Tim Noble and Sue Webster - Contemporary Art Evening Sale London Friday, October 17, 2008 | Phillips

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  • Provenance

    Gagosian Gallery, London

  • Catalogue Essay

    The artist duo Tim Noble and Sue Webster are intentionally and unapologetically provocative, confrontational and over the top, Noble and Webster’s electronic signs are illuminated by hundreds of light bulbs shimmering and flashing in a resplendent glory that pays homage to the decadence and vulgarity of Las Vegas.

    ‘”Las Vegas is the phantasmagoric vulgar. We can exit our alienated relation to our own production to revel in a world where the scotch tape between material production and its means has been neatly burnished. Visitors to this service oriented basis can experience something of ‘the cycle of abuse’ metaphor so familiar to viewers of daytime TV chat shows. Here ‘Everyman’ is an emperor, or at the very least, King.” If ‘everyman” is emperor or king then money – the almighty dollar – could be considered his consort. (L. Johnson, taken from Gagosian Gallery, eds., Tim Noble and Sue Webster: Instant Gratification, Los Angeles, 2001, p.11)

    The artist’s representation of the ultimate symbol of consumerism is a perfect yet all together incredibly vulgar depiction of the contemporary capitalist society, coming to us in the form of both celebration and critique. As the work is illuminated it literally sparks excitement in the viewer and positions one in the centre of an argument that puts aspiration and greed in a head to head battle. Tim Noble and Sue Webster’s Special Edition Silver Dollar is the satirical incarnation of arrogant display and unashamed pretension. The simplest and yet most powerful of iconographies, the dollar sign is cemented deep in the global consciousness as the immeasurably potent symbol of currency. Considering the recent explosion in their reputation and profile, Noble and Webster’s Special Edition Silver Dollar carries fantastic zeitgeist currency. In our consciously post-modern era, we confront this potent work with a knowing comprehension that immediately processes its willful vulgarity into rhetorical assessment.

315

Special Edition Silver $

2007
204 Ice white turbo reflector caps, lamps, holders, daisy washers, mirror polished stainless steel, electronic sequencer (3-channel shimmer effect).
182.2 x 128.3 x 25.4 cm. (71 ¾ x 50 ½ x 10 in).
This work is from an edition of three.

Estimate
£200,000 - 300,000 Ω

Contemporary Art Evening Sale

18 Oct 2008, 7pm
London