HIS 23-foot high thumbs-up caught out many with its irony, including the London mayor.
David Shrigley, a Glasgow-based artist whose pictures and sculptures are known for their mordant humour, has had his protruding artwork adorn the Fourth Plinth in London's Trafalgar Square, a prime site in the UK capital, since last year. On Tuesday he, and the rest of the art world, will discover whose work succeeds his raised digit.
Shrigley said landing the Fourth Plinth commission made up for not winning the 2013 Turner Prize, for which he was nominated. Five artworks have been nominated to replace his, with two to be chosen this week
London mayor Sadiq Khan was one of those quick to take the Shrigley sculpture at face value and, after the formal unveiling of the piece, he told waiting reporters he thought it represented London’s post-Brexit attitude.
But the artist – who also designed the discomfiting Partick Thistle mascot Kingsley – revealed there was more to the piece than the obvious. He said his work, titled Really Good, was "slightly satirical but also serious at the same time".
Now, whipped cream covered in parasites, an empty white robe and a recreation of a sculpture destroyed by ISIS are among the new proposals for a work for the Fourth Plinth.
Artists Huma Bhabha, Damián Ortega, Heather Phillipson, Michael Rakowitz and Raqs Media Collective are in the running for it.
Two of the five will be selected and will have their works unveiled in Trafalgar Square in 2018 and 2020. The winning commissions will follow on from the current sculpture by Shrigley which will stay on the plinth until March 2018.
The new proposals include Untitled by Huma Bhabha, described as "an imposing figure, the scale reflecting a modern comic sci-fi movie".
Also in the running is High Way by Damián Ortega, a playful and precarious construction of a truck, oil cans, scaffold and a ladder, while THE END by Heather Phillipson explores the extremes of shared experience, from commemorations and celebrations to mass protests, all while being observed by a drone’s camera.
The Invisible Enemy Should Not Exist by Michael Rakowitz, a recreation of the Lamassu, a winged bull and protective deity which was destroyed by ISIS in 2015 and the The Emperor’s Old Clothes by Raqs Media Collective "explores how power can be both present and absent in sculpture".
The Fourth Plinth is described as the smallest but most prominent sculpture park in the world.
Funded by the Mayor of London with support from Arts Council England, the programme invites world-class artists to make astonishing new works for Trafalgar Square. An established icon for London, it is said to bring out the art critic in everyone.
Khan said: "The Fourth Plinth reflects the best of London in so many ways – it is inventive, pioneering, surprising and a source of delight, discussion and debate for millions of Londoners and visitors from across the world.”
Ekow Eshun, chair of the Fourth Plinth Commissioning Group, said: “The strength of the work displayed underlines the Fourth Plinth programme as a leading public art commission on the international cultural landscape."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel