Tim Noble

(left: Tim Noble           right: Sue Webster)

Tim Noble
Born in Stroud (1966)
 
 
Tim Noble takes ordinary things including rubbish and scrap metal or sometimes even taxidermy animals to make assemblages and then points light to create projected shadows which show a great likeness to something identifiable including self-portraits. His work echoes the idea of 'perceptual psychology' a form of evaluation used for psychological patients. Noble loves to create abstract forms and play with the idea of how humans perceive abstract images and define them with meaning. He works as a collaborative duo with Sue Webster. Their work derives much of its power from its fusion of opposites, form and anti-form, high culture and anti-culture, male and female, craft and rubbish, sex and violence.
 
The following are some of his artworks:
 

Dirty White Trash (with Gulls), 1998

 

Metal Fucking Rats, 2006

 

Yellow Phantasmagoria, 2009

 

Toxic Schizophrenia, 1997

 

THE NEW BARBARIANS, 1997–99

 

 
I would like to have a depth study of his artworks because I like his idea to incorporate diverse materials including rubbish, scrap metal and even taxidermy animals to do the shadow sculpture artworks. The style is so bold. He makes good use of all kinds of materials to create his artworks. Therefore, the medium of his artworks is wide and of diversity. I find his works very surprising since they redefines abstract forms to transform into some relatively concrete objects. They enables me to view artworks in an alternative way. I truly appreciate his works.
 
 
 
Reference:
http://www.timnobleandsuewebster.com/biography.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Noble_and_Sue_Webster

Fotanian Open Studios 2013

When it comes to artworks, many people have the idea that they are always performed and shown in some fancy places with beautiful decoration or in a magnificent exhibition. Being a student who is interested in art, but with not much art background, I was like most of the people thinking that I can only see artworks in those places. However, I was not right.

 

I went to the art studios in Fo Tan on 19th January and I saw many great artworks there. Here are some pictures I took on that day:

 

 

                 

           Wandering - Concrete 01 (Carmen Ho)

 

 

     

 

 

          

The following are some of the artworks I like and appreciate:

 

 

 

 "What is education?" has been a debatable question in Hong Kong over the years. Many citizens criticize that under the spoon-feeding education, schools are like factories churning out moulded products. I like the idea of putting repeated words all over the student's body. It is showing us how students study nowadays. They just cram for examination by directly memorizing materials from textbooks without any analyzing.

 

I like artworks which are sarcastic. They can always bring social issue to my attention and give me space to have self-reflection. That’s why I like seeing artworks with irony. Here are some artworks which are also full of sarcasm that I found in the visit. And I love them very much.

 

 

(Contrast between the rich and the poor)

 

 

 

 (A young girl who is torn between material desire and virginity)

 

 

 

Among all the artworks I have seen on that day, there is a special one which impressed me the most.

 

 

Mutation (Wenty Wu)

 

 

As the picture shows, there is a big snake with colorful skin shedding its skin from the tail. And the snake is transforming into a giraffe. This artwork totally captured my attention. Luckily, I had the chance to talk to Wendy Wu who is the artist of this painting. Being asked why she decided to put two animals with sharp contrast between their natures together in this drawing, she explained that she has long been afraid of snakes in her life, but through painting, she can play with all the things she is scared of. In reality, never can she touch or control objects that scare her. But in painting, she can. She can face them, change them and do whatever she wants by the medium of art. Therefore, she put colorful skin on a snake which is supposed to be scary and ugly in her eyes. Moreover, in hopes of bringing a contrast, she used the transformation of the snake to a giraffe to show that bad thing may not be that scary as they seem. They can be funny and interesting. Giraffes are temperate and kind. Obviously, their nature are completely different from snakes' which are aggressive and poisoning. Wendy loves the nature of giraffes so she linked them in this painting to show this message.

 

I was impressed by her idea because I never thought art can help us face the thing that we do not have courage to encounter. Now, I believe that art can be a good medium to express our fear while it can also be a great way for us to release our fear on every object. Through painting or other mediums of art, we can change what we see in real life. We can modify its appearance in a bid to change our perception on a specific object. We do not have to match what the existing rule or perception in reality tells us. In art, we are not limited. We are free. We are the rules. We are infinite.