Tim Noble & Sue Webster

Stuart Shave/Modern Art Inc., London
Acquired directly from the above by the present owner in 2001

Exhibition Catalogue, Los Angeles, Gagosian Gallery, Instant Gratification, 2001, illustration in colour of another example
Exhibition Catalogue, Boston, Museum of Fine Arts, Tim Noble & Sue Webster, 2004, illustration in colour of another example
Kate Farrington, 'Tim Noble & Sue Webster', NYArts Magazine, 2004, vol. 9, no. 11/12
Christopher Millis, 'Art Junkies: Barry McGee and Noble & Webster take in the trash', The Boston Phoenix, 2004, n.p.
Exhibition Catalogue, Dresden, Deutsches Hygiene-Museum, Die Zehn Gebote: Politik - Moral - Gelsellschaft, 2004-05, illustration in colour of another example

Unrepentant and brazen, Tim Noble and Sue Webster's $ 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. Obviously the concept of wealth holds different meanings for different people: independence, opportunity, and choice to name a few. However, lavishly resplendent in its gaudy luminescence, this is not the dollar of hope but the icon of the fruit machine and Nasdaq, epitomising hedonism and material extravagance. 

This is the hard-hitting subversion of delicate ironies and the crude anti-hero to canonical satire. Considering the recent explosion in their reputation and profile, Noble and Webster's $ carries fantastic zeitgeist currency. In our consciously post-modern era, we confront this potent work with a knowing comprehension that immediately processes its wilful vulgarity into rhetorical assessment. While the flashing lights connote Noble and Webster's beloved Las Vegas, their switching on and off also implicates the transience of wealth and the consequent necessity of seizing the moment.

Brandishing the ultimate symbol, this work is instinctive, direct, and shameless. Executed in the same year as their pithily titled Instant Gratification solo exhibition at the Gagosian Gallery in Beverly Hills, which featured another example of this edition, $ exudes an aura of subversion. It relates to a tradition stretching back to Pop Art, whereby icons are appropriated and transfigured via presentation and contextualisation to subjugate their meaning. It is bold and daring, illuminating a new kind of relationship with the viewer, who is forced to acknowledge the audacity of its raw and brilliant power.