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Left Lily Cole, Fiona Banner - Sky Art's 1 Art Matters. Source - http://www.1301pe.com/news/detail.asp?NewsID=489
I have been following the Lily Cole series Art Matters on Sky Arts 1. The Anthony Gormley one was interesting as was the Tacita Dean one (the latter was a former student at Falmouth Art college) - I even understood how she thought of herself as an artist rather than a photographer, as her film is closer to paintings than actual celluloid. The Fiona Banner one confused me somewhat.
Fiona Banner - Suspended Sea Harrier - Source: http://www.hambro-art.com/?voce=artdiary&sel_year=2010&sel_month=6
She was one of the Young British Artists from part of the London Britart scene of the late eighties/nineties, the same stable as Tracey Emin and Damien Hirst et al. Shortlisted for the Turner Prize in 2002, Banner has turned heads with her unusual work, from exhibiting a polished RAF Jaguar (see pic above) and producing printed works that are just purely ISBN numbers to producing powerful posters for the paralympians of the 2012 Olympics (see pic below). She is a little different to most artists - she writes what she sees on canvas.
Fiona Banner - Superhuman Nude (2011). Source - http://countereditions.com/uk/view-all/fiona-banner-limited-edition-print-1249u.html
She has produced such works as The Nam, based on her observations of six Vietnam films e.g. Full Metal Jacket, Platoon etc., but also creates 'wordscapes' - one being a 6 x 4 metre billboard entitled Arsewoman In Wonderlands (see pic below). The latter is a transcript of a porn film. Just words on a board, but it has a voyeuristic mirroring affect and gives the impression of being unsettling, but also of drawing you in. The actress Samantha Morton was part of Banner's 'written portrait' series - first posing in the nude, then reading out Banner's description to a live audience. Banner called it 'a striptease with words.' Lily Cole opted to do the same, stripped and then read out the painted descriptions of Banner's work.
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Some would argue that Banner is a writer, rather than an artist and I must admit, I struggle with this concept too. I understood the idea of writing the words onto canvass as part of a 'visual' nude, or using words as part of a painting or artifact (a friend's father-in-law does this as part of his artwork - I too have used the written word as part of my Hamlet art project eighteen months ago). I cannot get my head around this piece of work being a 'written word as art in itself' angle - not even as an abstract. I cannot see an image, or even sense one, only the story, which DOES leave nothing to the imagination. I am at odds with it, because I could get this from a book.
I can fully understand some of her work, from the Freudian 'Sea Harrier As Genitalia' viewpoint (interestingly, she has since melted down both the Jaguar and the Sea Harrier into ingots - truly emasculating the male 'Toys of War') and even the giant full stops and commas that are dotted around Tower Bridge, London (see above pic) have SOME meaning (try writing meaningful prose without punctuation - so there IS an artistic statement there already).
I am confused by my reaction to this idea, which is strange. I read about 'The Chongqing Novel House' (see above) a few years ago and I could see that as both a novel AND an artifact.
I feel more unnerved reading Banner's 'written portraits' than I ever would just seeing a nude painting or sculpture and possibly more uncomfortable hearing the subject read out Banner's observations of her. It could be argued that the work simply isn't my taste, or as one critic put it 'just conceptual bullshit.' I am not that worried about the fact that I don't 'get' the 'ISBN as Art,' nor 'The Nam' novels either, but I want to challenge why the poster board written word makes me uncomfortable, where a regular nude wouldn't. Is it because of the intimate space in my mind, rather than the visual concept before me?
I don't really think of myself as unusually repressed and usually I am able to think out of the box. So - help me here. Why am I not getting this concept of art and why does this also make me feel that I am way out of my comfort zone?
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no subject
Date: 2014-08-27 10:30 am (UTC)From:I dug deep to see if I am middle-aged-minded boring old fart. Was I capable of 'seeing' this/these? Answer. NOPE!
Agree with you muchly. Uncomfortable as I feel a bit - 'SHOULD I see more in it than there appears?' No. I just --- nope.
I have decided. For me it is all of the 'SHOW OFF' (conceptual bullshit) fashion of that era. Look at who she shared the classes with - Tracy Emin (Oh god that dirty bed! ugh) and Damien Hirst...(I HATE the way he has a factory of benighted twits churning out his 'sort' of paintings! for which he charges a FORTUNE... I MEAN??)
Showoffs, and with NO talent except for being the Punk Rockers for the 'luvvie' art world. I've seen far more talented work scattered around tiny shops and galleries in unknown villages in France. Oh lordy me, COVET COVET... a pair of racing ostriches made from typewriter key arms! oh oh oh oh!!!!!!!!! A school of fish swimming energetically made from kitchen fish slices! And a scene 'Why this?' of a dead man/soldier made from bayonet blades. That had me standing there weeping blood I tell you.
Nah... this is pretentious twaddle for me. I am beyond considering a Jaguar plane as a Boy's Toy... I knew that concept when I was four! And 'emasculating men' (lordy, she's twisted about the male sex!) by boiling it down. And I'd spend more time editing the errors out of that book on the wall... I can find several typos. It's guffstuff.
OH dear ME... she needs to employ her 'art' to better uses. Make it less 'yawn - oh god, oh dear,' and make a POINT if you're going to be a real artist. The point should be 'visible' instead of it having to be explained in many hand-waving spoken words.
I upset someone once in a gallery (when we had monkeys doing paintings!) by asking (who I thought was a steward,) if this painting wasn't hung upside down? Cos everyone there seemed to be twisting necks about! Teehee. Ahem! He was highly offended. I didn't have the courage to go back again and see if it had been turned up the other way. I did look FAR more... exciting - that way!
That 'house' scares me. Very very upset mind there. Someone imprisoned? or just an imprisoned mind? horrid to me anyway as I fear the content if translated would be - rather - unpleasant?
I'm sure this attractive female 'artist' HAS talent. Somewhere.
Oh dear, i've gone on a bit! SHURRUP lizzie. Keep this screened, please Rosie.
You do come up with some wonderful posts. I am impressed deeply with your life and mind... very impressed! What do you actually DO? ARE? A very yummy person to know! Thank you.
no subject
Date: 2014-08-27 11:42 am (UTC)From:Marc Quinn made a cast of himself and filled it full of his own blood and froze it. I know that people get icky over the 'bio-hazard' aspect, but somehow I made a connection with the idea behind it.
I have a quite an eclectic taste in art, for instance I like a lot of Cubist - specifically Picasso and Braque, the Surrealists (grew out of my Dali interest whilst still in my teens, switched to Joan Miro)and some of the Naive movement, specifically Frida Kahlo.
The Chongqing House does unnerve people, but the story written was about a superhero. I am fascinated with abandoned buildings and so one with a written story was an added bonus. I think if it was a story about a haunted house, or a murder, I might not be so 'gungho' about it.
Thank you for your compliments, Looloo. In answer to who I am/ what I do - right now, I am just studying for my English degree. I was a single parent and spent years in tin pot jobs, got married 20 years ago and in between raising a family and keeping an eye on my older parents, held down part time jobs in different areas.
When I finish my degree, I hope to go into publishing, or indeed write for a living. There are several possibilities coming up in my second year, as I have to do some vocational training. My primary interests are literature, psychology, history/archaeology, art, astronomy and increasingly philosophy, though the latter is a headache LOL :-)
no subject
Date: 2014-08-27 02:03 pm (UTC)From:Where did you find your love of art and words? Did you have parents that enjoy those things? And now studying for an English degree.. Lit and Lang? Sounds like fun and the sort of thing I ought to try. I did want to do a History but a mature grant I didn't get! Still. I'd rather to Eng lit and lang. MUCH rather. Is it Open University? Oh good luck.. and oh dear, Dickens... lordy I don't want to plough through him again! I spose the childer are now older and less distracting? How many? oooh you sound such a super person. I bet you're a splendid Mum!
I agree with almost all of what you say about these people ...
I SO enjoy Dali.. he makes me 'understand' in a very odd way. Some of Picasso.. just some. I've just bought myself a Klimt bracelet! Expensive but... Klimt! Just drool over his ink sketches. But I can 'feel' painters - El Greco - all those edges in the colours and brushstrokes.... oh so many. I'm a Renaissance girl really... Holbein's graphite portraits and all those Dutch interiors and oh dammit ALL OF IT... can spend for ever in the National Portrait gallery. But I'm just a 'discoverer' as my life has not been prescribed or aided, it's just been - oh dammit why didn't I have GOOGLE when I was twenty or thirty... or Amazon to buy my beloved books for a penny secondhand. My life proscribed any artistic education being too busy surviving. At last I am free now to find my way in the forest of joys, being the last of my line, and single again.
Gosh I'm so glad that house had a superhero... it badly needs not just one, rather more I fear. Marc Quinn doing that? good greef! makes me think of Tony Hancock and The Blood Donor... 'an armful!' Lordy, I sincerely trust he didn't try to do it all at once.... no, of course not. But yes, I can sort of understand that - odd but interesting underthorts.
Got to shorten this... or stop talking so much! shall split it so you can bin it in two bits!
no subject
Date: 2014-08-27 03:08 pm (UTC)From:The lads are now coming up to 21 and 30 respectively, so they cause minimum fuss now and my parents are long gone. I lost my chance of reading English when I became a teen parent and now I have figured that I had better do this degree NOW, lest I will moan about lost opportunities for the rest of my life. Truth is, I probably needed to experience the tougher side of the real world to fully understand the nuances of what other people were trying to write. Something that happens with years on the clock, rather than being fresh-faced and out of school.
Klimt 'The Kiss' hung on a friend's bedroom wall for years. Very beautiful - I have seen some of the prints of his pattern work too and they are stunning. An old boyfriend introduced me to Modigliani (whose posters adorned his bedroom wall). I have a soft spot for his work, because he was passionate about his nudes. He would lock himself in his studio for days and would have a hissy fit if anyone interrupted him - would consider the canvas and artwork ruined.
I haven't been lucky enough to go to the major galleries as I live in Cornwall and any trip to London is usually due to visiting relations, but I will at some point make the effort. We have many galleries here and of course, St Ives is famous for its artists such as Barbara Hepworth, Patrick Heron and Bernard Leach, amongst others. We have the Tate St Ives, which has many exhibitions - I am hoping to fit one in before I go back to college in late September.
I think Quinn did his in stages - about six pints of blood all told. Loved Hancock - a beloved but tortured genius.
Ok - on to part two :-)
Part two.!
Date: 2014-08-27 02:04 pm (UTC)From:But another was trekking through some grooosome Constabley paintings to find La Tempesta - Giorgione simply because I saw a film with that title and which was... good - La Tempesta was involved natch.
AND now you are hoping to go into publishing... gosh. Writing for a living... OOOH HOHOH Lets have you up for the Booker!!
Seriously. your list of interests - SNAP!!!! Just totally SNAP!!! I'm doing the philosophy stuff now... and enjoying laughing my head off at Camus... oh darling man. I WISH I could have sat with them all and 'discussed' the Meaning of Life and Existentialism.... oh my oh my. I'm reading Candide now, and he's hilarious and so snidey snipey. Puts everyone and everything in a clear glass jar to be viewed properly!! I've Proust to come..hell. 7 volumes (and a few fiction to intersperse the heavies.)
History? English or European? I wanted history but it was UK history natch, and now I've found European History and damme... that gets complicated. Woweee. The early Kings of France alone are adorable in their names. The Fat, the Bald, the Dull.... and the Spider (Louis XI) In love natch with Henry IV of France.
Astronomy ! Don't care what Dawkins says about it... I LIKE having my stars read. AND I think Zodiac signs are amazingly precisely right! Lordy me. I'm a Sag.. and SOSOO true. Ex was a Gemini... and oooh me - Janus. And you're a Cancer. NICE! I do a daily listen in to Russell Grant... even if it is all hoolie.. I think sometimes it helps to listen to someone being positive and a guide! He at least doesn't forecast coming up on the pools! He's more about behaviour, yours or someone elses.
Yes. Dear lovely Rosie. Am with you all the way. Golly... keep me up with your super studying. And if you want encouragement.. it's about all I'm any good at!
ENUFF! I've sardines to clean.. and grill and stink the rooms out with! Shall light my lovely smelly candles!
Oh bless you... You are amazing and super and fun and clever and.... thanks so much, and so happy that Flair put me on to you! Darling Flair, must send her an email - do love her too, she was soooo good when I turned up having fled the ex overnight!
See you... shan't let you go now!
Re: Part two.!
Date: 2014-08-27 03:33 pm (UTC)From:The philosophy module I did was about ethics - whether something is 'deontological' (where a decision is made around God-centered religion, with no exceptions to the rule) or 'teleological' (whether all things have been taken into consideration). The former is more 'black and white,' where as the latter is more 'shades between.' One day, i will explore some of the names you mentioned :-)
I am drawn to UK history more, because my father was well-versed in the late Mediaeval/Tudor period and his tastes influenced my understanding of it, plus I am very interested in the Victorians. However, as time goes by and I learn the finer details of Colonialism/Post Colonialism, I am far more interested in the stories of the indigenous people. I definitely enjoyed Chinua Achebe's 'Things Fall Apart' - he was clearly a story-teller of the old tradition before he became a writer.
Astronomy is different from Astrology - I am interested in space/planets/stars etc. I grew up in a very New Age family and know about astrology, but had differing points of view in regards to this. Will private message you about this later :-)
I appreciate your encouragement Loloo and don't do yourself down - you seem to have a very lively mind sparking there and I will look into many of the names that you have mentioned, so i can familiarise myself with them more.
Fee is indeed lovely - we met per chance on LJ when I was clearing out this LJ account in 2011. She had made a comment in response to LJ's 'Question of the Day' and we kept in contact. Alas, whereas I can appreciate other people's interest in 'Lord of the Rings' - I do not share the interest; I do however think that there have been many well-written fanfics that yourself, Fee and others have written :-)
I am glad you managed to flee your ex - life has now opened up for you and long may it continue to do so xxx
Re: Part two. and one!!
Date: 2014-08-28 09:07 am (UTC)From:Oh the existentialism and stuff. it was much MUCH nicer then... when we're young and idealistic. On reading this all I realise that life has taught me so many lessons that I can just giggle gently and dream of that week in l952 sitting on the Left Bank with a Marie Brizard (tastes like Absinthe!) and 'philosophising'... the world was so full of attemptable opportunities then. Now realism is more my scene. But enjoy them... seen from up here, they're lovely! Poor Camus, he's hilarious really... but so YOUNG! And Candide is a children's story about the pitfalls of being a grown-up! Delicious and not at all heavy.
I HAVE read 'Things Fall Apart'... gosh, how could i forget? I had to dump all my 'Friend-Books' when I set off to sail round the world... (we didn't but at least we made the Med and back.) I shall have to Amazon and get it back again. My poor Bookshelves. I did spend 9 months in Kenyan Africa being a Tour Guide for the Tsavo National Park... so... aaah "Kwa Heri- nchi zangu wapenzi."
And your Father into Mediaeval History to the Tudors... sounds like he had the same history teacher as me! That was my joy. I stopped at Jamey the One, after that ... erm. But Those were the really good history days.. wow. And jolly well documented as well, but leaving enough 'space' for the mind to flesh out the flesh! Oh Wonderful Dad. Writing AND History... gaaaahhhh. ENVY ENVY! (Neither of my parents ever picked up a book!) You must miss him. I think he must have had a super sense of humour too!
Fee has been a real BRICK, and such a GOOD friend. I can tell her anything and everything, and she will weep or laugh with me. And I hope I with her. She's just so sincere and true in real life too. I do miss her dreadfully, even after only a day or so in her company. I think of her as 'with me' most of the time. Such a buddy.
Soo.... I'm so enjoying catching up with everything I should have done over the last sixty years... and REALLY getting so much MORE out of it all. I agree - you do have to have 'life experience' really to write about philosophy and ethics with any sort of background sense... we were just dancing on clouds of hope then! Now - like you and Hubby... older feet must stay solid on the earth, even if our eyes are lifted to the stars!
Bless you and thanks so much for your super posts every day. I do really enjoy (solidly enjoy) them. So many one just flicks through and they make no impact at all.
Re: Part two. and one!!
Date: 2014-08-28 11:11 am (UTC)From:Dad and I had an awkward relationship for a long time - my parents split whilst I was in my early/mid teens and there had been an estrangement between us. The last ten years were good, though. We had a lot in common and got on really well.
Re: Part two. and one!!
Date: 2014-08-28 11:59 am (UTC)From:Good news tho is you're only 47!!! THAT is FANTASTIC... oh boy oh boy. OOOOH LOTS of life left to do LOTS of things! YAY and YAY.
Oh happy me now... dances off to eat huge shrimps and grated carrots, toms and cucumber. Bless.
Re: Part two. and one!!
Date: 2014-08-28 12:07 pm (UTC)From: