Bronze statue of a boy on a rocking horse adorns Trafalgar Square’s Fourth Plinth

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Joanna Lumley unveiled the sculpture, which was designed by two artists famous for opening a Prada boutique in the middle of the Texan desert.

Elmgreen and Dragset’s ‘Powerless Structures, Fig. 101’ depicts a classically proportioned young boy atop a flat rocking horse.

The 4.1m high statue is the fifth contemporary artwork to adorn the empty plinth in the Fourth Plinth Project series, which has become an annual fixture in the London culture calendar and is considered a great honour for an artist.

Powerless Structures, Fig. 101 is a twist on a traditional equestrian portrait, the artists say, because instead of celebrating military victory and commemorating fame, it acknowledges the “heroism of growing up”.

The artists have said that the sculpture makes a serious point. “Why do we have this tradition to put people on horse back if they have won a battle? What do we want to say by doing that?

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