Nelson’s Ship in a Bottle

LondonLife – A new season for the Fourth Plinth…

by exploringlondon

Hahn_Gautier1

The latest commission for Fourth Plinth was unveiled in Trafalgar Square last Thursday. Katharina Fritsch’s Hahn / Cock, 2013, depicts a 4.72 metre high sculpture of a domestic farmyard cockerel completely coloured in vivid ultramarine blue. Fritsch, one of Germany’s leading contemporary artists, has works featured in the permanent collections of prominent galleries around the world including New York’s Museum of Modern Art. Originally designed by Sir Charles Barry to hold an equestrian statue (which was never completed), the fourth plinth has been most recently occupied by a series of works specially commissioned for the spot under the Mayor of London’s Fourth Plinth Programme. Recent commissions include Yinka Shonibare’s Nelson’s Ship in a Bottle and Antony Gormley’s One and Other. For more details, check out www.london.gov.uk/priorities/arts-culture/fourth-plinth. PICTURE: Gautier Deblonde.

LondonLife – Rocking the Fourth Plinth

by exploringlondon

A 4.1 metre high golden bronze sculpture of a boy on a rocking horse has been unveiled as the latest occupant of Trafalgar Square’s Fourth Plinth. A somewhat playful take on the intended use the plinth (it was originally designed to support a bronze equestrian statue of King William IV by Sir Charles Barry but this was never installed), artistic duo Michael Elmgreen and Ingar Dragset’s work is officially known as Powerless Structures, Fig. 101. The 3.1 ton sculpture, in which “a child has been elevated to the status of historical hero, though there is not yet a history to commemorate – only a future to hope for”, replaces Yinka Shonibare’s Nelson’s Ship in a Bottle which was removed in January. For more on the Fourth Plinth programme, see www.facebook.com/fourthplinthlondon or www.fourthplinth.co.uk.

PICTURE: © James O. Jenkins