'We want to win and be loved, the same as everyone'

As they create a limited-edition cover for the Standard, Gilbert and George tell Dylan Jones about why London is the greatest city in Europe, and their commitment to art for everyone

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FROM the very start of their career, back in the Sixties, since their time as students at St Martin’s School of Art, when they described them selves as “baby artists”, Gilbert & George have espoused the notion of Art For All. You could say it’s become their catchphrase, a democratic manifesto of sorts, an egalitarian slogan, which is why they have revived and adapted it for their artwork to celebrate the launch of London Creates (which took place at Frieze in Regent’s Park today). A diptych, “Art For All” and “All For Art”, are both reproduced on the front of today’s newspaper, 300,000 collectors’ items, given free to readers from Wembley to Greenwich.

They describe their works as love letters to the viewer, to the public. That’s why they are always in their pictures. They are a public sculpture, walking around almost conjoined, through the streets of London, custodians of transgressive art for all. They immediately become dedicated urban artists, in the greatest city in the world.