Fiona Banner
Fiona Banner's art is both forensic and poetic in its approach to text and image
Fiona Banner's art is both forensic and poetic in its approach to text and image
Banner's art has challenged the traditional role of women as makers and as consumers of image and text. She pursues an attention to detail which is meant to affirm the message of the image and remove ambiguity whilst at the same time acknowledging the fact that her representations are, by the very nature of them being hers, necessarily subjective. She accepts that the traditional role of the artist is to describe the world through the medium of drawing. She has broken this down into its barest form by producing hand written descriptions in Indian ink of moving film images. Drawing is her instrument. In her transcriptions of porn movies and war movies, like 'Top Gun 1994' , she uses it like a magnifying glass, holding up the lens to expose how little we see. She is prepared to challenge the notion that porn is of interest only to men, making it clear that her descriptions are without bias. They are intended to show the action for what it is, movement; and the dialogue for what that is, words. Her intent is to avoid titillation by engaging with the eye, immersing the viewer in words. Arsewoman in Wonderland 2001
Banner enjoys seeing a concept through to her own logical conclusion. Much of her work has used text and images of text in printed books, large scale sculptures depicting punctuation marks and screen prints of written word. The printed and drawn word has become her motif. Then in 2009 she registered herself as an IBSN number and had a tattoo of the number inked onto her back. The British Library wrote to her to ask for a copy for their archive.
(International Standard Book Number) "The tattoo is my own personal ISBN : I am officially registered as a publication – ‘Fiona Banner’. It’s not really about branding, but how works of art act as mirrors; it’s also about stories and biography – the conspiracy of narrative. It was thinking also about copyright and publishing in a jokey, serious way.
A sort of portrait as book." Banner 2009
The logical conclusion for her was to invent a font called 'Font' in 2015. This is available to download free from her website. It was created by her and is owned by her. Not only has she defined herself by her art but she has become an artwork and her font will be used to create other works by other artists. She has in this way become a progenitor of the future of the art of the written word : she has secured something which can exist beyond her.
Her recent work on identity challenges the very heart of artistic tradition, drawing from the live model. This most long standing tradition has been turned on its head by her 'descriptions'. Instead of describing the life model in the usual way with paint or drawing materials, she uses paint to write not just what she can see but also what she feels, smells, senses. She describes Lily Cole's thighs as 'hot as hell', the obvious sexual connotations bring images to the viewers mind which are not visible. This art becomes an experience which relies upon the viewer as much as the artist to create the image.
Banner enjoys seeing a concept through to her own logical conclusion. Much of her work has used text and images of text in printed books, large scale sculptures depicting punctuation marks and screen prints of written word. The printed and drawn word has become her motif. Then in 2009 she registered herself as an IBSN number and had a tattoo of the number inked onto her back. The British Library wrote to her to ask for a copy for their archive.
(International Standard Book Number) "The tattoo is my own personal ISBN : I am officially registered as a publication – ‘Fiona Banner’. It’s not really about branding, but how works of art act as mirrors; it’s also about stories and biography – the conspiracy of narrative. It was thinking also about copyright and publishing in a jokey, serious way.
A sort of portrait as book." Banner 2009
The logical conclusion for her was to invent a font called 'Font' in 2015. This is available to download free from her website. It was created by her and is owned by her. Not only has she defined herself by her art but she has become an artwork and her font will be used to create other works by other artists. She has in this way become a progenitor of the future of the art of the written word : she has secured something which can exist beyond her.
Her recent work on identity challenges the very heart of artistic tradition, drawing from the live model. This most long standing tradition has been turned on its head by her 'descriptions'. Instead of describing the life model in the usual way with paint or drawing materials, she uses paint to write not just what she can see but also what she feels, smells, senses. She describes Lily Cole's thighs as 'hot as hell', the obvious sexual connotations bring images to the viewers mind which are not visible. This art becomes an experience which relies upon the viewer as much as the artist to create the image.