Jake (1966) and Dinos (1962) Chapman are two British brothers, nicknamed the Chapman Brothers. They are known for their striking statements and for working solely with each other. The Chapman brothers create sculptures, engravings and installations in which, under a critical gaze, they address topics such as: politics, morality or religion.
These artists first gained recognition with their installation We Are Artists (1992), where they drew an anti-aesthetic manifesto on a mud-spattered wall at the Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA) in London. One of their best-known interventions was when they bought 83 original engravings of Goya’s The Disasters of War and intervened in them by painting clown faces on the faces of the characters.
Their works are perceived as somewhat grotesque and politically incorrect. It is precisely the controversy generated by the work of the Chapman brothers that makes them so well known. To them, their art is a way to explore the poles of beauty and pain, humor and horror, the sublime and the perverse, the diabolical and the childish, in ways that shock and confront viewers with their own voyeurism…
