Gilbert and George - I like their style

Did you see that documentary about the British artists Gilbert and George that was recently screened on the ABC? They are two strange ducks for sure, and I found the things that they had to say about politics in the UK art world to be quite interesting.

I thought there was something just a little bit peculiar about their body language and personal presentation and their lifestyles. The way they don't have a kitchen in their house and don't cook, because for them it is time wasting. I've read that their restaurant-visiting habits are extremely unchanging and precise. The way they always seem to wear near-identical formal attire, and like to walk together in synchronized steps, like they are members of a highly regimented organization that has a membership that is strictly limited to two men. The way they talk in a matter-of-fact way about subjects that would make many people blanch. The lack of facial and bodily expression. The interesting collections. The careful, detailed and technical system that they have formulated for producing their art. Their committment to renovating a historic building and to making art that presumably entails staying interested in the same things for years and years. Their attention to detail.

Gilbert and George reminded me of Stanley Kubrick in the way they take a huge number of photographs in preparation for a new series of art works. The style of their art reminded me of Andy Warhol and Pop Art. The way they complained about being persecuted by a leftist art establishment reminded by of the Australian poet Les Murray. Their robotic look reminded me of Kraftwerk. Kubrick and Warhol have been identifed posthumously as autistic. Murray has identifed himself as autistic. There has been speculation about some members of Kraftwerk and autism. Have Gilbert and George been turning their autism into living art for the last few decades?