ART CITIES:London-Tim Noble & Sue Webster

Tim Noble and Sue Webster employ a range of materials and references to mock the role that artistic personae and fame play in the art world, often incorporating sardonic references to their relationship as a couple and as artistic partners. The shadow sculptures and theater-light pieces Noble and Webster have developed in the mid-90s have served as the pair’s primary mediums for over a decade.

By Efi Michalarou
Photo: Blain|Southern Archive

In their solo exhibition “STICKS WITH DICKS AND SLITS” Tim Noble & Sue Webster present a new body of sculptural works. In their third exhibition with the Blain|Southern  Gallery, the duo present pairs of giant self-portraits. These stickfigures are sculpted in twisted bronze, an entirely new method for the artists. Based on handmade maquettes made with electrical wire, the sculptures are an act of upscaling playful ephemera into physically domineering artworks with a permanency and scale that transcends human limitations. The maquettes for this new body of work were created during a residency on the Caribbean island of St Bart’s. This idyllic environment was initially challenging for these urbanites who found themselves stripped of their usual impetus. Struggling with this creative impasse, they began doodling with electrical wire, quickly and intuitively producing two intimate self-portraits. As with previous self-portraits, these new paired sculptures express the artistic personae of the duo. One pair features nudes of Tim urinating and Sue lactating. As much as they have used refuse in their sculptures, the artists employ their own naked forms as a way to make art with a rawness and truth, using their warts-and-all inseparable dual image as a tool to critique narcissistic obsession. Their systems of imagery, language and material are as confrontational as early punk gigs where both critique and praise were delivered through bodily fluids. As with this music, the artists play with the tensions of structure and form, purposefully teetering on the edge of chaos.

Info: Blain|Southern, 4 Hanover Square, London, Duration: 3/2-25/3/17, Days & Hours: Mon-Fri 10:00-18:00, Sat 10:00-17:00, www.blainsouthern.com