Fiona Banner facts for kids

Fiona Banner (born 1966), also known as The Vanity Press, is a British artist. She creates art using sculpture, drawing, installations, and text. She is very interested in fighter aircraft and how they are shown in movies.

Fiona Banner is famous for her early works called 'wordscapes'. These are written stories of Hollywood war films, like Top Gun and Apocalypse Now. Her art has been shown in big museums around the world. These include the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the Hayward Gallery in London. In 2002, she was chosen for the Turner Prize, a major art award.

About Fiona Banner

Fiona Banner was born in 1966 in Merseyside, North West England. She studied art at Kingston University. Later, she earned her master's degree from Goldsmiths College of Art in 1993.

Early Art Career

In 1994, Fiona Banner had her first solo art show at a place called City Racing. Since finishing her studies, she has focused on art that uses language. Publishing books and other printed works is a very important part of her art.

In 1995, her work was shown at a big art event called the Venice Biennale. This show was called General Release: Young British Artists.

Wordscapes and The Vanity Press

Since 1994, Banner has made 'wordscapes'. These are handwritten or printed texts that retell entire movies in her own words. Some movies she has covered include Point Break and The Desert. Her 'wordscapes' often look like large blocks of text. They are sometimes the same shape and size as a movie screen. She also explores how written language works, even focusing on punctuation marks.

In 1997, Fiona Banner started using the name The Vanity Press for her publishing work. This is when she released a 1,000-page book called THE NAM. This book describes the plots of six different Vietnam War films. These films include Apocalypse Now, Born on the Fourth of July, and Full Metal Jacket. Through The Vanity Press, she has published many books and art pieces. She often makes people think about who truly owns an artwork or idea.

Major Art Recognition

After her art shows in Germany and Scotland, Fiona Banner was nominated for the Turner Prize in 2002. This is one of the most important art awards in the United Kingdom.

In 2009, she did something unique. She got an International Standard Book Number (ISBN) for herself. An ISBN is a special number given to books. She registered herself as a publication under her own name. She even had the ISBN tattooed on her lower back.

In 2010, she created a special art piece for Tate Britain in London. For this, she took two old Royal Air Force fighter jets. She changed them and displayed them in the museum.

2010 Tate Britain exhibition of an RAF Jaguar installed by Banner.

Fiona Banner is considered one of the "key names" in a group of artists called the Young British Artists. Other famous artists in this group include Jake and Dinos Chapman and Sam Taylor-Wood.

Notable Artworks

Fiona Banner's art often uses text and explores different ideas. Here are some of her other important works:

• Onyx, Bookman, Courier (2018): These were inflatable sculptures shaped like full stops (periods).
• SS19 The Walk (and Buoys Boys) (2018): A high-definition digital film.
• Buoys Boys (2016): This included inflatable sculptures of full stops. It was also a sculptural performance.
• STAMP OUT PHOTOGRAPHIE (2014): An artwork shown at the Whitechapel Gallery in London.
• 1066 (2012): A wall projection shown at Turner Contemporary in England.
• Mirror (2007): A performance piece with actress Samantha Morton.

Selected Art Exhibitions

Fiona Banner's art has been shown in many places around the world. Here are some of her selected exhibitions:

• Pushing Back The Edge Of The Envelope, City Racing, London
• Viewing Room, Luhring Augustine Gallery, New York
• The Nam : 1000 page all text flick book, London
• Only the Lonely, Frith Street Gallery, London
• Art Now, Tate Britain, London
• LOVE DOUBLE, Barbara Thumm Gallery, Berlin
• 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, New York
• STOP, Frith Street Gallery, London
• Soixante-Neuf, Charles H Scott Gallery, Emily Carr Institute, Vancouver
• ARSEWOMAN, Murray Guy, New York
• ARSEWOMAN, Barbara Thumm Gallery, Berlin
• Rainbow, 24/7, Hayward Gallery, London
• My Plinth is Your Lap, Neuer Aachener Kunstverein, Aachen
• My Plinth is Your Lap, Dundee Contemporary Arts, Dundee
• Fiona Banner, 1301PE, Los Angeles, CA
• Arsenal, Barbara Thumm Gallery, Berlin
• Arsewoman in Wonderland, Barbara Thumm Gallery, Berlin
• Peace On Earth, Tate Britain, London
• Every Word Unmade, Barbara Thumm Gallery, Berlin
• The Naked Ear, Frith Street Gallery, London
• Harrier and 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
• Snoopy Vs The Red Baron, Barbara Thumm Gallery, Berlin
• Unboxing, The Greatest Film Never Made, 1301PE, Los Angeles
• The Vanity Press, Summerhall, Edinburgh (Catalogue)
• Wp Wp Wp, Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Wakefield
• Mistah Kurtz, He Not Dead, PEER, London
• Scroll Down And Keep Scrolling, Ikon Gallery, Birmingham, UK
• FONT, Frith Street Gallery, London
• Au Cœur des Ténèbres, mfc-Michele Didier, Paris, France
• Buoys Boys, De La Warr Pavilion, Bexhill, UK
• Fiona Banner, Barbara Thumm Gallery, Berlin
• 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
• Runway AW17, De Pont Museum, Tilburg, Netherlands
• Buoys Boys, Mission Gallery, Swansea, Wales
• 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
• PERIOD, Museum Voorlinden, Netherlands
• Pranayama Typhoon, Barakat Contemporary, Seoul, Korea