The romance of rubbish

Tim Noble and Sue Websterâ™s silhouettes, part of Modern Art is Dead
Fisun Gner|Metro5 April 2012
The Weekender

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The art of Tim Noble and Sue Webster appeals as an affirmation of romantic love. Installations often include the artists in a cleverly crafted shadowplay, emphasising their togetherness.

At the Royal Academy's Apocalypse exhibition, for instance, a mountain of smelly rubbish cast its silhouette against a backlit wall: two figures, made up of discarded detritus, appeared to be sitting on its summit.

Gazing out at a sunset, which happened to be nothing more than the garish glow of a simple domestic bulb, the low-tech craftsmanship astonished the audience with its simple beauty, appealing to the slushy romantic in us all. Love, it signalled, could triumph over the end of the world.

Here they have surpassed themselves. Two metal sculptures cast huge silhouettes of the artists as they urinate: Noble standing in his characteristic punk pose, Webster crouching in her sharp heels, her spiky hair accentuated in profile. Rusted clamps, metal piping, offcuts and broken chains are welded into two elegant assemblages and then lit to cast their spookily life-like apparitions.

The work presents itself as something of a puzzle. How do the sculptures' component parts correspond to these intricately realised characters? You could spend some time trying to follow which arc of metal, which circular cut of steel and which piece of cable corresponds to head, arm or leg.

If modern art is dead, then in its place comes at least this virtuoso level of craftsmanship.

Until May 23, Modern Art, 10 Vyner Street E2, Thu to Sun 11am to 6pm, free. Tel: 020 8980 7742. Tube: Bethnal Green

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