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Tim Noble and Sue Webster: The Masterpiece

Artists: Tim Noble and Sue Webster
Curated By: Kathleen Forde
December 2, 2017 - May 13, 2018
ArtGym

Since the 1980s, British artists Tim Noble and Sue Webster have been known for their shadow sculptures built from materials as diverse as scrap metal, garbage, taxidermy, and sex toys. When light is directed at these assemblages, they project shadows that are exceptionally accurate and intricate representations of other things entirely.

The Masterpiece (2014) is a shadow self-portrait of the artists created from metal casts of dead vermin they collected and welded together into a ball. From afar the casts appear to be a stunning abstract silver sculpture; on closer inspection the disturbing menagerie of creatures emerges, only to change form again—as a shadow on the wall—into a precise and elegant image that is astonishingly different from the objects that create it.

SUPPORT

Lead support for Tim Noble and Sue Webster: The Masterpiece is provided by the Herbert W. and Susan L. Johe Endowment, the University of Michigan Penny W. Stamps School of Art & Design, the Susan and Richard Gutow Fund, the University of Michigan Institute for the Humanities and School for Environment and Sustainability. Additional generous support is provided by the Richard and Janet Miller Fund.