Scandinavian artists Michael Elmgreen and Ingar Dragset could not have chosen a better day to unveil their sculpture “”Powerless Structures Fig 101” for The Fourth Plinth in Trafalgar Square. It was, for February (or for London in general), an uncharacteristically hot and sunny day and as a result the sunlight was placing the golden sculpture of a boy rocking on a horse on the fourth plinth in the spotlight. Even hours after the unveiling, people who were unaware this was the “new kid on the block” were surrounding it with cameras in hand. Standing across from King George the Fourth on his horse, the sculpture subverts this military history in a naive but mischievous fashion.
The boy seems to have been received with open arms by the public though some wished for a more androgynous figure or even a girl, which would have gone against the traditional military symbols of the square even more. But it’s a boy and the artists had good enough a reason for this choice: “Boys grow up still thinking they need to be a hero,” says Elmgreen. “Trafalgar Square is a symbol of that. It is so masculine. We are talking about a different kind of masculinity.”
By Grashina Gabelmann