War

'War' depicts the colossal figure of a young soldier wearing a helmet. It is a powerful emblematic image embodying the constant battle of the human condition, in which the figure's apparent physical strength is counter-balanced by the contemplative gaze of the soldier. It is the struggle involved in balancing these forces of human nature that form the central theme in the work of Gilbert & George. For the artists, 'True Art' is derived from the three main life forces: the mind, the soul and sexuality. In each of our lives, these life forces are constantly pulling us in different directions, moving themselves into ever-changing 'arrangements'. Each one of the artists' photographs is a frozen representation of one of these arrangements. The contradiction of the reluctant warrior inherent in this monument obviously appealed to the artists, who used the statue for another work from the same year entitled 'Fighter'.