Tim Noble and Sue Webster

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Description

Tim Noble and Sue Webster
Untitled (Rat and Trap)
stamp signed with the artists' initials, dated 2005 and numbered 3 - 3
welded scrap metal and light projector
rat: 28 3/4 by 15 1/4 by 5 3/4 in. 73 by 38.7 by 14.6 cm.
trap: 15 1/4 by 13 3/4 by 2 3/4 in. 38.7 by 34.9 by 6.9 cm.
Executed in 2005, this work is unique and is from a series of 3 examples.

Provenance

Bortolami Dayan Gallery, New York
Acquired by the present owner from the above

Literature

Exh. Cat. Moscow, Triumph Gallery, Tim Noble and Sue Webster: 20 Modern Classics, 2009 (another example illustrated)

Catalogue Note

An understated example of their Shadow Sculptures, Tim Noble and Sue Webster's The Rat & Trap is made of salvaged scrap metal and a light projector, presenting the ideas of scavenging and assemblage quite literally. Playful yet profane, Rat and Trap provides a portrait of a rat, made out of garbage but only recognizable when the light creates its portrait in shadow. Norman Rosenthal has described the artists' work as ruled by "an anti-aesthetic of vulgarity" -- indeed, the artists are demanding a lot of the viewer to recognize beauty or worth in the form of a rodent comprised of refuse.