Free Republic

An artist's sculpture has been rejected by the Royal Academy of Arts which has instead opted to display the wooden support it was put on. David Hensel, 64, from East Grinstead, West Sussex, was told his 'Laughing Head' sculpture would be part of the summer exhibition. But at a preview he found that just a piece of wood intended to support the head was on display on the plinth. The Academy said the judging panel assumed the two pieces were separate and decided the support was better.

LONDON (Reuters) - One of Britain's most prestigious art galleries put a block of slate on display, topped by a small piece of wood, in the mistaken belief it was a work of art. The Royal Academy included the chunk of stone and the small bone-shaped wooden stick in its summer exhibition in London. But the slate was actually a plinth -- a slab on which a pedestal is placed -- and the stick was designed to prop up a sculpture. The sculpture itself -- of a human head -- was nowhere to be seen. "I think the things got...