Tschabalala Self and Andra Ursuţa Win Fourth Plinth Commissions
Self's Lady in Blue will be unveiled in Trafalgar Square in 2026, while Ursuţa's slime-green shroud will appear in 2028.
Tschabalala Self's submission for the Fourth Plinth Commission, Lady in Blue (2024). Courtesy the artist and The Fourth Plinth Commission. Photo: James O Jenkins.
The Mayor of London's office and the independent Fourth Plinth Commissioning Group have announced the artists creating works for one of the world's most popular public art commissions.
Tschabalala Self, who was born in Harlem and is now based in the Hudson Valley, will present a curvy bronze 'everywoman' in a dress painted Lapis Lazuli blue on the plinth in 2026.
'The figures I create in my work are all imaginary people in imaginary scenarios, but I draw from lived experiences and memories,' Self told Ocula in 2020.
'Many of my subjects are inspired by people I have encountered or seen in the neighbourhoods I have lived in both Harlem and New Haven.'
In 2028, Romanian-born artist Andra Ursuţa, who has lived in New York City since 1999, will show a kind of anti-monument—a ghostly bottle-green resin shroud that takes the shape of a horse and rider.
Tschabalala Self's design for the Fourth Plinth Commission, Lady in Blue. Courtesy the artist and The Fourth Plinth Commission.
The work implicitly critiques the 19th century sculptures of once powerful men that feature on Trafalgar Square's other three plinths: King George IV, General Sir Charles James Napier, and Major-General Sir Henry Havelock.
The other artists shortlisted for the prize were Chila Burman, Thomas J Price, Veronica Ryan, Gabriel Chaile and Ruth Ewan.
Over the past quarter of a century, 14 contemporary sculptures have shown on London's Fourth Plinth. Samson Kambalu's Antelope (2022) is currently on view, and Improntas (Imprints) by Teresa Margolles will be installed in September 2024.
Among the most divisive works displayed in the commission's history is Heather Phillipson's steel and polystyrene sculpture The End (2020), a supersized dollop of cream topped with a cherry, a housefly, and a drone.
'The sculpture prize has entertained and brought out the art critic in everybody for 25 years, and I have no doubt these two very different pieces will continue that fine tradition,' said Justine Simons, Deputy Mayor for Culture and Creative Industries. —[O]
