Alice Dellal, the British-Brazilian model, is squeezing her boobs – half seductive, half sarcastic – towards a camera, imitating the pose of the supersize nude female sculpture that towers above her head. This summed up the atmosphere at BlainSouthern as Tim Noble and Sue Webster unveiled their third exhibition at the gallery, ‘Sticks With Dicks and Slits’ — a vibe very much catalysed by the works themselves, a series of giant self-portraits as stick figures.
Known for their unconventional work with self-portraiture, the YBA duo came up with the idea for the new sculptures during a residency in St Barts, yet the works are still very British, and very urban, poking fun at themselves, reduced to simplistic frames, but they also guffaw at the polished gallery goers, puny and fleshy below them — one Tim sculpture even urinates down on the viewer.
A Lovely Pair (Standing)' detail, by Tim Noble and Sue Webster, 2017. Courtesy of the artists and BlainSouthern
There are three couples in the show — three men, three women — each pair inhabiting a different pose, standing, seated and squatting. Sculpted in twisted bronze to look like wire, Noble and Webster’s latest creations appear to have been fashioned with a fast energy, irreverent and spontaneous like the punk music that has been a constant inspiration to them – but their scale and medium of course implies a more careful, drawn-out process, using an antiquated method that involved casting rods of wax.
At first, this show appears to be little more than a send-up of the idea of the self in art, but the more time you spend with these comical stick men and women, the heavier their seemingly light frames become. A certain kind of balance emerges – it’s physical, in that the very act of sculpting demands it, but it’s also in the equal presence of masculine and feminine, chaotic and calm, among other things. It’s not an obvious political statement, but a time when so little seems to make sense, stripping things down to their most rudimentary form might be the only thing we can do.
Detail of A Lovely Pair (Standing), 2017
A Lovely Pair (Standing), 2017
Three stick-couples occupy the gallery (three men, three women), each pair inhabiting a different pose, standing, seated and squatting
INFORMATION
‘Sticks with Slits and Dicks’ is on view until 25 March. For more information, visit the BlainSouthern website
ADDRESS
4 Hanover Square
London W1S 1BP
-
Yuri Suzuki turns sound into architecture at Camden Arts ProjectsThe sound designer unveils ‘Utooto’, an interactive installation at London’s Camden Arts Projects (until 5 October 2025), in which visitors collaboratively build a sonic piece of architecture
-
Campaigners propose reuse to save Kenzo Tange’s modernist ‘Ship Gymnasium’ in JapanThe Pritzker Prize-winning architect’s former Kagawa Prefectural Gymnasium is at risk of demolition; we caught up with the campaigners who hope to save it
-
America’s first all-electric travel trailer broadens its range with two new modelsThe Lightship AE.1 Atmos and Panos are the two newest trim lines for this ground-breaking streamlined travel trailer, an airy design with integrated electric powertrain for added mileage and quiet camping
-
Out of office: the Wallpaper* editors’ picks of the weekThe Wallpaper* team immersed themselves in culture this week, attending theatre, music and art performances and exhibitions at some of London’s most esteemed establishments. Along the way, we may have discovered the city's best salad…
-
Out of office: the Wallpaper* editors’ picks of the weekIt’s been another week of Wallpaper* being first through the door – visiting, sampling and reporting back on the freshest in art, design, beauty and more. Highlights included a new rental development, skincare residency and Edinburgh hotel…
-
Get the picture? A new exhibition explores the beautiful simplicity of Japanese pictogramsThe simple, minimalist forms of a pictogram are uniquely Japanese, as new exhibition 'Pictograms: Iconic Japanese Designs' illustrates
-
From Snapchat dysmorphia to looksmaxing, have digital beauty standards made us lose sight of what's real, asks a new exhibitionAI, social media and the ease with which we can tweak our face mean we're heading towards a dystopian beauty future, argues 'Virtual Beauty' at Somerset House
-
Take a rare peek inside eighties London's most famous clubFrom George Michael to Boy George, photographer David Koppel captured a who's who of celerities at Eighties nightclub Limelight
-
Thirty-five years after its creation, Lynn Hershman Leeson’s seminal video is as poignant as everLynn Hershman Leeson’s 'Desire Inc', at 243 Luz in Margate, blurs the boundaries between art and reality
-
Rolf Sachs’ largest exhibition to date, ‘Be-rühren’, is a playful study of touchA collection of over 150 of Rolf Sachs’ works speaks to his preoccupation with transforming everyday objects to create art that is sensory – both emotionally and physically
-
Architect Erin Besler is reframing the American tradition of barn raisingAt Art Omi sculpture and architecture park, NY, Besler turns barn raising into an inclusive project that challenges conventional notions of architecture
