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David Shrigley|Really Good (Fourth Plinth)

David Shrigley's 'Really Good' (2016) is a painted polystone multiple of his Fourth Plinth thumb, made with Flying Tiger Copenhagen in an edition of 3,000. It reproduces, at tabletop scale, the seven-metre bronze hand with an outsized thumb that stood in London's Trafalgar Square from September 2016 to March 2018.

All Really Good (Fourth Plinth) Works By David Shrigley (1)

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Really Good

David Shrigley

£280

£80

Significance & Analysis

'Really Good' took a simple idea from Shrigley's drawings to a plinth in the middle of Trafalgar Square, and this multiple is the version made to be taken home. It brings a public monument back down to the scale at which the joke began.

A proposal for optimism

The Fourth Plinth in Trafalgar Square was built in 1841 for a statue of William IV that was never funded. The Mayor of London's programme commissions contemporary works for it, and 'Really Good' was the eleventh. It was unveiled on 29 September 2016 by the Mayor, Sadiq Khan.

Shrigley framed the work as a proposal. If everything is declared good, he suggested, the claim might act as a self-fulfilling prophecy, nudging the economy, the weather and society towards something better. He has called the work "both ironic and sincere at the same time." Unveiled three months after the EU referendum, it was quickly read in the light of Brexit, although the commission process had begun years before the vote. His answer to that reading was blunt: "it means whatever you want it to mean, but it doesn't mean that."

From bronze to polystone

The multiple was made in 2016 to mark the commission. It was sold alongside a range of 'Really Good' merchandise that raised money for the Fourth Plinth programme and its Schools Awards, and it was stocked at venues such as Yorkshire Sculpture Park.

It keeps what makes the sculpture work: the clenched hand and the thumb stretched far beyond natural proportion. In Trafalgar Square, the thumb gave its verdict to the whole city from among the square's older bronze statues. On a desk or shelf, the same gesture becomes a private vote of approval.

How Big Is the Really Good Multiple and How Is It Numbered?

It measures 28.6 x 12.5 x 7.5 cm (height x width x depth), so it stands a little under 30 cm tall. Each copy's number is stamped on the underside, out of the full edition, so copies offered at auction have read 1816/3000 and 2016/3000.

Why Does the Thumb Look So Long?

Because Shrigley reasoned that more thumb meant more approval. The idea started in drawings: "I had made a few drawings of hands with really long thumbs," he has said. A thumbs-up, in his words, "is a universal gesture of approval", so "if the thumb is a bit bigger, it must be an even greater approval." The exaggeration is the joke, and the multiple keeps the proportions intact.

How Was the Original Really Good Sculpture Made?

The seven-metre hand was sand cast in bronze in 50 pieces at the Powderhall Bronze foundry, where work on the thumb was under way by February 2016. It was finished with a dark patina to match the older statues in Trafalgar Square. The multiple is cast in polystone and painted, rather than cast in bronze and patinated.

Where Did the Original Really Good Sculpture Go After Trafalgar Square?

To Melbourne. After its run on the Fourth Plinth, the sculpture was shipped to Australia for the NGV Triennial in 2023 and stood on the forecourt of NGV International. In March 2024 the National Gallery of Victoria acquired it for its collection through the Felton Bequest. Shrigley said he was "delighted that Really Good has found a permanent home in Australia."