For the first time, French artistic duo Pierre et Gilles are exhibiting in Sweden. Their show “Troubled Waters” opens on 9 February.

For “Troubled Waters”, the artists have seized upon the old harbour setting around Spritmuseum. The romantic image of the sea, the harbour and the sailing life are contrasted with the overexploitation of our era, which threatens to exterminate all marine life.

The now world-famous artists first met in 1976 and have lived together ever since, creating an extravagant artistic universe in which photography and painting meet. Their iconic portraits are inhabited by friends and celebrities in magnificent, dramatically lit scenes which they build up at full scale using items from their enormous collection of curios and found objects. The images are packed with symbols and references to films and pop music, religion and mythology, folk tales and burlesques, even pornography. With finely honed craft, Pierre et Gilles have created a spectacular iconography in the borderlands between art history and popular culture.

Pierre et Gilles are represented at Spritmuseum in the Absolut Art Collection with “Absolut Pierre et Gilles (Lola)” from 1993.