Gilbert Prousch and George Passmore - more often known as art duo Gilbert & George - have been creating their highly distinctive artwork together for over 50 years. They refer to it all as ‘sculpture’, but theirs is by no means a one-size-fits-all approach: from performance art to drawing, painting and large-scale photography, their oeuvre is enormously rich and varied. The pair, who met in 1967 during their studies at St Martin’s School of Art, have a firmly anti-elitist approach to art, living by the slogan ‘Art for All’. It therefore seems only appropriate that their latest venture is in aid of a charity initiative in East London, where they have lived since 1968.
‘Double Helpings’ is the second installment of a charity art project run by The Canvas Cafe in collaboration with Gilbert & George and creative agency McCann London. The cafe, as well as serving delectable vegan food, hosting events, and running workshops, supports a wide variety of local community projects in and around Tower Hamlets. ‘Double Helpings’ has seen Gilbert and George create designs for two bespoke plates - ‘BEARDLIGHT’ and ‘BEARDTOAST’ - which will be sold at £125 each to raise money for the Cafe’s free meals initiative. Ruth, the cafe's founder, says ‘I’ve been blown away by the generosity of everyone involved; there is a really strong feeling of wanting to work together to help our community.’
The 12” plates are typically bold pieces, featuring artwork from previous exhibitions which has been reinterpreted with a focus on light, generosity and hope - sorely needed as we come to the end of 2020. Gilbert & George were also involved in last year’s iteration of the project, and this year the two limited-edition designs from 2019 will go on sale alongside the new plates. As long time residents of Spitalfields, the pair got involved with the project after seeing first-hand the realities of how poverty affects the borough. They have formed long-standing relationships with local homeless people and developed many friendships, so this is a cause very close to their hearts.
This year has sadly seen the services of the Canvas Cafe required more than ever, in particular their free meals initiative. The cafe supplies organisations such as Whitechapel Mission, One Housing, St Luke’s homeless shelter and the Hague primary school. ‘At the moment, we make 300 meals a week,’ Ruth says ‘and the sale of one of these plates funds 14 meals.’ They are hoping to increase their output to 500 meals a week in the near future, and it’s initiatives like these that will be so crucial to the cafe’s success.
To invest in one of Gilbert & George’s pieces from this collaboration means not only obtaining a collectors piece of crockery, but also directly supporting those in East London who need our help most. As Ruth says ‘it’s projects like these which need to be prioritised in a post-Covid world. So many people have lost their jobs, had their wages or even their whole industry destroyed… I am determined that the Canvas Cafe will still be open this time next year and that we’ll be supplying more meals than ever.’ Given that last year’s designs sold out within weeks, we recommend getting your hands on this year’s plates as fast as possible to support this cause and obtain a brilliant work of art in the process.
