An artist who submitted work to a prestigious show was told his sculpture did not come up to scratch but the base it was sitting on was a work of art.

David Hensel, 61, from East Grinstead, was expecting to find his work, One Day Closer To Paradise, on show alongside pieces from artists such as Damien Hirst and Tracey Emin at the Royal Academy's summer exhibition in London. Instead, he found the empty plinth on which the sculpted head should have been resting.

The sculpture, made from jesmonite resin, had become separated from its slate plinth and its wooden bone-shaped rest. That led art selectors to believe the plinth, hewn from a mortuary slab, was a separate piece.

They liked it so much they included in the exhibition.

Hensel's head, the real submission, was rejected. Fortunately Mr Hensel saw the funny side of the situation.

He said: "I think it says more about what passes for art these days. I mean you can throw a paper bag on the floor and call it art. The avant-garde is a bit of a scam. It's all a kind of pantomime."

Mr Hensel, who graduated from Brighton Art College in 1969, said the Royal Academy claimed the sculpture was submitted incorrectly.

But he said: "Of course that is not the case. It's not very good for the RA's image. I think they are a bit embarrassed."

Now in its 238th year, the Royal Academy's summer exhibition in Piccadilly attracts 9,000 submissions from established and unknown artists.

Constable and Turner were once annual participants.

A spokeswoman denied the RA was at fault.

She said: "There's no embarrassment involved. There are more than 1,300 exhibits and if the artist doesn't tell us how to hang the work then that's all we can do."

A statement from the RA said: "It is accepted that works may not be displayed in the way the artist might have intended."

Mr Hensel, who also lectures at Chichester University College, now plans to auction the plinth on eBay.

He said: "The price tag on the head was £3,640. I think the plinth may beworth more."