I’m delighted to have made an empty plinth that isn’t empty, where the exhibit itself is merely invisible.
(David Hensel 2006)
A British artist sends a sculpture to an internationally prestigious and open art exhibition. However, what the selectors actually accept for exhibition is not the jesmonite laughing head, but its slate plinth and bone-shaped wooden rest which had been accidentally separated from the sculpture during handling. The head, One Day Closer to Paradise, 2006 (Figure 1, p. 2), was duly returned to the bemused sculptor. The empty plinth (RA exhibit 1201), subsequently renamed Another Day Closer to Paradise (Figure 2, p. 3), was later auctioned with a donation made to charity. This is not an urban myth, but a widely publicised incident which occurred at the Royal Academy’s 2006 Summer Exhibition (Malvern 2006: 4–5). The artist involved, David Hensel (b. 1945), recalled: the art world itself seems to be engaged in a cultural performance about our times, a parody about duplicity, marketing tactics, and acquiescence.
Figure 1 One Day Closer to Paradise, David Hensel, 2006, jesmonite, slate and boxwood base,
44 × 33 × 22cm, Ó the artist.
(David Hensel 2006)
A British artist sends a sculpture to an internationally prestigious and open art exhibition. However, what the selectors actually accept for exhibition is not the jesmonite laughing head, but its slate plinth and bone-shaped wooden rest which had been accidentally separated from the sculpture during handling. The head, One Day Closer to Paradise, 2006 (Figure 1, p. 2), was duly returned to the bemused sculptor. The empty plinth (RA exhibit 1201), subsequently renamed Another Day Closer to Paradise (Figure 2, p. 3), was later auctioned with a donation made to charity. This is not an urban myth, but a widely publicised incident which occurred at the Royal Academy’s 2006 Summer Exhibition (Malvern 2006: 4–5). The artist involved, David Hensel (b. 1945), recalled: the art world itself seems to be engaged in a cultural performance about our times, a parody about duplicity, marketing tactics, and acquiescence.
44 × 33 × 22cm, Ó the artist.
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