Two recently decommissioned fighter jets are in the incongruous setting of Tate Britain's Duveen Galleries. One plane, polished to a mirror sheen, lies belly-up, like an injured animal; the other hangs suspended from the ceiling, its matt surface stripped of its combat colours and stripes, painted instead with faint feather markings, bringing to mind a giant, trussed-up bird. Its stilled presence is both powerfully majestic and inert.
Harrier and Jaguar is the latest Duveen Galleries Sotheby's commission. It's Fiona Banner's most impressive work to date. The artist, who usually works with words, transcribing visual material into lengthy "wordscapes" or making sculptures from single letters and punctuation marks, has long been fascinated by the emblem of the fighter jet. It occurs through much of her work.
Of her latest installation, and the contradictions it inspires, Banner says, "It's hard to believe that these planes are designed for function, because they are beautiful. But they are absolutely designed for function, and that function is to kill. That we find them beautiful brings into question the very notion of beauty, but also our own intellectual and moral position. I am interested in that clash between what we feel and what we think."
The sight of these two aircraft, transplanted to the neoclassical halls of the Duveen Galleries, is certainly a sight to behold, filling the viewer with a visceral sense of shock and awe.
- Fiona Banner: Harrier and Jaguar at Tate Britain until 3 January, 2011