UK Giant bright blue *advertiser censored* erected on fourth plinth in London's Trafalgar Square

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Big blue *advertiser censored* erected on fourth plinth in London's Trafalgar Square. (Guardian)
London mayor Boris Johnson unveils Katharina Fritsch's Hahn/*advertiser censored*, the latest artwork to fill square's empty plinth
There is simply no other way of putting it, and nor would earthy British wit have it any other way. A giant bright-blue *advertiser censored* – its feathers proudly upstanding, its coxcomb as stiff as a pennant in the breeze – has been erected in Trafalgar Square, London, and no double entendre is too good for it.
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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. "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."
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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.
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more, with a video, at the link
 
from your link:

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 added: "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 *advertiser censored* at the heart of our imperial square."

Hahn/*advertiser censored*, which was selected by the Fourth Plinth Commissioning Group (a body that includes artists Grayson Perry and Jeremy Deller), will occupy Trafalgar Square for 18 months.
 
Could also be seen as a visual homage to the Picts, who legend has it were the "blue men of Caledonia."
 
The comments at the link are quite entertaining, too
 
Cormaic
25 July 2013 4:39pm
Grabs popcorn and hastens to Mail Online.
Giant 15ft blue cockerel rules the roost in Trafalgar Square as sculpture takes its place on fourth plinth. (Mail)

More Guardian commentary:
Glenn Yorick Robert Masson
25 July 2013 4:22pm
Just look at that outrageous huge blue *advertiser censored*.
Still, he is mayor.
SonOfTheDesert
25 July 2013 4:25pm
Why oh why oh why didn't Ed Balls become Mayor of London?
 
Telegraph's thoughts on the matter: Fourth Plinth Trafalgar Square: *advertiser censored*, review
 
I love it,- what would be the reaction if this was in the USA??
 
These men don't look happy about the unveiling

[video=youtube;QM-mfEMssy8]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QM-mfEMssy8[/video]
 
Now that was certainly a title of a thread that made me want to read on!!
 
Oh wow, I love this. Both the article and the, er, *advertiser censored*. :D

It would never happen in the US. Either the same people who get in a huff over breasts in public art would raise an uproar, or, more likely, the humor and various meanings of it would be completely missed.
 
Love the PR, article title and such; but LOVE how the *advertiser censored* looks out over the Square itself. Brilliant!
 
I thought maybe Prince Philip had wandered out again.
 

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