A YOUNG artist will put himself on a pedestal when he takes part in a national art project. Phil Bruce, 24, from Whinbush Road in Hitchin will climb up onto the empty fourth plinth in Trafalgar Square at 1am on Wednesday next week as part of artist Anton

A YOUNG artist will put himself on a pedestal when he takes part in a national art project.

Phil Bruce, 24, from Whinbush Road in Hitchin will climb up onto the empty fourth plinth in Trafalgar Square at 1am on Wednesday next week as part of artist Antony Gormley's One and Other art project.

The project involving thousands of volunteers encourages people to share a passion with the public for an hour while on the plinth in front of The National Gallery.

Phil said: "I intend to do a painting and shall be required to cover the plinth itself to protect against splashes. My art is sort of abstract, sort of graffiti stuff. I've always liked Antony Gormley kind of stuff and thought it would be fun."

To have a look at the kind of thing Phil will be doing go to his website www.philbruce.co.uk

Laura Mace, a chemist at Glaxo in Stevenage got up on the plinth at the end of last month in a 3am to 4am stint where she performed luminescent reactions to a trio of spectators.

The 30-year-old from Hitchin said: "I wanted to share the joy and excitement I feel when carrying out chemical reactions, indulging my curiosity about 'what happens when I do this?'.

"My time on the plinth feels like a surreal dream now. Once I was up there, I was quite happy to get on with the reactions I'd planned. Some of them didn't quite work as planned, but as I said at the time, 'That's chemistry for you.'"

The plinth is monitored 24 hours a day from various angles and can be viewed at www.oneandother.co.uk and on the Sky Arts channel.