Fourth Plinth

Adrian Searle captivates me, somewhat unwillingly, somewhat mesmerically, but he has a knack of sounding convincing to mine ears to the point of belief and conviction that I find hard to resist. I take the case in point of the fourth plinth. Perhaps it is just that his opinion of the most suitable candidate sounds convincing in his argument, and the physical impregnation upon us of that choice is perhap the most pleasing/least offensive, but is that reason to fall for a blunt-cultured hack? His arguments are convincing, or atleast his reason for liking his choice seem sound, or rather seemed to chime with my own sensibilities...  the subtlety of Elmgreen/Dragset's proposition- the slightly oblique and quiet approach that tries not to be clever nor bask in simplistic irony- seems as Searle points out, to be a far more sophisticated option than anything so crass as the organ piping a monotone everytime you withdraw, sloppily, from a used ATM, or the obtuse map of england that works from no effective vantage point. No, AS's words have struck a chord for me, and much like the Christian who applauds the sermon with eager glances to fellow clergy, I feel I am endorsing something everyone already is on board with... OK so its a gold boy on a model horse- but heck, its utterly simple thus allowing critics to lavish reasoning and critique with equal measure as they see fit (or indeed need to, to demonstrate their intellectuo-steroid induced critical acumen to their editor) and also allowing Joe Public to lament the obvious simplicity, the 'its just a golden horse- I don't get it' mentality. And therein, I think, lies the nub. It is just a horse- and no- you DO get it- accept it- read it- what are little boys on wooden horses doing after all? The beauty lies in the honesty. It's something that I struggle desperately with. Alway I am seeking the clever irony, the sarcastic sucker punch, the 'oh I see what he's doing here' .... if an art-punter says that, then its all got a bit too Agatha Christie... it's all become a bit 'oh I knew it was the vistorian posturing, even though it looked like the post-modern iront did it all along'. The simplicity has it, the honesty, the purity. It's a lesson I'm always going to find hard, a bit like maths. Im looking forward to the day when - as we all did - I leave school and just use a calculator instead... artistico-metaphysically speaking anyway!