Changing names was one of the few tactics that British artists Tim Noble and Sue Webster failed to employ as they rocketed their way towards Instant Gratification. Their climb from undergraduate status at Nottingham Polytechnical in the late 1980’s to fame and fortune at the top of the international art scene was accomplished with the kind of neo-Warholian urgency common to aspiring second generation punk musicians. The pair employed tried and new revolutionary schemes to muscle their way into the spotlight. In 1993 Webster designed Big Ego, the brash, star-studded billboard that falsified Noble’s age and place of birth to suggest that he qualified for a Time Out magazine contest. By 1994 they had grabbed the art world’s attention with Hijack, asserting their claim to succession by posting their faces over images of Gilbert and George. Arcing back to Duchamp’s alter egos and loads of identity switching strategies since, these tactics were more well timed and raucously insistent than new.

In the early days of their collaboration, while in residency at Halifax, the pair’s pamphleteering, painting and sculptural work leaned towards dumbed down, romantically nihilistic imagery. Bonding with other young Brits personifying “toughs” was as quick and easy as getting marked up with felt tipped pens at their street tattoo parlor (Livestock Market, London, 1997). In an interview for Eyestorm, Noble discussed the skull rings worn by the couple and the influence of punk on their work. “I think anything that’s a bit of a rocket up the arse, anything that kicks against the routine, against the mundane things that close down your mind, is a refreshing and good thing. Punk did that very successfully . . . it offered a direct and instant means of producing products or things.”