Ajooma

Depending on who you are talking to London is the heart of finance/culture/design/art/fashion…etc. Probably everything expect cuisine. So, it’s no surprise to see public installations of historic moments and people cast in bronze dotted throughout the city. The thing I really like about London though is the eclectic mixture of public art. While the statues of past Queens and Kings will be around forever, there is always a flux of temporary shows or exhibits to delight the emotional senses while strolling through an otherwise concrete urbanscape. One of the shows I’m currently interested in is the Fourth Plinth in Trafalgar Square. Named after the famous battle of Waterloo, and decorated with lions, a large fountain, and a column astride with Admiral Nelson, Trafalgar Square is in the middle of major tube junctions and a popular meeting ground for tourists and demonstrators. Designs for the square were started in 1820’s by John Nash, and completed in 1845 by Sir Charles Barry. Except for the Fourth Plinth. It was intended to support a statue of William IV riding a horse, but ran out of money. Later attempts to complete the plinth were drown in disagreements over subject matter. The plinth was empty till 1999 when the Royal Society of Arts commissioned 3 contemporary artists to provide an attraction. (Over the next 3 years Mark Wallinger (1999), Bill Woodrow (2000) , and Rachel Whiteread (2001) had a go). The feedback was so positive, the Greater London Authority decided to continue an on going installation in 2005 with Marc Quinn’s Alison Lapper Pregnant.

Alison Lapper is an artists with phocomelia, which caused her to be born with truncated arms and legs. Her caster, Mark Quin ran with the YBA’s and exhibited flowers in suspended animation in the Sensation show of Charles Satchii. I always liked this sculpture for it’s stoic presence. A huge pregnant woman, herself looking like she needs care, looking over all the people in the square. It’s a marvel to behold.

Currently the Fourth Plinth is housing Thomas Schütte’s sculpture Model for a Hotel 2007.

Having gotten use to a marble statue of a pregnant Venus de Milo, I was shocked t hear something else was on offer. Thomas Schütte’s minuature hotel was unveiled in November 2007. Maybe I caught it on a cloudy day, but the material looked like dull acrylic and translucent glass. I don’t know much about this German artist, but I guess he’s famous or I’m losing touch.

Regardless of what I feel about this particular scuplture, it will only be up till this Spring. Already the gears are moving to chose from a group of 6 short listed artists. Even the free papers are reporting on it. I love the proximity of art and creativity in everyday life in London.