep or passed out.

“We are the tramps,” said Gilbert Prousch, 76. “Waiting for Godot.”