Fiona Banner (born 1966), also known as The Vanity Press is a British artist. Her work encompasses sculpture, drawing, installation and text, and demonstrates a long-standing fascination with the emblem of fighter aircraft and their role within culture and especially as presented on film. She is well known for her early works in the form of 'wordscapes', written transcriptions of the frame-by-frame action in Hollywood war films, including Top Gun and

Apocalypse Now ''Apocalypse Now'' is a 1979 American epic war film produced and directed by Francis Ford Coppola. The screenplay, co-written by Coppola, John Milius and Michael Herr, is loosely based on the 1899 novella '' Heart of Darkness'' by Joseph ...

. Her work has been exhibited in prominent international venues such as the

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, and is often identified as one of ...

, New York and

Hayward Gallery The Hayward Gallery is an art gallery within the Southbank Centre in central London, England and part of an area of major arts venues on the South Bank of the River Thames. It is sited adjacent to the other Southbank Centre buildings (the R ...

, London. Banner was shortlisted for the

Turner Prize The Turner Prize, named after the English painter J. M. W. Turner, is an annual prize presented to a British visual artist. Between 1991 and 2016, only artists under the age of 50 were eligible (this restriction was removed for the 2017 award) ...

in 2002.

Life

Fiona Banner was born on Merseyside, North West England in 1966. She studied at

Kingston University , mottoeng = "Through Learning We Progress" , established = – gained University Status – Kingston Technical Institute , type = Public , endowment = £2.3 m (2015) , ...

and completed her MA at Goldsmiths College of Art in 1993. The next year she held her first solo exhibition at

City Racing City Racing was a squatted artist-run space in Oval Mansions, Kennington, South London which was active between 1988 and 1998. It was a cooperative by five artists Matt Hale, Paul Noble, John Burgess, Keith Coventry and Peter Owen. They ...

.Stonard, John-Paul
"Fiona Banner"

Tate Tate is an institution that houses, in a network of four art galleries, the United Kingdom's national collection of British art, and international modern and contemporary art. It is not a government institution, but its main sponsor is the U ...

from text of

Grove Art Online ''Grove Art Online'' is the online edition of ''The Dictionary of Art'', often referred to as the ''Grove Dictionary of Art'', and part of Oxford Art Online, an internet gateway to online art reference publications of Oxford University Press, ...

, 10 December 2000. Retrieved 13 June 2010. Since graduating from Goldsmiths College of Art, Banner has continued to evolve an important, considered and interrelated practice, rooted in language. Publishing, in the broadest sense, is central to her practice. In 1995, she was included in ''General Release: Young British Artists'' held at the XLVI

Venice Biennale The Venice Biennale (; it, La Biennale di Venezia) is an international cultural exhibition hosted annually in Venice, Italy by the Biennale Foundation. The biennale has been organised every year since 1895, which makes it the oldest of ...

. Since 1994 Banner has created handwritten and printed texts - 'wordscapes' - that retell in her own words entire feature films, including ''

Point Break ''Point Break'' is a 1991 American action crime film directed by Kathryn Bigelow and written by W. Peter Iliff. It stars Patrick Swayze, Keanu Reeves, Lori Petty and Gary Busey. The film's title refers to the surfing term " point break", wher ...

'' (1991) and ''The Desert'' (1994), or particular scenarios in detail. Her work took the form of solid single blocks of text, often the same shape and size as a cinema screen. She also investigates the formal components of written language, giving significance to the symbols that punctuate sentences. In 1997, when she published ''THE NAM'', she started working under the imprint of ''The Vanity Press'', and has since published an extensive archive of books, objects and performances, many questioning the notion of authorship and copyright. For Banner, the act of publishing is itself a performative one. Consequently, her work resits traditional notions of grandeur and exclusivity, instead deploying a pseudo formality that is playful and provocative. ''THE NAM'' is a 1,000-page book which describes the plots of six Vietnam films in their entirety: the films are ''

'', ''

Born on the Fourth of July ''Born on the Fourth of July'', published in 1976, is the best-selling autobiography by Ron Kovic, a paralyzed Vietnam War veteran who became an anti-war activist. Kovic was born on July 4, 1946, and his book's ironic title echoed a famous line ...

'', ''

The Deer Hunter ''The Deer Hunter'' is a 1978 war drama film co-written and directed by Michael Cimino about a trio of Slavic-American steelworkers whose lives were upended after fighting in the Vietnam War. The three soldiers are played by Robert De Niro, ...

'', '' Full Metal Jacket'', ''

Hamburger Hill ''Hamburger Hill'' is a 1987 American war film set during the Battle of Hamburger Hill, a May 1969 assault during the Vietnam War by the U.S. Army's 3rd Battalion, 187th Infantry, 101st Airborne Division (Airmobile) "Screaming Eagles" on a rid ...

'' and ''

Platoon A platoon is a military unit typically composed of two or more squads, sections, or patrols. Platoon organization varies depending on the country and the branch, but a platoon can be composed of 50 people, although specific platoons may rang ...

''. Following her shows at the , and

Dundee Contemporary Arts Dundee Contemporary Arts (DCA) is an art centre in Dundee, Scotland, with two contemporary art galleries, a two-screen cinema, a print studio, a learning and public engagement programme, a shop and a café bar. The director of DCA is Beth Bate ...

, Banner was nominated for the

in 2002. Since early 2000, Banner has been working with pornographic film as a basis for an exploration of our obsession with sex, and the extreme limits of written communication. In large, densely filled works she transcribe the varied sexual activities taking place in ''Asswoman in Wonderland'', starring Tiffany Minx, who also directed this X-rated version of Alice's fictional adventures. Banner's own ''Arsewoman in Wonderland'' (2001), presented in the Turner Prize exhibition, is a 4 x 6 m printed description of the film pasted and layered sheet after sheet onto the wall like and overladen billboard. 'I wanted to make some work about sex but I couldn't describe it. I was too close to it and I did not have the words that close to hand. I looked again at ports as a way of investigating my own taboo. Just as with the war films I enjoyed it but found it hard to grasp; it was intimate yet distant, seductive yet sometimes repulsive. My response to the film was very emotional.' ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' asked, "It's art. But is it porn?" calling in "Britain's biggest porn star",

Ben Dover Simon James Honey (born 23 May 1956), better known as Ben Dover, is an English pornographic actor, director and producer. He has also worked under several other pseudonyms including Steve Perry as producer and Lindsay Honey as an actor and mus ...

, to comment.Brockes, Emm
"It's art. But is it porn?"
''The Guardian'' online, 5 November 2002. Retrieved 21 May 2007. The prize was won that year by Lancastrian artist

Keith Tyson Keith Tyson (born Keith Thomas Bower,Keith Tyson

. In 2009 she issued herself an

International Standard Book Number The International Standard Book Number (ISBN) is a numeric commercial book identifier that is intended to be unique. Publishers purchase ISBNs from an affiliate of the International ISBN Agency. An ISBN is assigned to each separate edition a ...

and registered herself as a publication under her own name. In 2010, she was selected to create the 10th Duveen Hall commission at

Tate Britain Tate Britain, known from 1897 to 1932 as the National Gallery of British Art and from 1932 to 2000 as the Tate Gallery, is an art museum on Millbank in the City of Westminster in London, England. It is part of the Tate network of galleries in ...

for which she transformed and displayed two decommissioned

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) an ...

fighter jets Fighter aircraft are fixed-wing military aircraft designed primarily for air-to-air combat. In military conflict, the role of fighter aircraft is to establish air superiority of the battlespace. Domination of the airspace above a battlefield ...

. On 1 October 2010, in an open letter to the British government's culture secretary

Jeremy Hunt Jeremy Richard Streynsham Hunt (born 1 November 1966) is a British politician who has served as Chancellor of the Exchequer since 14 October 2022. He previously served in the Cabinet as Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport ...

—co-signed by a further 27 previous Turner prize nominees, and 19 winners—Banner opposed any future cuts in public funding for the arts. In the letter the cosignatories described the arts in Britain as a "remarkable and fertile landscape of culture and creativity." Banner’s work includes sculpture, drawing and installation; text is the core of her oeuvre. She is one of the "key names",Grant, Simon
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'', 27 March 2009. Retrieved 13 June 2010. along with Jake and Dinos Chapman, Gary Hume, Sam Taylor-Wood, Tacita Dean and Douglas Gordon, of the Young British Artists.

Other works

- Onyx, Bookman, Courier 2018 Full stop inflatables (Installation Breeder, Athens) - SS19 The Walk (and Buoys Boys) 2018 High definition digital film (Installation Breeder, Athens) - SS19 The Walk 2018 Performed at DRAFx: An Evening of Performances (o2 Kentish Town Forum, London) - Buoys Boys 2016, Full Stop inflatables, Sculptural performance (

De La Warr Pavilion The De La Warr Pavilion is a grade I listed building, located on the seafront at Bexhill on Sea, East Sussex, on the south coast of England. The Modernist and International Style building was designed by the architects Erich Mendelsohn and S ...

, Bexhill-on-sea) - Buoys Boys 2016, High definition digital film - STAMP OUT PHOTOGRAPHIE 2014 (V-A-C collection

Whitechapel Gallery The Whitechapel Gallery is a public art gallery in Whitechapel on the north side of Whitechapel High Street, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. The original building, designed by Charles Harrison Townsend, opened in 1901 as one of the fir ...

, London) - 1066 2012 Wall projection (

Turner Contemporary Turner Contemporary is one of the UK’s leading contemporary art galleries. Celebrating Margate’s connection with the painter J.M.W. Turner (1775 – 1851), an artist who believed that art could be an agent of change, its year-round exhibition ...

, England) - The Exquisite Corpse Will Drink the Young Wine 2012 Musical Performance / Screening (The Welsh Congregational Chapel, Borough, London) - Performance Nude 2010 Performance with David Salas (Claire de Rouen / Other Criteria Book Launch, London) - Mirror 2007 Performance with

Samantha Morton Samantha Jane Morton (born 13 May 1977) is an English actress and director. Known for her work in independent cinema, she is the recipient of numerous accolades, including a BAFTA Award and a Golden Globe Award, as well as nominations for two ...

(

, London)

Exhibitions

1994 - Pushing Back The Edge Of The Envelope,

, London 1995 - Viewing Room,

Luhring Augustine Gallery The Luhring Augustine Gallery is an art gallery in New York City. The gallery has three locations: Chelsea, Manhattan, Chelsea, Bushwick, Brooklyn, Bushwick, and Tribeca. Its principal focus is the representation of an international group of cont ...

, New York 1997 - The Nam - 1000 page all text flick book, London - Only the Lonely, Frith Street Gallery, London 1998 - Art Now,

, London - LOVE DOUBLE, Barbara Thumm Gallery, Berlin 1999 - Statements, Basel Art Fair - ASTERISK, Gesellschaft für Aktuelle Kunst, Bremen - Don't Look Back, Brooke Alexander, New York - THE NAM and Related Material,

Printed Matter Printed matter is a term, mostly used by mailing systems, normally used to describe mechanically printed materials for which reduced fees are paid which are lower than first-class mail. Each postal administration has it own rules for what may be p ...

, New York - STOP, Frith Street Gallery, London 2000 -Soixante-Neuf, Charles H Scott Gallery,

Emily Carr Institute Emily Carr University of Art + Design (abbreviated as ECU) is a public art university located in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The university's campus is located within the Great Northern Way Campus in Strathcona. The university is a co-e ...

, Vancouver 2001 - ARSEWOMAN,

Murray Guy Murray Guy was a contemporary art gallery specializing in emerging and mid-career contemporary artists. Founded by Margaret Murray and Janice Guy in 1998, the gallery was located in the Chelsea, Manhattan gallery district at 453 West 17th Street. ...

, New York - ARSEWOMAN, Barbara Thumm Gallery, Berlin - Rainbow, 24/7,

, London 2002 - My Plinth is Your Lap, Neuer Aachener Kunstverein, Aachen - My Plinth is Your Lap,

, Dundee 2003 - Fiona Banner, 1301PE, Los Angeles, CA 2006 - Arsenal, Barbara Thumm Gallery, Berlin - Arsewoman in Wonderland, Barbara Thumm Gallery, Berlin 2007 - Peace On Earth,

, London - Every Word Unmade, Barbara Thumm Gallery, Berlin - The Bastard Word, Power Plant, Toronto 2010 - The Naked Ear, Frith Street Gallery, London - Harrier and Jaguar,

Duveens Commission 2010, Tate Britain, London - Tornado, Co-commission by Locus+ and Great North Run Culture, 2010, Newcastle - All the World's Fighter Planes, Musée d'art de Joliette, Québec 2011 - Snoopy Vs The Red Baron, Barbara Thumm Gallery, Berlin 2012 - Unboxing, The Greatest Film Never Made, 1301PE, Los Angeles 2013 - The Vanity Press, Summerhall, Edinburgh (Catalogue) 2014 - Wp Wp Wp,

Yorkshire Sculpture Park The Yorkshire Sculpture Park (YSP) is an art gallery, with both open-air and indoor exhibition spaces, in West Bretton, Wakefield, in West Yorkshire, England. It shows work by British and international artists, including Henry Moore and Barbar ...

, Wakefield - Mistah Kurtz, He Not Dead, PEER, London 2015 - Scroll Down And Keep Scrolling,

Ikon Gallery The Ikon Gallery () is an English gallery of contemporary art, located in Brindleyplace, Birmingham. It is housed in the Grade II listed, neo-gothic former Oozells Street Board School, designed by John Henry Chamberlain in 1877. Ikon was se ...

, Birmingham, UK - FONT, Frith Street Gallery, London 2016 - Au Cœur des Ténèbres, mfc-Michele Didier, Paris, France - Buoys Boys,

, Bexhill, UK - Fiona Banner, Barbara Thumm Gallery, Berlin - Scroll Down And Keep Scrolling,

Kunsthalle Nürnberg The Kunsthalle Nürnberg is an art centre founded in 1967, near the city centre. It organizes exhibitions by contemporary international artists in its galleries in Nuremberg. The Kunsthalle commissions new work by a majority of the artists it wo ...

, Germany - Fiona Banner, 1301PE, Los Angeles - Study #13. Every Word Unmade, Fiona Banner,

David Roberts Art Foundation The Roberts Institute of Art, formerly operating as David Roberts Art Foundation (DRAF), is a non-profit contemporary arts organisation based in London. It commissions pioneering performance art, collaborates with national partners on exhibitions ...

, London 2017 - Runway AW17, De Pont Museum, Tilburg, Netherlands 2018 - Buoys Boys, Mission Gallery, Swansea, Wales 2019 - Fiona Banner aka The Vanity Press, Libby Leshgold Gallery,

Emily Carr University of Art and Design Emily Carr University of Art + Design (abbreviated as ECU) is a public art university located in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The university's campus is located within the Great Northern Way Campus in Strathcona. The university is a co ...

, Vancouver, Canada - Fiona Banner aka The Vanity Press, Independent Art Fair, Barbara Thumm Gallery, New York, USA - Full Sea Stop Scape, Barbara Thumm Gallery, Berlin, Germany 2020 - PERIOD,

Museum Voorlinden Museum Voorlinden () is an art museum in Wassenaar in the Netherlands. It was founded and is privately owned by Joop van Caldenborgh. It was opened on 10 September 2016 by King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands Willem-Alexander (; Willem-Al ...

, Netherlands 2021 - Pranayama Typhoon, Barakat Contemporary, Seoul, Korea

References

External links

Fiona Banner
– Fiona Banner's own website with some artworks, texts and exhibition news

The Body Of The Text
– Fiona Banner article in ''Art in America''
Fiona Banner Profile on BBC site

Interview with Fiona Banner

Fiona Banner at De Pont museum
{{DEFAULTSORT:Banner, Fiona 1966 births Living people 20th-century English women artists 21st-century English women artists Alumni of Goldsmiths, University of London Alumni of Kingston University English contemporary artists English installation artists English sculptors English women sculptors Young British Artists