More Fiona Banner Art Stuff…

Right, I’ve been to see them in the flesh now.

For me something about the Harrier didn’t work. I’m sure there was a lot of work involved dangling it from the skylight but I doubt that was appreciated by the average viewer. The feathers painted on it are very faint so it just looks grubby and the painted-on beak just looks too much like the radome of the Sea Harrier (which is after all what it is). Symbolic maybe but it just doesn’t look like a dead bird.

The jaguar on the other hand is really interesting; it looks great from any angle and it didn’t bother me a jot that it was upside-down and that also gave it a discarded child’s toy feel about the whole thing. The only slightly disappointing thing was that close-up there were lots of ‘plastic’ bits that had been stripped of paint (or not removed) and those kind of spoilt the overall ‘hewn out of shiny metal’ feel of the whole.

I too wonder if the Jaguar is suspended. Seems a lot of weight to rest on canopy and tail.

In answer to these points, no, the Jaguar isn’t suspended and yes, it is a lot of weight to rest on the canopy. There is actually a scaffold frame built inside the cockpit (no seat) that is fixed, rather crudely, to the inside of the canopy with huge amounts of fibreglass matting; it’s rather a mess actually and you wouldn’t have been able to see it if the whole canopy had been painted over.

Very very good ideas, many photographers strive to capture the essence of aircraft and the Jag in particular highlights what connects function and form. Full marks for thinking big and giving us the chance to see a Jaguar like this. Many civil aircraft owners have special paint schemes to enhance the design, however the general public seldom see them, which is a shame.And think of all the mil jet specials of recent years .

Who’ll be the first scale modellor to enter a model in a competition of the Tate with the two aircraft in it?:D

Roger Smith.

Now there’s an idea:diablo:

My local museum only have bloody Rembrandts, van Gough, van Dyck and the likes of them 😀

The Rembrants sounds like a series of airliners and the van Gough and van Dyck from a little known Dutch company producing WWI fighters

Who’ll be the first scale modellor to enter a model in a competition of the Tate with the two aircraft in it?:D

Roger Smith.

Certainly think a baremetal highly polished Jaguar would look mighty fine in the air…

or footballers?

I would quite like to see these in the metal (and would have done yesterday had my conference not over run) and I agree that they seem to have made people think which is what art is all about, I suppose.

My local museum only have bloody Rembrandts, van Gough, van Dyck and the likes…

Never heard of them…..are they Dutch aircraft? :confused:

I certainly think Fiona archived what she set out to do – make the viewer relate to the work. This thread has 31 posts, which is more than some threads entirely about Historic Aviation.

Personally I actually really like the installation, in particular the Jag part. My local museum only have bloody Rembrandts, van Gough, van Dyck and the likes of them 😀

The RAF should have flown one like that just before they were withdrawn…

…think of all the UFO sightings there would have been! :diablo:

I’m just amazed how well the Jag scrubbed up……:rolleyes:

Just goes to show how well we looked after them…..:D

John

I’m just amazed how well the Jag scrubbed up……:rolleyes:

It’s not such a secret. She just wouldn’t tell the press how much thats all.

.

who is keeping secret just how much she paid for the pair.

Probably get a good idea, knowing what the other airframes went for

Oh c’mon you lot. How often do you get the chance to go nose-to-nose with a Harrier? I hope to visit the Tate, but whether I’ll have the courage to lay on the floor underneath and look up, I doubt it.

Channel Four news interviewed Fiona (I’m too lazy to work out the link – it’s at the end of the prog.) who is keeping secret just how much she paid for the pair.

More (Sea Harrier) photographs here:

http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/exhibitions/duveenscommissionseries/fionabanner2010/explore.shtm

Absolutely brilliant.

Mark

Actually, I forgot to say that I think it’s good that they are treated with respect, not as objects but as extensions of the men who flew them in extreme circumstances. If that sounds pretentious, I’m sorry, hopefully the forumites will know what I’m trying to say.

I think they look great as art, and the Jaguar in particular is stunning in polished metal.

Does anybody know what will happen to them after the exhibition? Just scrapped, sold as art, sold as hacked about old planes, or what?

“I couldn’t resist lying underneath, nose-to-nose, sensing the weight and mass and power of it above me, like a still pendulum”

It does have a certain “Sword of Damocles” aura hanging there like that.