Red Arrows' performance art

Coxsoft Art hasn't bothered with performance art before, because the so-called "art" usually entails some idiot doing something totally unartistic, such as pushing a peanut with his nose or filming buttocks wobbling. Gilbert and George are the UK's doyens of this sort of nonsense. Their deadpan humour tickles some people's fancy, but not mine. However, Saturday's flypast of the Red Arrows over Buckingham Palace, in tribute to the Queen's 80th birthday, made me think maybe there could be a valid use for the term "performance art". Painting the sky with trails of coloured smoke is a bit more technically advanced than brushing tempora on a wall, but art follows technology. The sky is a huge canvas and a BAE SYSTEMS Hawk T. Mk.1 is a hell of an expensive and noisy paintbrush; but, if the results are aesthetically pleasing, it's art. And the Red Arrows certainly give a performance that makes the crowds gasp. So, hats off to the RAF's Red Arrows performance art. Click the title link to visit their official website and admire a collection of excellent photos by E.J. van Koningsveld. To see aircraft displays from around the world, click Richard Seaman.