{{Short description|British artist}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2025}}{{Infobox artist | name = Fiona Banner aka The Vanity Press | image = | image_size = | alt = | caption = | birth_name = | birth_date = {{birth year and age|1966}} <!-- {{Birth date and age|YYYY|MM|DD}} --> | birth_place = [[Merseyside]], England | death_date = <!-- {{Death date and age|YYYY|MM|DD|YYYY|MM|DD}} --> | death_place = | nationality = | spouse = Nick Rosen | field = | training = [[Kingston University]] and [[Goldsmiths College]] | movement = [[Young British Artists]] | works = | patrons = | awards = | elected = | website = {{URL|fionabanner.com}} | bgcolour = }}
'''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.<ref name="Ina Cole">{{cite book |editor1-last=Cole |editor-first1=Ina |title=From the Sculptor’s Studio: Conversations with Twenty Seminal Artists |year=2021 |publisher=Laurence King Publishing Ltd |page=8-19 |isbn=9781913947590 |oclc=1420954826}}</ref> 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]]. Her work has been exhibited in prominent international venues such as the [[Museum of Modern Art]], New York and [[Hayward Gallery]], London.<ref name="Banner, Fiona">{{Cite book|title=Fiona Banner : Wp Wp Wp|last=Banner, Fiona|others=Yorkshire Sculpture Park|date=5 January 2024 |isbn=9781907631559|location=West Bretton, Wakefield, West Yorkshire|oclc=894638533}}</ref>{{better source needed|date=July 2021}} Banner was shortlisted for the [[Turner Prize]] in 2002.
== Life == [[File:Tate_Britain_North_Gallery_Jaguar.jpg|thumb|2010 Tate Britain exhibition of an [[RAF]] [[SEPECAT Jaguar|Jaguar]] installed by Banner.]] Fiona Banner was born on Merseyside, [[North West England]] in 1966.<ref name="Phaidon Editors">{{cite book |title=Great Women Artists |year=2019 |publisher=Phaidon Press |isbn=978-0714878775 |page=45}}</ref> She studied at [[Kingston University]] and completed her MA at [[Goldsmiths College|Goldsmiths College of Art]] in 1993. The next year she held her first solo exhibition at [[City Racing]].<ref name="stonard">Stonard, John-Paul. [http://www.tate.org.uk/servlet/ArtistWorks?cgroupid=999999961&artistid=2687&page=1&sole=y&collab=y&attr=y&sort=default&tabview=bio "Fiona Banner"], [[Tate]] from text of [[Grove Art Online]], 10 December 2000. Retrieved 13 June 2010.</ref> 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]].<ref name="stonard" />
Since 1994 Banner has created handwritten and printed texts – 'wordscapes' – that retell in her own words entire feature films, including ''[[Point Break]]'' (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.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book|title=Turner Prize 2002 : an exhibition of work by the shortlisted artists, 30 October 2002-5 January 2003 at Tate Britain.|date=2002|publisher=Tate Pub|others=Tate Britain (Gallery)|isbn=1854374656|location=London|oclc=51297728}}</ref>
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.<ref name="Ina Cole">{{cite book |editor1-last=Cole |editor-first1=Ina |title=From the Sculptor’s Studio: Conversations with Twenty Seminal Artists |year=2021 |publisher=Laurence King Publishing Ltd |page=8-19 |isbn=9781913947590 |oclc=1420954826}}</ref> 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.<ref name="Banner, Fiona"/> ''THE NAM'' is a 1,000-page book which describes the plots of six Vietnam films in their entirety: the films are ''[[Apocalypse Now]]'', ''[[Born on the Fourth of July (film)|Born on the Fourth of July]]'', ''[[The Deer Hunter]]'', ''[[Full Metal Jacket (film)|Full Metal Jacket]]'', ''[[Hamburger Hill]]'' and ''[[Platoon (film)|Platoon]]''.
Following her shows at the {{ill|Neuer Aachener Kunstverein|de}}, and [[Dundee Contemporary Arts]], Banner was nominated for the [[Turner Prize]] 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 Mynx|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 × 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.'<ref name=":1" /> ''[[The Guardian]]'' asked, "It's art. But is it porn?" calling in "Britain's biggest porn star", [[Ben Dover]], to comment.<ref name=":0">Brockes, Emma [https://www.theguardian.com/arts/turnerprize2002/story/0,12574,830233,00.html "It's art. But is it porn?"], ''The Guardian'' online, 5 November 2002. Retrieved 21 May 2007.</ref> The prize was won that year by Lancastrian artist [[Keith Tyson]].
In 2009 she issued herself an [[International Standard Book Number]] ({{isbn|0-9548366-7-7}}), and registered herself as a publication under her own name. She was then photographed with the ISBN tattooed on her lower back.<ref>{{cite web |title=Fiona Banner Portrait of the artist as a publication 2009 |url=https://www.moma.org/collection/works/188874 |publisher=[[MoMA]] |access-date=8 November 2023}}</ref>
In 2010, she was selected to create the 10th Duveen Hall commission at [[Tate Britain]]<ref>[http://www.artreview.com/profiles/blog/show?id=1474022%3ABlogPost%3A990272]{{Dead link|date=April 2024|bot=InternetArchiveBot|fix-attempted=yes}} Art Review magazine, January 2010</ref> for which she transformed and displayed two decommissioned [[Royal Air Force]] [[fighter jets]].<ref name="Ina Cole">{{cite book |editor1-last=Cole |editor-first1=Ina |title=From the Sculptor’s Studio: Conversations with Twenty Seminal Artists |year=2021 |publisher=Laurence King Publishing Ltd |page=8-19 |isbn=9781913947590 |oclc=1420954826}}</ref>
On 1 October 2010, in an open letter to the British government's culture secretary [[Jeremy Hunt (politician)|Jeremy Hunt]]—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."<ref>Peter Walker, "[https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2010/oct/01/artists-open-letter-jeremy-hunt Turner prize winners lead protest against arts cutbacks]," ''The Guardian'', 1 October 2010.</ref>
Banner’s work includes sculpture, drawing and installation; text is the core of her oeuvre. She is one of the "key names",<ref name="grant">Grant, Simon. [http://www.apollo-magazine.com/features/3484921/part_5/cultural-propganda.thtml <nowiki>"Cultural propganda?"[sic]</nowiki>] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110928005001/http://www.apollo-magazine.com/features/3484921/part_5/cultural-propganda.thtml|date=28 September 2011}}, ''[[Apollo (magazine)|Apollo]]'', 27 March 2009. Retrieved 13 June 2010.</ref> along with [[Jake and Dinos Chapman]], [[Gary Hume]], [[Sam Taylor-Wood]], [[Tacita Dean]] and [[Douglas Gordon]],<ref name="grant" /> of the [[Young British Artists]].<ref>[http://www.tate.org.uk/servlet/ViewWork?cgroupid=999999961&workid=26540&searchid=14048&tabview=subject "Fiona Banner born 1966"], [[Tate]]. Retrieved 13 June 2010. [https://web.archive.org/web/20110607122045/http://www.tate.org.uk/servlet/ViewWork?cgroupid=999999961&workid=26540&searchid=14048&tabview=subject Archived] at [[WebCite]].</ref><ref>Darwent, Charles. [https://web.archive.org/web/20110607100056/http://www.newstatesman.com/199902120044 "The painted word"], ''[[New Statesman]]'', 12 February 1999. Retrieved 13 June 2010.</ref><ref>Johnson, Ken. [https://www.nytimes.com/1999/03/26/arts/art-in-review-fiona-banner.html?pagewanted=1 "Art in review; Fiona Banner], ''[[The New York Times]]'', 26 March 1999. Retrieved 13 June 2010.</ref><ref>[[Colin Gleadell|Gleadell, Colin]]. [https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/art/3605797/Market-news-the-bronze-age.html Market news: the bronze age"], ''[[The Daily Telegraph]]'', 3 November 2003. Retrieved 13 June 2010.</ref>
== 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]], Bexhill-on-sea) * '''Buoys Boys''' 2016, High definition digital film * '''STAMP OUT PHOTOGRAPHIE''' 2014 (V-A-C collection [[Whitechapel Gallery]], London) * '''1066''' 2012 Wall projection ([[Turner Contemporary]], 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 Books|Other Criteria]] Book Launch, London) * '''Mirror''' 2007 Performance with [[Samantha Morton]] ([[Whitechapel Gallery]], London)
== Exhibitions ==
; 1994 : Pushing Back The Edge of the Envelope, [[City Racing]], London ; 1995 : Viewing Room, [[Luhring Augustine Gallery]], New York ; 1997 : The Nam : 1000 page all text flick book, London : Only the Lonely, Frith Street Gallery, London ; 1998 : Art Now, [[Tate Britain]], London : LOVE DOUBLE, Barbara Thumm Gallery, Berlin<ref>{{Cite web|title=Galerie Barbara Thumm \ Fiona Banner aka The Vanity Press: Love Double – 1998|url=https://bthumm.de/exhibitions/fiona-banner-aka-the-vanity-press-double-love-1998/|access-date=2022-02-23|website=Galerie Barbara Thumm|language=en-US}}</ref> ; 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, Inc.|Printed Matter]], New York : STOP, Frith Street Gallery, London ; 2000 : Soixante-Neuf, Charles H Scott Gallery, [[Emily Carr University of Art and Design|Emily Carr Institute]], Vancouver ; 2001 : ARSEWOMAN, [[Murray Guy gallery|Murray Guy]], New York : ARSEWOMAN, Barbara Thumm Gallery, Berlin<ref>{{Cite web|title=Galerie Barbara Thumm \ Fiona Banner aka The Vanity Press – Arsewoman in Wonderland|url=https://bthumm.de/exhibitions/fiona-banner-aka-the-vanity-press-arsewoman-in-wonderland/|access-date=2022-02-23|website=Galerie Barbara Thumm|language=en-US}}</ref> : Rainbow, 24/7, [[Hayward Gallery]], London ; 2002 : My Plinth is Your Lap, Neuer Aachener Kunstverein, Aachen : My Plinth is Your Lap, [[Dundee Contemporary Arts]], 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, [[Tate Britain]], London : Every Word Unmade, Barbara Thumm Gallery, Berlin : The Bastard Word, Power Plant, Toronto ; 2010 : The Naked Ear, [[Frith Street Gallery]], London : [[British Aerospace Sea Harrier|Harrier]] and [[SEPECAT Jaguar|Jaguar]], [[Tate Britain]] 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<ref>{{Cite web|title=Galerie Barbara Thumm \ Fiona Banner aka The Vanity Press – Snoopy vs The Red Baron|url=https://bthumm.de/exhibitions/fiona-banner-aka-the-vanity-press-snoopy-vs-the-red-baron/|access-date=2022-02-23|website=Galerie Barbara Thumm|language=en-US}}</ref> ; 2012 : Unboxing, The Greatest Film Never Made, [[1301PE]], Los Angeles ; 2013 : The Vanity Press, [[Summerhall]], Edinburgh (Catalogue) ; 2014 : Wp Wp Wp, [[Yorkshire Sculpture Park]], Wakefield : Mistah Kurtz, He Not Dead, PEER, London ; 2015 : Scroll Down And Keep Scrolling, [[Ikon Gallery]], Birmingham, UK : FONT, [[Frith Street Gallery]], London ; 2016 : Au Cœur des Ténèbres, mfc-Michele Didier, Paris, France : Buoys Boys, [[De La Warr Pavilion]], Bexhill, UK : Fiona Banner, Barbara Thumm Gallery, Berlin<ref>{{Cite web|title=Galerie Barbara Thumm \ Fiona Banner aka The Vanity Press|url=https://bthumm.de/exhibitions/fiona-banner-aka-the-vanity-press/|access-date=2022-02-23|website=Galerie Barbara Thumm|language=en-US}}</ref> : Scroll Down And Keep Scrolling, [[Kunsthalle Nürnberg]], Germany : Fiona Banner, [[1301PE]], Los Angeles : Study #13. Every Word Unmade, Fiona Banner, [[David Roberts Art Foundation]], London ; 2017 : Runway AW17, [[De Pont Museum of Contemporary Art|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]], 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<ref>{{Cite web|title=Galerie Barbara Thumm \ Fiona Banner aka The Vanity Press – Full Sea Stop Scape|url=https://bthumm.de/exhibitions/fiona-banner-full-sea-stop-scape/|access-date=2022-02-23|website=Galerie Barbara Thumm|language=en-US}}</ref> ; 2020 : PERIOD, [[Museum Voorlinden]], Netherlands ; 2021 : Pranayama Typhoon, Barakat Contemporary, Seoul, Korea
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== * [http://fionabanner.com Fiona Banner] – Fiona Banner's own website with some artworks, texts and exhibition news *[http://www.fionabanner.com/vanitypress/index.htm The Vanity Press] * [http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1248/is_6_94/ai_n16533179/pg_1 The Body Of The Text] – Fiona Banner article in ''Art in America'' * [https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/2016542.stm Fiona Banner Profile on BBC site] * [http://interviewstream.zkm.de/?p=19 Interview with Fiona Banner] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200808214820/http://interviewstream.zkm.de/?p=19 |date=8 August 2020 }} * [https://web.archive.org/web/20160322153930/http://frithstreetgallery.com/artists/bio/fiona_banner/?%2Fbanner.html Fiona Banner at Frith Street Gallery] * [https://web.archive.org/web/20170303043256/http://www.depont.nl/collectie/kunstenaars/kunstenaar/kunstenaar/banner/werk Fiona Banner at De Pont museum] * [https://collections.rafmuseum.org.uk/collection/object/object-464646/ Fiona Banner's 'The Bastard Word Studies' at the Royal Air Force Museum] {{Young British Artists|state=collapsed}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Banner, Fiona}} [[Category:1966 births]] [[Category:Living people]] [[Category:20th-century English women artists]] [[Category:21st-century English women artists]] [[Category:Alumni of Goldsmiths, University of London]] [[Category:Alumni of Kingston University]] [[Category:English contemporary artists]] [[Category:English installation artists]] [[Category:English women sculptors]] [[Category:Young British Artists]] [[Category:Artists from Merseyside]]