TIM NOBLE AND SUE WEBSTER
Name: Tim Noble
Born: 1966 in Stroud, England
Occupation: Contemporary artist
Nationality: English
Name: Sue Webster
Born: 1967 in Leicester, England
Occupation: Contemporary artist
Nationality: English
Born: 1966 in Stroud, England
Occupation: Contemporary artist
Nationality: English
Name: Sue Webster
Born: 1967 in Leicester, England
Occupation: Contemporary artist
Nationality: English
Their practice: As contemporary artists that used advancement in artistic materials to their advantage, Tim Noble and Sue Webster became idealistic icons in the modern art world. The artistic duo’s practice revolved around modern sculpturing where they would take ordinary objects (mostly rubbish) to assemble bigger objects. They would point a light to create projected shadows of these objects, which displayed a great likeness to something identifiable, including self-portraits and landscapes they found captivating and notable. This turn in contemporary art, also known as transformative art, was a famous pop symbol. Noble and Webster’s practice portrayed form and anti-form, high culture, anti-culture, males, females, crafts, rubbish, sex, and violence to a standard that was raw, modern, and abstract. Their practice revolved around the advanced use of materials and concept of social issues, which successfully reflected on the present state of the art world.
How are they exhibited? Tim Noble and Sue Webster’s artworks are exhibited in galleries and online.
How does the audience experience their work: Tim Noble and Sue Webster’s practice is a transgressed alchemy of light that astounds and excites the audience each time around. The audience, who experience the artwork by simply looking at it from the front, are a key feature in Noble and Webster’s practice. The audience’s role is to visualise the comparison between the objects, usually and entirely made out of trash, and the shadow it illuminates. Although this vast range of opinions circulates the public, it is the audience’s decision of what to make with this concept. As the materials are constantly used through the same process, the audience play the role of creating their own concept, which primarily, is the concept of the entire artwork they are viewing. Without this audience involvement, Noble and Webster’s practice would have cloned meaning with no depth or substance to elude it.
Artworks:
- ‘The Individual’ by Tim Noble and Sue Webster is a modern sculpture constructed by various pieces of rubbish, which include a wooden stepladder and discarded wood pieces. A light projector is used after the construction of this object to illuminate a shadow, also known as the main purpose of this artwork. The shadow displayed on the background is of a standing individual who is female, purposely posing confidently.
- With the shadow appearing as a woman striking a fierce and confident pose made out of rubbish, Noble and Webster are making a comment on feminism. The social construct of women is an ongoing discrimination that many women have sadly, come unaccustomed to. The ideas and decisions readymade for women without their voice is immeasurable and the sexual abuse, harassment, and disrespect they inhale from society are vastly progressing. As Noble and Webster are clearly claiming, this discrimination is rubbish. Not only is it rubbish because of its context and content, but it is also rubbish in the way it constructs the individuals of society.
- The rubbish is not only poisoning to society and the public’s morals, but it deathly-poising to the construct of women. The women, who are nearly all, who are manufactured with disrespect, shame, and hate from society eventually result into figures of rubbish in society. The mountain of rubbish that accumulates to make this sculpture possible is a symbol of the amount of discrimination women encounter daily.
- Although the rubbish is sculptured into a mountain however, it projects a strong, fierce, and raw woman. The projection represents women today.
- The result of this rubbish that represents ongoing sexist discrimination however, is the shadow of powerful women. With all social and political obstacles stacked against women in society, the shadow symbolises their ongoing strength. The unequal standards of gender are undefined to women as Noble and Webster clearly represent.
- Noble and Webster’s concept is to challenge the manufacturing of women in society. The duo comment on women’s rights and gender equality to provide moral understanding to their audience.
- ‘Nasty Pieces of Work’ by Tim Noble and Sue Webster is a modern sculpture constructed by two wooden stepladders, discarded wood and broken tools. Similar to Noble and Webster’s ‘The Individual’, ‘Nasty Pieces of Work’ incorporates a light projector to illuminate an image. The image that is displayed in the background is a standing man and a man in construction. The man in construction has various human features, such as its right arm, whereas the rest of its body is purely mechanical.
- This artwork is a representation of the construction of humans in this current age. The shadows, clearly representing the humans, are seen throughout the two figures. The figure on the right is symbolises that humans are built from rubbish, while the left figure shows the result.
- Noble and Webster configure the rubbish to represent the current social and political issues happening in society, including ongoing discrimination and mass-consumerism. The rubbish displays the depth and disastrous feature of it, influencing humans that it sadly, becomes apart of them.
- Noble and Webster’s concept is the construction of human beings and how over time, it has drastically changed due to negative human interaction. The left figure display that although the shadow of the human looks ordinary and innocent, the pieces that construct them is not. This is foreshadowing the truth, just as Noble and Webster challenge the access to the truth on social issues.
- The two figures are a basic timelines on the construction of humans. The right figure shows the transition and how as a person living in a corrupt society, your identity is built for you. The symbolism that is expressed displays that certain social norms, standards, and certain unjustified ethics are built to make a person functional in society, even if individualism ceases to exist.