Art News

Giant child on rocking horse by Elmgreen & Dragset unveiled on the fourth plinth next month

LONDON.- The next commission for the Fourth Plinth, Powerless Structures, Fig 101, by Scandinavian artistic duo Elmgreen & Dragset will be unveiled at 09.30 on Thursday 23 February 2012 in Trafalgar Square, London. Commissioned by the Mayor of London and supported by Arts Council England, the sculpture portrays a boy playing astride his rocking horse and will be cast in bronze. The child is elevated to the status of a historical hero in line with the iconography of the other statues in the square. Instead of acknowledging the heroism of the powerful, however, the work celebrates the heroism of growing up and questions the tradition of monuments predicated on military victory or defeat. There is not yet a history to commemorate here – only a future to hope for. The boy’s features gently mimic the authoritarian pose often found in the tradition of equestrian sculptures, but his gesture is one of pure excitement. The