- 31
提姆·諾布爾與蘇·韋伯斯特
描述
- Tim Noble and Sue Webster
- 《$》
- 款識:藝術家簽姓名縮寫、紀年2001並標記1/5(背面內側)
- 204枚冰白反光蓋、燈、塑料燈蓋、菊形墊圈,燈泡,著漆黃銅、電序器
- 182.3 x 133 x 24 公分;71 1/2 x 52 1/4 x 9 1/2 英寸
來源
Private Collection, Europe (acquired from the above in 2001)
Sale: Sotheby’s, London, Contemporary Art Evening Sale, 12 October 2007, Lot 20
Acquired directly from the above by the present owner
展覽
Boston, Museum of Fine Arts, Tim Noble & Sue Webster, 2004, another example exhibited, n.p., illustrated in colour
Dresden, Deutsches Hygiene-Museum, Die Zehn Gebote: Politik – Moral – Gesellschaft, 2004, p. 45, illustrated in colour
Condition
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."
拍品資料及來源
In 1997, after the artists’ first major and wildly successful solo exhibition, the duo celebrated by taking a trip to Las Vegas to marvel at the very museums of low culture that had inspired their work. Stimulated by the direct and accessible glamour of Sin City, on their return to London Noble and Webster continued to create work that dealt with the cheap thrills of illumination with a renewed sense of vigour and passion. The fusion of brash seduction and poignancy so integral to their art comes to its ultimate conclusion in the present work: $. The simplest and yet most powerful of icons, the dollar sign is deeply cemented in the global consciousness as the immeasurably potent and ultimate symbol of currency. The concept of wealth holds different meanings for different people such as independence, opportunity, and choice to name a few. It is this eclectic fusion of opposites; high culture and anti-culture; form and anti-form; and wealth and poverty, that provides $ with its stunning power. Deliberately positioned astride two ostensible antipodes – highbrow art on the one hand and consumer society’s lowbrow kitsch on the other – $’s complex pastiche emphasises the surprising similarity between the two.
Unlike many other artists of their generation, Noble and Webster meticulously craft each of their light sculptures without the aid of assistants. As a teenager Webster spent many hours helping her electrician father repair cigarette vending machines, a skill that would give her the practical nous to construct the complex electrical arrangements evidenced in the Sisyphean light system of $. Noble and Webster first experimented with lights in their now infamous Flash Painting in 1993, which consisted of a three foot by fifteen foot canvas surrounded by sequenced white fairground lights, and was exhibited in a show they staged in a Brick Lane warehouse for their peers, among them Chris Ofili. Returning to light and neon works in earnest in 1996, $ is a later and more fully resolved example of their iconic light pieces. Taking the fluorescent light sculptures of Dan Flavin as a clear source of art historical inspiration, $ completely overhauls the clarity of minimalism by combining sculpture, theatre and persona in a mesmerising spectacle. In $, the artists have attained their ultimate goal of making their lives and those of the viewer part of their art.