London Public Art: Power over others is weakness disguised as strength

Last year, a giant metal squiggle appeared in central London, and it also happens to be a modern version of the classic knight-on-horse martial sculpture you would find dotted all across the country.

The squiggle is by the UK sculptor Nick Hornby, and only looks like a squiggle from front or rear — if you look at the sculpture from the sides, then it’s a knight on a horse.

The whole is formed from a sheet of corten cut out to represent a knight on a horse, then squished slightly to form the curves of the squiggle.

From some sides, it’s large and imposing, and from others, almost invisible.

The steel sculpture is based on a bronze equivalent found a short walk away, standing outside Parliament. The bronze sculpture of Richard I (the Lionheart) was installed next to Parliament in 1860, having started life as a plaster model by Baron Marochetti for the Great Exhibition. After a fundraising campaign, the plaster model was turned into bronze and installed in the Old Palace Yard, which is today mainly a car park.

Last year, the corten steel interpretation was installed in the newish Orchard Place off Victora Street.

As you can only approach it from the sides, you can initially think of it as just another man on horseback, of which there are plenty in the area, although this time it is from rusting steel instead of bronze. It’s when you get closer that the thinness of the steel starts to become apparent, and the abstract squiggle takes over.

It’s a clever reimagining of the classic and bringing it up to date for a modern setting.