TWO'S COMPANY
From besties to frenemies, art's revolutionary friendships
by KOD Staff
Whether it was Basquiat helping Warhol regain his rebel image in the 1980s, Picasso and Matisse fighting a ‘boxing match’ to outdo each other, or Damien Hirst helping Banksy’s artworks to reach record sales highs, the power couples in art are not husbands and wives but besties forming revolutionary friendships.
The bond of artistic collaboration has given us some of the most revolutionary duos, merging their exceptional home lives and iconic artistic style. Gilbert & George live together, eat together, cross the street together and make art together, Elmgreen & Dragset have been 'a couple... collaborators... buddies and brothers in one', and Ulay & Marina Abramović are the architypal intense artist relationship turned sour: artistic friends-with-benifits, blurring the lines between public and private platfroms.
Join a collaberative pair and get yourself twice the press. Sol Lewitt and Eva Hesse, two of the most significant post-war American artists, made iconic artworks yet their letters to each other are displayed as often as their sculptures. Guillermo Calzadilla and Jennifer Allora gained international attention representing the USA at the 54th Venice Biennale, but it is being the first couple to have the honor that has secured their place in the art history books.
So if you want to make it in contemporary art grab yourself a BFF. But pick wisely, either they're just a high-profile mate with a reputation you can steal or they'll end up being your entire life.
Andy Warhol and Jean-Michel Basquiat, 1985
Ulay and Marina Abramović, 'Rest Energy', 1980
Pablo Picasso, 'Self Portrait', 1906, and Henri Matisse, 'Self Potrait', 1906
Banksy and Damien Hirst, 'Keep it Spotless (Defaced Hirst)', 2011
Sol Lewitt and Eva Hesse (Image courtesy of Vecchiato Art)
Guillermo Calzadilla and Jennifer Allora, for Vogue Italia, 2011
Gilbert and George, 'The Nettle Dance', 2008
Elmgreen and Dragset, 2010
