As sweet as raspberry ripple, as tempting as popcorn: welcome to the seductive photographs of Pierre et Gilles, the masters of glam, kitsch, nostalgia, and everything fabulous. Bizarre and full of obscure significance, glitter, flowers, and hearts, the portraits are reminiscent of stills from film melodramas. The recurring theme is sailors and the sea.
For thirty years, Pierre has been taking photographs and Gilles retouching them with paint. In contrast with the somewhat smooth quality of contemporary photography, the duo has invented a unique style and technique that extols an exuberant and ornamental material and glorifies the models, transforming them into timeless icons.
In self portraits or portraits of unknown people as well as celebrities from the world of pop, rock, film, fashion or nightlife (Andy Warhol, Jean-Paul Gaultier, Arielle Dombasle, Kylie Minogue, Catherine Deneuve, etc.), they place the figures in a baroque setting inspired by ancient mythology, religion, and pop or gay culture.
Saturated colours and kitsch settings: Pierre et Gilles make their taste for superficiality clear, and although recent photographs may refer to the war in Iraq or race and immigration in France, it is never in a directly militant way. However, behind the apparent "childlike naivety", the over-emphasis in the images (too pretty, too well-behaved, too sophisticated...) leads us into a strange world that is sometimes disturbing.
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