Beschreibung:

Tim Noble and Sue Webster $ 2001 204 ice white turbo reflector caps, lamps, holders and daisy washers, lacquered brass, electronic light sequencer (3-channel shimmer effect) 72 x 51 x 9 3/4 in. (182.9 x 129.5 x 24.8 cm) This work is number 3 from an edition of 5 plus 1 artist's proof. This work is accompanied by a certificate of authenticity signed by the artists.
Provenance Modern Art, London Acquired directly from the above by the present owner Exhibited Los Angeles, Gagosian Gallery, Tim Noble & Sue Webster Instant Gratification, November 10 - December 22, 2001, (another example exhibited), n.p. (illustrated) New York, Friedrich Petzel Gallery, Electrify Me, June, 2001 (another example exhibited) New York, MoMA PS 1, Tim Noble and Sue Webster October 12 - December 29, 2003 (another example exhibited) Boston, Museum of Fine Arts, Tim Noble & Sue Webster April 21 - September 6, 2004, (another example exhibited), n.p. (illustrated) Dresden, Deutsches Hygiene-Museum, Die Zehn Gebote: Politik – Moral – Gesellschaft, (another example exhibited), 2004, p. 45 (illustrated) New York, Pace Gallery, Burning, Bright: A Short History of the Light Bulb, October 28 - November 26, 2011 (another example exhibited) Catalogue Essay "When asked to create something for an art fair…the most vulgar thing we could think of was a huge dollar sign with flashing lights, like costume jewelry." Sue Webster Tim Noble and Sue Webster have been exploiting the kitschy detritus of contemporary culture since their first exhibition, British Rubbish, opened in 1996. Having made a name for themselves making art out of found litter, Noble and Webster, in their 2001 Gagosian Gallery exhibition, set out to make art from the trashy, not merely the trash. Instead of scavenging only at the lowest rung of their own British hierarchies of taste, they looked to the sensibilities of lowbrow in the area where they were to exhibit, America, and more specifically the swanky Los Angeles enclave of Beverly Hills. Opening at Gagosian Gallery, Instant Gratification immediately brought the duo stateside acclaim for the insightful vision this non-American couple had of the American west, the glimmering, shining fantasy of Las Vegas, of Los Angeles. Perfectly encapsulating this outsiders’ understanding, $, 2001, stands as a beacon and testament to the capitalist ideals of American opportunity. Wonderfully manifesting the form of carnival signs in English seaside towns, the history of cabaret, the gritty glow of Times Square, and every Vegas casino marquee, $ ignores the usual postulating and promise of empty gaming happiness and strikes directly at the heart of the matter, money. This of course, is never money to be won, though that is the false pretense, but rather only money to be lost, turned to the rubbish of defeat, the heaps of it swept into bags and carted off to the coffers of others like trash to the dump. However, one cannot help but notice their own illumination and “enlightenment” standing before the polished glory of $, the synchronized flashing of all 204 bulbs reflected off the gleaming brass of the dollar-sign form. Harkening back to the most seminal of American artists of the 20th century, Andy Warhol Noble & Webster appropriate the dollar-sign for their own ends, their own sardonic and dry British wit. Indeed, the viewer cannot help but allow a slight chuckle at the work’s own self-evidence, and self-debasement; its physical beauty is both part and parcel of its message, and it is stunning. Read More