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This page is about the Canadian performance art. For the fictional cartoon character, see Rainbow Rangers.
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Anna Banana
Anna Banana at the Ex Postal Facto mail art conference.jpg
Anna Banana at the Ex Postal Facto mail art conference in San Francisco, February 2014
Born
Anne Lee Long

(1940-02-24) February 24, 1940 (age 85)
Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
Movement Mail artist

Anna Banana (born February 24, 1940, as Anne Lee Long in Victoria, British Columbia) is a Canadian artist. She is famous for her unique performance art, her writing, and for publishing her own small magazines. People have called her a "go-getter" and a "reviewer" of art. She also created something called an artistamp, which is like a tiny piece of art the size of a postage stamp.

Anna Banana has been a big part of the mail art movement since the early 1970s. She helped connect the first artists in this movement with the next generation. As a publisher, she started Vile magazine and a newsletter called "Banana Rag." This newsletter later became Artistamp News in 1996.

Today, Anna Banana lives in British Columbia. She runs her own company called Banana Productions. She even calls herself the "Top Banana"! Her only publication now is the International Art Post. She makes 700 copies of each new edition.

Discovering Anna Banana's Art Journey

Anna Banana went to the University of British Columbia from 1958 to 1963. She earned a certificate to teach in elementary schools. She taught for five years. Two years were in public schools, and three years were at the New School in Vancouver.

She started her art career in Victoria, making art with fabric. But she wasn't happy with how her work was sold. This led her to try more public ways of showing her art. In 1971, she declared herself the "Town Fool of Victoria." She then organized many interactive events. To reach more people, she started a newsletter called the Banana Rag. She sent a copy to Vancouver artist Gary Lee Nova. He replied with a list of names and addresses of other mail artists. This started her 40-year connection with a worldwide art network. This network was open to everyone, no matter their background.

Like many mail artists, she chose a new name for herself: Anna Banana. This eventually became her legal name. She used this name when writing to other artists like Ray Johnson and General Idea.

Creating Vile Magazine

BananaPost'89 AnnaBanana
BananaPost '89 artistamps by Anna Banana, 1989

In 1973, Anna Banana moved to San Francisco. She joined her mail-art friends there, known as the Bay Area Dadaists. They created Neo-Dadaist performances, mail art, and publications. She worked as a typesetter at a print shop. This is where the first issue of her magazine, Vile, was printed in 1974. She realized at this shop that "anyone could be a publisher."

Vile magazine was meant to show and celebrate the art happening in the mail art network. It was a mix of art, poetry, stories, letters, photos, and changed advertisements from Life magazine. It was mostly a visual magazine. It looked at all the images coming from mass communication. It was also a response to another magazine, File, which was starting to focus on more mainstream art.

Between 1974 and 1981, Anna Banana published seven issues of Vile. Her partner, Bill Gaglione, edited issues four, six, and seven. Vile explored many different ways to present mail art. Anna Banana said her influences included Dada humor, playful craziness, and the free-spirited art scene of the Bay Area in the 1960s and early 1970s. Vile's rebellious style fit well with the punk movement happening at the time.

After returning to Canada in 1981, Anna Banana published About Vile. This book told the story of the magazine. It also included old mail art and a story about her and Gaglione's 1978 trip to Europe. This trip marked the end of their working partnership. That same year, Anna Banana also organized a "Banana Art" event. It was for the Global Television Network and held at Bridges Restaurant on Granville Island, Vancouver.

From 1983 to 1985, Anna Banana worked at Intermedia Press. There, she learned how to do full-color printing. She used this skill for her 1988 publication, International Art Post. This publication featured full-color stamps designed by artists. These stamps were printed on special paper with tiny holes, like real stamps. Artists helped pay for the project. In return, they received 500 copies of their own stamp. Banana Productions kept the rest for sales and promotion. IAP became an annual publication, meaning it comes out every year.

In 1990, Anna Banana created the Artistamp Collector's Album. This was a special, limited edition of 49 silk-screened ring binders. They were made to hold the IAP and the Artistamp News (letter) (ASN), which Anna Banana started in 1991. Eight issues of ASN were published. Each issue featured artist profiles, stamp news, new editions, and several color stamps inserted as separate sheets. Anna Banana then went back to writing about general mail-art topics in the Banana Rag.

In 1991, Anna Banana created a tiny book and stamp sheet called 20 Years of Fooling Around with A. Banana. This was the catalog for her 20-year look back at her art. This show was held at the grunt gallery in Vancouver. Special versions of the book had real stamps placed over the black-and-white pictures. She has received several grants from the Canada Council between 1975 and 2009.

Anna Banana's Writings

Besides her stories about the New School and her articles in Vile, Banana Rag, and Artistamp News, Anna Banana wrote two articles for a 1984 book. These articles were called "Mail Art Canada" and "Women in Mail Art." They were later reprinted in another publication. She also wrote "The Transformation of Anne Long" for Maclean's magazine in 1972. Another article, "Banana Olympics: Sporty Art or Arty Sport," appeared in the Recreation Reporter in 1980.

The magazine Rubberstampmadness published a series of her articles about mail artists. These included articles about Jeanie Eberhardt, Frank & Witta Jensen, Vittore Baroni, and Peter & Angela Netmail. She also wrote "Artistamps in the Evolving Mail-Art Network." Anna Banana's review, "Big is Beautiful at Venice Biennale," was in the Coast Independent in 1999. Another version, "Size does matter at Venice Biennale," was in The Georgia Straight. Her article "Strategies of Audience Engagement" appeared in the 2005 book, DIY Survival.

Engaging Audiences: Interactive Events

In 1974, Anna Banana got a job at the San Francisco Bay Guardian newspaper. She helped prepare advertising pages. She used the empty one-inch ad spaces to invite people to her events. The first invitation was for the 1974 Columbus Day Parade. She offered "degrees of Bananology" to anyone who joined or sent banana news.

In 1975, the Guardian ran a full-page ad for her Banana Olympics. Over 100 people joined! They dressed up to compete in fun events like the overhand banana throw, the water-balance race, and the four-legged race. Winners were chosen based on their "appeal," meaning their costume and style. The event happened in Embarcadero Plaza. Volunteers and the New Games Foundation helped. The San Francisco Chronicle and the San Francisco Examiner newspapers covered the event.

In 1980, an art curator named Rosa Ho invited Anna Banana to bring the Banana Olympics to the Surrey, British Columbia Art Gallery. The event received funding from the Canada Council and other arts groups. It was supposed to happen on April Fool's Day. But it was delayed for three months. A Surrey council member thought the event wasn't art. This inspired Anna Banana to create the "Bureaucrat's Marathon." This race involved three steps forward, two backwards, and one to each side. The event finally took place on July 13 with over 100 participants. Anna Banana and Gaglione ended the year with a tour across Canada. They presented "Toward the Future," a show of futurist theater works, in fifteen cities.

Anna Banana's Performances

Throughout the 1970s, Anna Banana kept creating parade entries and April Fool's Day events. She also worked with Bay-area Dadaists on Dada sound poetry and Italian Futurist shows. These were presented at various places like the San Francisco Book Fair and San Jose State University. In 1978, Anna Banana and Gaglione performed their "Futurist Sound" in Toronto. That fall, they started a European tour. They used Anna Banana's mail-art network to arrange shows. They presented "Futurist Sound" and her Banana Olympics film in 29 cities across 11 countries. They performed these works again in 1979 and 1980 at several universities and festivals.

In 1981, Anna Banana moved back to Vancouver. She received money to create a new solo show called "Why Banana?". Starting in the fall of 1982, she began performing "Why Banana?" in nine cities across Canada. She also performed it at the University of South Carolina and in Dallas, Texas. That year, her "Going Bananas Fashion Contest" was also shown live on CKVU's Vancouver Show. It attracted 25 participants.

Anna Banana's performances and tours continued through the 1980s. In the 1990s, she had an art installation and performance in Copenhagen. She also performed "Why Banana?" in Sweden and the Netherlands. In 1993, she pretended to be Dr. Anna Freud Banana from the Specific Research Institute. She claimed to have discovered the psychology behind the "New German Banana Consciousness." In 12 different places, Anna Banana displayed 105 large copies of newspaper and magazine articles about bananas from Germany. She used these to support her idea that "Germany had gone bananas." She also asked visitors to take her "Roar Shack Banana Peel Test" and "Personality Inventory for Banana Syndrome." These were based on a real psychology test.

Anna Banana's most recent interactive research is called "But is it Art?...". She asks her audience to say yes or no to 30 images of artworks. Many of these artworks have a banana theme. Participants record their answers on her "Specific Research response form." They also fill out the back with their name, age, education, and answers to questions about art. They also draw a self-portrait and complete a drawing exercise. With all her interactive works, Anna Banana is more interested in how much her audience will get involved in her research. She cares less about whether people think the images she shows are "art." She presented this work in many cities across Europe and North America between 2009 and 2011.

Anna Banana as a Curator

In 1983, Anna Banana organized a mail-art show called "Show Your Colors." It was for the Arts, Sciences and Technology Center in Vancouver. She created a catalog for the show, which included 246 artists from 32 countries. In 1987, she organized the performance series for the Artropolis Show in Vancouver. She also created a new work with Ron Brunette called "The World Series."

In 1998, Anna Banana curated "Artistamps." This was an exhibit of her own mail art collection from the International Mail-Art Network. It was shown at the Sechelt Art Center in Sechelt, British Columbia. With small changes, it was shown again in 1999 as "Popular Art of Postal Parody." This exhibit was at the Richmond, B.C. Art Gallery. In 2000, it was shown at the Open Space Gallery in Victoria.

Where to See Anna Banana's Art

Anna Banana's art has been shown in many places. Here are some of the larger group exhibitions:

  • Anna Banana: 45 Years of Fooling Around with A. Banana: The Art Gallery of Greater Victoria and Open Space Arts Society (2015), Pratt Institute Libraries (2016)
  • Fluxus to the Internet: Szepmuveszeti Museum, Budapest (2007)
  • Leck Mich!, Lick Me! Artistamps since the 1960s: Neues Museum Weserburg, Bremen (2007)
  • Stamp Art and Artists Stamps: Art Institute of Boston (2000)
  • Mail Art and Artistamps: Chicago Center for the Book Arts, Columbia College (1997)
  • Browser Box: Artropolis at the Round House, Vancouver (1997)
  • Image and Text: Sage Junior College of Albany (1996)
  • Mail Art: Netzwerk der Kunstler: PTT (postal) Museum, Bern, Switzerland (1994)
  • Third International Artistamp Biennial: Davidson Galleries, Seattle (1993)
  • Timbres d'Artistes: Musee de la Poste, Paris (September 1993–January 1994)
  • Some Zines: Boise State University (1992)
  • Art Travels: Mail Art Festival: National Postal Museum-Museum of Civilization, Hull, QC (1992)
  • Pacific Northwest Artistamp Collective: Davidson Galleries, Seattle (1989)
  • Vancouver Art and Artists 1931-1983: Vancouver Art Gallery (group exhibit, 1983)
  • Performance Art Festival: Brussels, Belgium (1978)
  • Performance Art: Stadsarchiv Kassel, Germany, during Documenta 6 (1977)

Solo and Smaller Exhibitions

Here are some of her solo shows and smaller exhibits:

  • The Art of Anna Banana: Galerie Galerij, Zierikzee, Netherlands (solo exhibit, May–June 2009)
  • Anna Banana: Networking Publications: Research Center for Artists' Publications, Weserburg Museum, Bremen, Germany (solo exhibit, April–July, 2009)
  • The Arts of Anna Banana: Sarenco Art Club Gallery, Verona, Italy (solo exhibit and performance, 1998)
  • Anna Banana: Guy Bleus' E-Mail-Art Archives, Centrum Beeldende Kunsten, Hasselt, Belgium (solo exhibit, August 1998)
  • International Salon des Artistamps: Gallery Fifty-Six (three-person exhibit, 1992)
  • 20 Years of fooling Around with a. Banana (solo retrospective): grunt gallery, Vancouver
  • Banana Split: Installation in Vancouver's Warehouse Show (1984) and (with performance) Husets Gallery, Copenhagen, Denmark
  • Bananagrams: Union Gallery, San Jose State University (1981)
  • Banana and Gaglione: Ecart, Geneve, Switzerland and Stempelplaats Gallery, Amsterdam (1978)
  • Anna Banana: New Reform, Aalst, Belgium (1977)

Collections of Anna Banana's Work

Many important art places have full sets of Anna Banana's published works. Other places received copies when they were first made in the 1970s.

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