Photo: via Pantherhouse
Photo: pashasha 
Photo: via Pantherhouse
Photo: pashasha
Photo: via Pantherhouse
Photo: via Simplistic Art 
Photo: Jose Luis RDS 
Real Life is Rubbish, 2002
British-born and -based artists Tim Noble and Sue Webster skilfully skirt the boundaries between beauty and the shadowier aspects of humanity, playing with our perceptions as well as our notions of taste. Many of their most notable pieces are made from piles of rubbish, with light projected against them to create a shadow image entirely different to that seen when looking directly at the deliberately disguised pile.
Dirty White Trash (With Gulls), 1998
The photo above shows White Trash (With Gulls), one of Webster and Noble's earliest trash-based pieces. Six months' worth of household waste plus a pair of dead seagulls comprise the heap of refuse. It's no accident that it took the couple a further six months to make the piece, during which time they were eating and consuming – as you do. On the wall, the shadow figure self-portraits of the artists take a break with a cigarette and a glass of wine.
Real Life is Rubbish, 2002
Less within the domain of disgust, the trash pile in Real Life Is Rubbish is constructed out of studio instead of everyday waste. Tools that the artists would eventually run out of – like a screwdriver that serves as Noble's nose – and discarded items such as used up brass polish are piled together. Out of the apparent jumble of chaos, two perfectly formed silhouettes of the artists emerge.
HE/SHE, 2003
That the next piece, entitled HE/SHE, looks to display shadows of Noble and Webster urinating is less shocking given that the artists have often chosen to deal with ostensibly cruder themes in their collaborative work. Having met whilst studying at university in Nottingham in the late '80s, the couple later moved to London, where they gained a reputation for being rebels of the art scene, not content with the position of artist as celebrity.
HE/SHE, daylight view
Notwithstanding their distaste for the conventional, Webster and Noble's sculptures and installations are not only brilliantly conceived but consummately executed. The second image above of HE/SHE shows more clearly the junk sculpture from which the image of Noble emerges in the light of the projector.
Metal Fucking Rats With Heart Shaped Tail, 2007
Not all of Noble and Webster's work uses low grade materials drawn from the rubbish dump or the scrap yard – like this welded scrap metal piece of rat love. No, some of it borrows from the aesthetics of the shopping mall or the Las Vegas light show, with flashing displays and gaudy neon inspired by some of the most crass that culture has to offer. As far as the artists are concerned, it's all worth recycling.
Dark Stuff, 2008
Yet the idea of reusing materials to create art gets one of its most visceral treatments in this last piece. Casting the by now familiar shadows of the artists' profiled heads – severed and impaled on spikes in this case – the sculptures are composed of various mummified animals. A nod, perhaps, to aspects of popular culture like vulgar living history, it's another work by this irreverent pair that might mean you now look at all kinds of trash and waste in a rather different light.
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44 comments
bebopdesigner (not verified) says:
Jun 10th, 2009 at 10pm
Wow! Bizarre! love it. thanks for posting.
Online Television (not verified) says:
Jun 10th, 2009 at 11pm
Excellent.. I could swear the rat love one was at the Guggenheim in New York. They had an exhibit with something similar and I believe I saw it or something similar there.
Tracey Shrier (not verified) says:
Jun 11th, 2009 at 12am
A similar story just popped up on the Greenwala website about artist using garbage to turn it into beautiful art. Although its not a provoking or dark as these images, I am still so amazed at how they used shadows to make the picture.
http://tinyurl.com/nvrqym
faze one studio (not verified) says:
Jun 11th, 2009 at 3am
woaw that's some really awesome art, Ive seen this sort of thing done before but some of those where just gawdly!
JOhn Jason (not verified) says:
Jun 11th, 2009 at 2pm
Wow, that is truly amazing stuff!
RT
www.privacy-tools.echoz.com
Glenn Jimerson (not verified) says:
Jun 11th, 2009 at 6pm
Wow! It takes a lot of creativity to see those shapes in the shadows of that garbage. The 2 rats crack me up. Let me guess, their real life counterparts had a lot to do with inspiring the art.
eric (not verified) says:
Jun 11th, 2009 at 10pm
Is it just me or does the man head on the spike look like a profile of Will Ferrel?
Transcription Outsourcing (not verified) says:
Jun 16th, 2009 at 8am
I wonder how much of the time it takes to make one sculpture is spent on trial and error.
Keith (not verified) says:
Jun 19th, 2009 at 8pm
"Is it just me or does the man head on the spike look like a profile of Will Ferrel?"
It should be after what he did to "Land of The Lost"! Neat Art though!
Mary (not verified) says:
Jul 10th, 2009 at 10pm
It is a great concept, but I find it hard to believe that all the images are real.
In the Dark Stuff, 2008 there is a piece that drops down from the lips to stake and it is not in the shadow. The curves on the shadows are too soft and curvy. I have not seen a light/shadow exhibit before so maybe I am wrong. From just looking at the photos it doesn't seem that possible to me, but I enjoyed looking at them!!
selene (not verified) says:
Jul 11th, 2009 at 1am
WOW! i'm in awe the moment I saw these. VERY COOL! I couldn't imagine how the trash are arranged or positioned so as to create such beautiful shadows. these are really amazing. cheers to artist!
Sarah (not verified) says:
Jul 12th, 2009 at 8pm
I was so excited when I found your site. It resonated with me and I know it would with my family too. We try to be positive and encouraging in our family and art and recycling are important to us as well. My son started a newsletter when he was 10 that was all about the "Good News". He's moved on to other things now but it is still a focus in his web shows and videos. I loved this article featuring the shadow art and he would to. I was about to send it on to him when I hit a snag. I know he would find this art exciting and awesome (as well as your magazine in general) and he would send this out to all his web-oriented social connections. However, I feel it is my duty to scan a site thoroughly before sending it on to anyone and the links on the side "From Friends" I found to be unhealthy and unnecessary to your "pay if forward" theme", and nothing "good" about them and I certainly can't hook up the next generation to it in good conscience.
yesterdaydream (not verified) says:
Jul 16th, 2009 at 10pm
I found this because of a link on http://sombercity.com/ and I'm happy I did.
suresh.k.v (not verified) says:
Jul 17th, 2009 at 4pm
This is nothing but Superb...suresh.k.v - chennai, Tamil Nadu, INDIA.
ucantmakeitup (not verified) says:
Jul 17th, 2009 at 8pm
Now I'll wonder what's hidden in every blob I see!
GABBY (not verified) says:
Aug 12th, 2009 at 2pm
FANTASTIC NEVER SEEN ANYTHING OF THE LIKE! LUV IT THANKS FOR SHARING!
Trish (not verified) says:
Aug 14th, 2009 at 7pm
Everything about this post is amazing! I bet Tim Burton could make a cool movie with this idea in mind :)
brittany (not verified) says:
Aug 18th, 2009 at 1pm
Wow! amazing. keep up the good work :)
T. Cody Garner (not verified) says:
Aug 21st, 2009 at 7pm
This stuff is really, really neat. I was having an off day and seeing these photos and how neat they are really broghtened up my day. Thank you kindly.
p childs (not verified) says:
Oct 28th, 2009 at 1am
Kind of interesting but Roy Lichtenstein was doing this decades ago with masks.
Mark (not verified) says:
Nov 2nd, 2009 at 12pm
I recognize where all the 'junk' pieces are from, but not the shadows....???
Krista (not verified) says:
Nov 22nd, 2009 at 2am
Hate to say but these are so fake! Look closely the shadows do not match up. Great art idea but not real. Sadly, we live in a Photoshop world.
Canastrophy (not verified) says:
Nov 24th, 2009 at 5pm
Fingernail polish art? FAIL! BWAhAHAAAHAHAHHAHA!!!
Seriously, you suck.
kavi (not verified) says:
Nov 30th, 2009 at 3pm
waaaw what a great talent , amazing thought
Catherine Bridges (not verified) says:
Dec 11th, 2009 at 3am
Some of the coolest most out of the box art I've seen in a long time.
Karla (not verified) says:
Oh my God, it's all so amazing...and I thought I was being innovative with my fingernail polish art! Wow! I love it!