Incredible Shadow Sculptures

Sculpture Digest | June 4, 2016 | Assemblage

Sculptures by Tim Noble and Sue Webster Cast Shadows that will Surprise and Amaze You!

It looks like a pile of trash, but when you look at the wall you will definitely do a double take

Yep, it looks like a pile of rubbish. And it is…bits of scrap metal, broken tools, cigarette packages, cans. You might think that someone’s trash can got tipped over and this is the result.

But you will want to look again. This is not trash, it is sculpture. It is actual pretty incredible shadow sculpture by a pair of artists who have been collaborating since art school.

Tim Noble and Sue Webster take these various discarded objects (and much more) and create an assemblage style of sculpture that is unique. When light is shone on the pile of debris, it is not to highlight the seagulls fighting over the french fries…it is to cast a shadow against the wall behind the sculpture.

Other works are more clearly constructed, as opposed to looking as if they were merely “dumped.” Still the juxtaposition of the 3 dimensional to the 2 dimensional is surprising.

With this light and shadow the artists create images of people. It is incredible how different the shadows cast by the sculptures are from the 3 dimensional assemblage before the viewer.

So while this may look like a dumped over trash bin at first glance, you can then tell that each item is purposefully and precisely positioned. Not only do the artists have to take into consideration the shapes, but the angle of the light and the distance of the object from the wall.