From their first meeting at St Martin's College, throughout their early days as painted-faced performance artists, to their current position as the most successful duo in British art, Gilbert and George have never shied away from controversy. Tate Modern is currently hosting a huge exhibition dedicated to their work, celebrating their four decades of creative output.
Based for most of that time in a beautiful Georgian house in London's Spitalfields, they are perhaps as well known for their matching tweed suits and deadpan manner as they are for their imposing works of art. But for them that's the point - their entire lives have become an art statement, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Let's find out more about the distinctly odd world of contemporary art's original 'celebrity couple', Gilbert and George...
It's widely known that Gilbert and George met at art school. But what came before that?
Despite their utterly English appearance, one half of the famous couple is in fact Italian. Gilbert was born in 1943 in a remote village in the Dolomites, an old fashioned place with few links to the outside world. Leaving behind his rural roots, Gilbert studied art in Austria and Germany before eventually arriving in London with only a weak grasp of English and a coveted place at the St Martin's School of Art.
George was born and raised in Plymouth and attended art colleges in Darlington and Oxford before winding up at St Martin's. The two met on 25 September 1967 and instantly bonded, George claiming to be the only student who could understand Gilbert's heavy accent. They later described that fateful meeting as “love at first sight”.
How romantic! So what happened next?
Undoubtedly Gilbert and George's most important decision was to take their partnership into the studio, combining their work as well as their lives. Like any young art students they were full of ambition and keen to get their work seen by the public at large.
Undeterred by a string of rejections from fashionable galleries, they eventually forced themselves into the gaze of the art world by appearing at another artist's private view dressed to the nines in their trademark suits and sporting gold-painted faces. They then proceeded to spend the rest of the evening frozen to the spot in what was to become the first of many 'living statue' performances.
And so a legend was born. What did the art world make of these odd young men?
Gilbert and George proved to be an instant success - this was the Swinging Sixties after all - and went on to develop their famous 'Singing Sculpture', which consisted of the artists standing on tables and miming to a recording of Flanagan and Allen's song 'Underneath the Arches', sometimes for many hours at a time.
Having established themselves with these performances, Gilbert and George were able to return to two-dimensional art, and their distinctive charcoal drawings were soon being exhibited across the world to great acclaim.
But it's their photomontages that Gilbert and George are best known for...
Gilbert and George's fascination with photomontage developed in the early 1970s and has remained with them ever since. Originally sticking to black and white images, the mid 70s saw the introduction of single primary colours. By the end of the decade they had settled upon the enormous grid-like compositions which still form the basis of their work today.
And I guess it would be safe to describe the contents of the work as 'challenging'?
To say the least! Gilbert and George were unsettled by their new-found fame and many of their early photomontages deal with their struggles with alcohol. Later pieces such as 'Youth Attack' of 1982 include images of local boys in provocative stances.
Gilbert and George deny any homoerotic intent, although works such as 'Cocky Patriot', a photograph of a young man wearing tight jeans which reveal the unmistakable outline of his prominent erection, certainly caused unrest amongst the more conservative areas of the press.
The artists have often portrayed themselves in the nude, and during the 1990s they became obsessed with bodily functions. Their 'Naked Shit Paintings' show just what their title suggests, while works such as 'Spit on Shit' and 'Spit on Piss' include massively magnified reproductions of brightly coloured bodily fluids.
So far so shocking. But what about their daily life?
Gilbert and George's unusual existence largely revolves around their home in Fournier Street, and they are certainly sticklers for routine. They never cook at home, and for many years took all their meals at the Market Cafe a few yards from their front door, even becoming close friends with the cafe's owners Phyllis and Clyde. They are still keen patrons of the local Italian cafes, and are well known faces in Brick Lane's curry houses, currently favouring a Kurdish restaurant in Dalston where they reputedly eat dinner at the same time every evening.
They relish the cosmopolitan atmosphere of Spitalfields, with its historic churches, mosques and synagogues, a welcoming place for outsiders and aliens of all sorts.
Rarely seen apart, they can often be spotted strutting slowly but purposefully around the East End's bustling streets. They claim to have few friends, preferring an isolated and spartan existence in their rambling townhouse, surrounded by their extensive collection of Arts and Crafts pottery.
So there you have it, a brief introduction to the weird and fascinating phenomenon that is Gilbert and George. Despite approaching their mid-sixties they appear to have lost none of their desire to create, invent and shock, still dedicating their entire lives to the concept of 'living art'. Eccentric is perhaps an overused word, but I can't think of a better one to describe this truly unique pair.
Gilbert & George: Major Exhibition
Tate Modern
Bankside
London, SE1 9TG
15 February-7 May 2007
Want to know more? Then buy Introducing Gilbert and George by Robert Rosenblum online and delve into this eccentric duo. Alternatively, why not learn more with Gilbert and George: The Complete Pictures. It's picture perfect!