Nude Wing

The monumental sculpture Nude Wing (2011), a new arrival in the Mudam Collection, forms part of a string of works by Fiona Banner aka The Vanity Press (1966, Liverpool) in which the British artist appropriates and transforms military aircrafts, or parts of them. Taken from a Tornado combat aircraft, the wing used to create Nude Wing .has been polished to such a degree that its immense surface reflects every detail of its surroundings – the space and the visitors within it. It stands vertically, like a monolith rising to the sky. Installed in the Grand Hall, the six-metre-high sculpture interacts with Ieoh Ming Pei’s impressive glass and stone structure and the variations of light that suffuse it. In its reflections, the wing appears almost alive, yet undefinable, echoing the ambiguity of the experience we have of it. ‘That we find these planes beautiful brings into question the very notion of beauty, but also our own intellectual and moral position,’ the artist observes. ‘I am interested in that clash between what we feel and what we think.’