Dead heat among the public in race for fourth plinth artwork

The race for a new artwork to adorn the fourth plinth in Trafalgar Square is a dead heat - among the public at least.

A survey by pollsters YouGov found two clear favourites out of the six proposals currently being considered for the capital’s most famous public artwork.

Asked which works they like, more than half (53%) went for Antelope by Samson Kambalu which re-visits a photograph of an African preacher John Chilembwe and British missionary John Chorley which shows Chilembwe towering over the other man.

A similar number (51%) said they liked Ibrahim Mahama’s On Hunger and Farming in the Skies of the Past 1957-1966 which is a recreation of a tall grain silo from 1960s Ghana filled with living plants.

But it was bad news for Nicole Eisenman’s The Jewellery Tree with more than half of Londoners (53%) disliking the piece,

It recreates the object on a giant scale complete with military medals and beer cans hanging off it.

The current sculpture, Heather Phillipson’s The End, includes a drone on top of a cherry on a huge swirl of whipped cream.

Previous commissions include Marc Quinn’s sculpture of disabled artist Alison Lapper while she was pregnant and Yinka Shonibare’s replica of HMS Victory in a glass bottle

A decision is expected next month on which work will take its place on the plinth.

:: YouGov surveyed 1,018 Londoners between June 22 and 24.