Artwork
Untitled
Untitled is a print by Fiona Banner. It dates from 1999 and is held in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art.
About this work
Overview
The piece functions as a compact, text‑based object rather than a traditional image, inviting viewers to read and consider the dialogue as visual material.
Created in 1999, this work by British artist Fiona Banner consists of a double‑sided printed card. Both faces are covered in stark black‑and‑white text, with one side presenting a scripted exchange in which a character named Hartmann hurls insults at a figure called Private. The piece functions as a compact, text‑based object rather than a traditional image, inviting viewers to read and consider the dialogue as visual material.
Subject & Meaning
The printed dialogue portrays a heated, vulgar confrontation, echoing the aggressive language often found in war narratives. By isolating this exchange, the work foregrounds the performative aggression embedded in military and cinematic representations, prompting reflection on how such language constructs notions of masculinity, authority, and conflict within popular culture.
Technique & Style
Banner employs a straightforward printing process, using bold, unadorned type that fills the entire surface of the card. The absence of illustration or decorative elements emphasizes the textual content, while the double‑sided format encourages physical interaction—viewers must flip the card to access the full script, reinforcing the work’s tactile, object‑based quality.
History & Provenance
The piece was produced in the late 1990s, a period when Banner was intensively investigating the visual language of Hollywood war films and the iconography of fighter aircraft. It forms part of a broader series in which she translates cinematic scripts and military jargon into printed forms, situating the card within her ongoing exploration of text as visual art.
Context
Banner’s practice spans sculpture, drawing, installation, and text, often interrogating the ways media shape public perception of warfare. This card aligns with her interest in the narrative conventions of war cinema, specifically the way dialogue constructs heroic or villainous personas. By reducing such dialogue to a printed artifact, the work comments on the commodification of conflict narratives.
Artist & collection
Artist
Fiona Banner (born 1966), also known as The Vanity Press, is a British artist. Her work encompasses sculpture, drawing, installation and text, and demonstrates a long-standing fascination with the emblem of fighter…
