Chinese New Year 2011

Despite my initial disappointment at finding out that, according to Chinese philosophy, I am a Rabbit, my year has now come around and I am determined to make the most of it. The western year of 2011 has had a very bad start for my family and myself, so perhaps embracing the East will bring better luck. 

According to the Chinese Culture Center of San Francisco, people born in the Year of the Rabbit are articulate, talented, and ambitious. They are virtuous, reserved, and have excellent taste. Rabbit people are admired, trusted, and are often financially lucky. They are fond of gossip but are tactful and generally kind. Rabbit people seldom lose their temper. They are clever at business and being conscientious, never back out of a contract. They would make good gamblers for they have the uncanny gift of choosing the right thing. However, they seldom gamble, as they are conservative and wise. They are most compatible with those born in the years of the Sheep, Pig, and Dog...............I'm not at all sure that I go along with all of that, but am happy to cherry pick the best parts for my own internal CV!

To be really honest, I’m not a believer in these things, eastern or western, but it does no harm to keep an open mind. Just in case!

Although Chinese New Year falls on the 3^rd February this year, the celebrations in London will take place on Sunday the 6^th. The main event happens in Trafalgar Square but check out Chinatown in the area around Gerrard St, for a more intimate experience.

It just remains to say Kung Hey Fat Choi to all and especially to my fellow Rabbits. Lettuce and carrot juice all round…………No one can say that Rabbits don’t know how to party!

The Fourth Plinth

So, we now know what the next two occupants of the fourth plinth in Trafalgar Square will be. The 2012 winner is a child on a rocking horse, titled "Powerless Structures" by Michael Elmgreen and Ingar Dragset. The 2013 winner is a giant blue cockerel by Katharina Fritsch titled "Hahn/Cock". Neither of these would have been my choice. I favoured either "It's Never Too Late And You Can't Go Back" by Mariele Neudecker or the ludicrously outrageous "Battenberg" by Brian Griffiths, a huge, brick , copy of the pink and yellow cake of the same name.

Although the fourth plinth was never used for its original purpose, it has, in recent years, been used to display a variety of artworks with varying degrees of success. Of these, perhaps the most widely reported was “One and Other”, devised by Antony Gormley. Over the course of 100 days, 2400 members of the public each spent 1 hour isolated on the plinth. The hour was theirs to do, pretty much, whatever they liked. Some used it to protest or to draw attention to a cause. Some to talk about their favourite subjects. Others behaved outrageously and some did nothing at all. An interesting idea but was it art? Also, and perhaps this was just my bad luck, I always seemed to see the ones who either did nothing at all or were so badly prepared that they may just as well have been doing nothing at all!

To my mind, the most successful occupant of the plinth was "Alison Lapper Pregnant" by Marc Quinn. A challenging and powerful figure that I grew to like very much.

Going back to the residents for 2012 and 2013. Aside from a certain amount of comedy value, a rocking horse and a big blue cock do nothing for me, but I can’t help thinking that had the artists had got together and found a way to combine the two, that they just might have been on to a winner!