My profile has been retrospectively written following my one hour on the plinth (07.00-08.00 hours 16th August 2009)

In life unexpected things can and do happen, this was one such rare example for me.

At the very birth of the One & Other project, my wife and I sat in a café in Nottingham one afternoon. We had both registered our interest to become part of Antony Gormley’s One and Other. As we sat (over coffee and cake) and talked about the project (amongst other things) in the café, we quixotically thought that it would be wonderful if we were both chosen…we even talked about the thought of us holding two back-to-back slots. The random process of selection dictated circumstance and on 16th August at 6am I proudly watched my wife being hosted aloft in the One & Other cherry picker to grace the forth plinth. I was pleased that one of us had been selected. Jo looked wonderful in her Grecian inspired, pleated black dress…statuesque, silent & still…I could tell that she was thrilled to be part of the project…I was also thrilled for her.

I began to take some photos from the foot of the plinth and with barely minutes into Jo’s hour on the plinth I was presented with the opportunity to occupy the plinth for the 7am slot…some one had not turned up for their hour and so I was asked if I would like to take their place. In an instant I said yes…One & Other were able to take advantage of a special ‘two for one’ offer by Mrs & Mr W.

I have been working as an artist for over twenty years and naturally (for me), and over the previous months I had given some thought as to what I would consider ‘doing’ should I be presented with an opportunity to occupy the plinth…what those complex, conceptually driven ideas were I now considered to be unimportant…there was no planning required…I felt liberated…I could just do what I really wanted to do…to be and to experience…Jo knew that I was to be next on the plinth…(I had just enough time to tell her before I went back to the One & Other HQ for the interview) In the HQ I gave account of what Jo and I had talked about in the café all those months before, it was lovely to be part of something unforeseen and incident made it all the more special for Jo and I and the team manning the HQ that morning. It was great meeting Jo’s eyes…face-to-face and embracing on the cherry picker…seeing her, her happy, glowing smile…we shared and held a tremendous sense of mutual elation.

Upon stepping forth onto the plinth I had no strategy in mind, the experience would be lived through each moment. I began to explore the parameters of plinth world…one task to consider, to stand as close to the parameters as I dared…close but not that close I looked and observed the world about me…I began also to look at the plinth’s surface below my feet and at items held in the safety net…the detritus from previous occupants and trace elements of activity… The nomenclature includes, a paper plane, paper currency, whittled down wood shavings (a wooden breakfast spoon had been carved out on the plinth that morning), miniature metallic hearts, a drawing pin and various bits of plastic (use unknown)… I gave further attention to the paint marks on the metal surface…there was much to look at and to feel...the air fresh, very little breeze and the sky, overcast…Trafalgar Square was only moderately occupied at that time in the morning. …Plinth world was a comfortable place to be.

…For all intent and purpose I straightforwardly used my hour to explore...to absorb myself in the live experience. I could simply stand…and in the main that is what I did, reflecting and sharing with Jo’s sensibility, that of interpreting the act of standing as the act of doing something. I exchanged waves with passing pedestrians and exchanged a few words with others.

As I stood looking out (towards the National Gallery) I sighted a statue of a Roman Emperor (I neglected to go up to the statue afterwards to see who it was). I decided to act upon my observations and crudely took up a pose (not too dissimilar to the illustrious figure before me)...the important detail for me was that the figure was pointing (pointing holds some amusement to both Jo and I).

Whilst I was waiting in the One and Other HQ, previous Plinthers had said that their hour on the plinth had passed very quickly and so it was for me also….

I would like to thank the entire One and Other team (specifically those of you who were present that morning) for looking after us. We were shown great hospitality and I really enjoyed my conversations with the crew…it was also great to meet and talk with our fellow Plinthers, a poet and an architect amongst their number.