Absurd, powerful, witty ... it’s a difficult choice for the fourth plinth selection jury

This is a strong group of proposals whose sheer visual power will make the jury's task of selecting just two particularly agonising.

Only one proposal is ineffective. I greatly admire the work of Mariele Neudecker but her mountainous model of Britain on stilts lacks the mystery of her best work.

Allora and Calzadilla's pipe organ fits majestically on the classical plinth, though it is at a disadvantage in maquette form because we cannot gauge its sounds or how dramatically they will resonate across the square.

Brian Griffiths's Battenberg will be a public hit with its ability to prompt warm, fuzzy childhood memories and with its red and yellow bricks it is a smart reflection of the very fabric of this city.

There is a similar absurdity at work in both Katharina Fritsch and Elmgreen and Dragset's work, whose satirical bite appeals to those of us for whom the pomp of Trafalgar Square is a little absurd in itself.

Fritsch's work has a surreal humour in placing a cockerel, the symbol of France, amid this grand celebration of Britain's victory over the French at Trafalgar.

And Elmgreen and Dragset's golden boy on a rocking horse both mocks the military pride in the square and suggests an innocence corrupted by real wars.

The second of the two equestrian statues is Hew Locke's Sikandar. The most distinct work tonally, it features Field Marshal George White, riotously bedecked in masks, outsize military medals and chains. White won the Victoria Cross at Kandahar so this is the one sculpture that reflects the current war in Afghanistan, while alluding to the contemporary effects of Britain's imperial activities.

My personal choice to win the two coveted commissions are Locke and one from either Fritsch or Elmgreen and Dragset.

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