Mick Hartley

"Don't applaud. Just throw money."

That's the legend on the plinth under this guy: Edgy.

Monument to the unknown artist, the statue's called. He's on Bankside, right behind Tate Modern, and standing in front of the Blue Fin Building. The thing is, he's animatronic:

At first glance the figure seems to be a simple bronze statue standing on a stone plinth. However, the mischievous figure will observe the world around him and react to passers-by by mimicking poses they strike in front of him. The playful sculpture will even create his own poses if left alone.

Here's a video demonstrating the full animatronicity of our unknown artist. Which is all well and good, but the bugger isn't doing any animatronics now. He's stuck. I've passed him a few times in the past few weeks, and he's always in the same pose. I've tried gesticulating around in front of him – as far as my dignity would allow – but no, nothing. Has he been turned off? He's now facing a huge building site, as you can see in the reflection here:

So perhaps they were concerned that he'd try to imitate the cranes. Or perhaps he's broken. The whole animatronic thing is little better than a gimmick anyway: constant breakdowns in the mechanism would be a fairly safe bet.  Yesterday, he was actually enclosed in the security fence round the site. 

It's not a happy fate for an unknown artist, but no doubt there'll be better times ahead. Animatronics or no, I wish him well.