Famed British humour on display! A giant blue cockerel sculpture has been erected at Britain's iconic Trafalgar Square to apparently poke fun at vainglorious statues of men that surround it.
Hahn/Cock, the latest work to fill the square's empty fourth plinth, is by Katharina Fritsch, the German artist.
The 5-metre tall sculpture was unveiled by city's Mayor Boris Johnson, who, despite his claim that "my critical faculties are exhausted by this wonderful sculpture" had plenty to say on the occasion.
Gleefully feminist, the work pokes amiable fun at the vainglorious statues of men (Nelson, George IV, and generals Havelock and Napier) that surround it in this most imperial of British public spaces, The Guardian reported.
Noting the fact that the cockerel is the national emblem of France (a connection registered by Fritsch, she said, only once she had proposed the idea), he said: "I hope French people will not take it as excessive British chauvinism , but for me it stands for the recent British triumph in the Tour de France, which we have won twice in a row..."
"...It is a symbol of French sporting pride, brought like a chicken to London. We have mounted this French cock at the heart of our imperial square," he said.
"Humour is always a big thing for me," said Fritsch. "It stops things from becoming too severe. I like English humour. It is so often very dark."
Fritsch said she was intrigued by the prospect of "lively and controversial" reaction from the public.
"Art is not made for a few people - it is not an elitist thing."
She said she hoped the work had "many meanings; you can play around with it. It's humorous and also serious".
She noted its context not just among "male persons standing on pedestals" - but amid the present-day cocks of the walk.
The fourth plinth, as it is known, is in the square's north-west corner. Built in 1841, it was designed to hold an equestrian statue, like its twin, in the northeast corner, that depicts George IV. But funds ran out and it remained empty.
In 1998 the first in a series of temporary sculptures for the plinth was commissioned. Works by Rachel Whiteread, Yinka Shonibare, Mark Wallinger and Antony Gormley are among those to have occupied the space since.
