Tim Noble and Sue Webster

Earlier this week London-based duo Tim Noble and Sue Webster opened their first solo show since 2006 at Blain|Southern in London. Titled Nihilistic Optimistic, the exhibition includes six large-scale sculptures built from what appear to be haphazard clumps of discarded wood but when illuminated by a light projector create uncannily accurate self-portraits of the artists. Via their artist statment:

Tim Noble and Sue Webster take ordinary things including rubbish, to make assemblages and then point light to create projected shadows which show a great likeness to something identifiable including self-portraits. The art of projection is emblematic of transformative art. The process of transformation, from discarded waste, scrap metal or even taxidermy creatures to a recognizable image, echoes the idea of ‘perceptual psychology’ a form of evaluation used for psychological patients. Noble and Webster are familiar with this process and how people evaluate abstract forms. Throughout their careers they have played with the idea of how humans perceive abstract images and define them with meaning. The result is surprising and powerful as it redefines how abstract forms can transform into figurative ones.