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Kermit the Christ
I suppose you could call it "Kermit-Christ." An equally odd but more matter of fact description would be "the crucified frog." Take your pick.
At issue is a composition by the late German artist Martin Kippenberger, now displayed in a museum in the city of Bolzano, nestled in Italy's South Tyrol. Neither the German title "Zuerst die Fuesse" or its equally nonsensical English translation "First the Feet" do justice to the deep strangeness of the work: a garishly green crucified frog, complete with a loin cloth and lolling tongue, holding a beer stein in one hand and an egg in the other. The image has become a mini-internet sensation. But it also has drawn condemnation from Pope Benedict XVI and a local Italian political leader went on hunger strike to protest its display. Such pious protests met equally pious pontifications about artistic freedom. Both sides missed the joke, and the point.
To defend the Pope's characterization, Kermit-Christ is blasphemous in the most literal theological sense of attributing divine attributes to something not divine. But Kermit-Christ is perhaps most simply a burlesque that mocks the redemptive and regenerative elements of the crucifix's theology with images of a beer stein and an egg. Kermit-Christ's detractors should also remember that the traditional Catholic crucifix can often evoke dismay, even revulsion, with is its seemingly macabre imagery. Of course, the crucifix's power comes from re-presenting and transforming images associated with suffering and death. Kermit-Christ, the crucified-frog, draws upon this dynamic, apparently so effectively that some would consider it dangerous enough to be banned.
For their part, defenders of "Kermit-Christ" have positioned themselves in long line of proponents of blasphemous expression in the service of art and freedom. In the wake of the controversy surrounding cartoons of Muhammad, many earnest journalists and artists took it upon themselves to poke fun at all things religious. Cloaked in platitudes about art and freedom, the point behind all these exercises seemed to be little more than "if you don't use it, you lose it," seemingly implying that if one stopped offending religious people, one eventually wouldn't be allowed to offend them at all. Kermit-Christ, the crucified frog, speaks to this presumably pressing need.
Wherever he is, my sense is that Martin Kippenberger is smiling--and probably holding a beer stein and an egg. That an ironic and narcissistic representational piece can evoke such pious reactions, both disdainful and protective, is the real blasphemy. The intent is to ridicule religious and artistic pretension as two sides of the same coin. Kippenberger perhaps intended "First the Feet" as a joke on himself. The reality, however, is that Kermit-Christ, the Crucified Frog, proves once again that the joke is on us.
Mathew N. Schmalz is associate professor of religious studies at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Mass.
By Mathew N. Schmalz |
September 4, 2008; 5:15 AM ET
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Posted by: tim | September 5, 2008 11:45 AM
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The literal translation of the German is correct
Zuerst die Füsse = First the Feet
but it should be understood as "Feet First"
http://www.ecopolis.org/zuerst-die-fusse-the-frog-princeples/
Is the essay meant to portray the Pope as a spoiled sport?
Posted by: Anonymous | September 5, 2008 8:08 AM
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"If I don't eat it, it goes to waste and I go to waste"
Remember to share your harvest as I do- because if you eat too much, it goes to waist.
Posted by: Anonymous | September 4, 2008 8:43 PM
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I'm getting ready to love a big dinner here. The food has been growing since the Spring from seed. If I don't eat it, it goes to waste and I go to waste. Waste not want not.
Posted by: Mr. Challenger | September 4, 2008 6:47 PM
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"Somewhere up in heaven, Jim Henson is laughing."
I don't think so:
"The metre-high work by late German artist Martin Kippenberger belongs to his Fred the Frog series and depicts a warty, pop-eyed amphibian nailed to a cross with a frothing mug of beer in one hand.
Curators at Bolzano museum of modern art Museion said that Kippenberger's work was a self-portrait of the artist 'in a state of profound crisis', but their explanation has been given short shrift by local bishop Wilhelm Egger. 'The crucified frog has shocked many visitors to the Museion and has hurt their religious feelings,' Egger said."
Posted by: Anonymous | September 4, 2008 4:59 PM
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I've heard that "It's not easy being green," but that's a little ridiculous!
I guess this would make Miss Piggy Mary Magdalene, Fozzie as Saint Peter, Bert and Ernie as James and John, etc.
Somewhere up in heaven, Jim Henson is laughing.
Posted by: Athena | September 4, 2008 1:29 PM
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"Don't eat, don't drink and don't be merry for soon you shall die hungry and unhappy."
Mr. Challenger- you must be loving the Muslim's Ramadan fasting this year..
Posted by: Anonymous | September 4, 2008 12:31 PM
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I never could see the point of a hunger strike. It must be a city people with no garden thing. Do as I say or I'll stop eating, as if everybody even cares or anybody cares. Food is good and starvation is evil. Trying to use food or no food as a political weapon is silly, unless you are starving. After a week without beer, I get real crazy. It's lunch time. Don't eat, don't drink and don't be merry for soon you shall die hungry and unhappy. Sounds fun.
Posted by: Mr. Challenger | September 4, 2008 12:15 PM
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KIPPENBERGER AND KERMIT- I think not:
"His self-defacement, while sad, is the humorous and sardonic crux of his work. Kippenberger was an excessive alcoholic, and many believe the poison drove him to his death. Beer mugs and cocktail glasses are regular features of his works, like familiar relatives. The ups and downs of alcoholism are mapped out, too, in his physical appearance, ranging from "Helmut Berger on a good day" to a fat bearded man on the verge of death, each version depicted with his unique but odd combination of self-reverence and irreverence.
Kippenberger's semiology is one part seriousness and three parts humor. His alter ego "Fred the Frog", who appears on canvas and in sculpture alike, is at the same time a comic stand-in for Jesus, and as a spoof on all religious fervor. Luhring Augustine and Nyhaus each have a version of Kippenberger's frog on a cross (1990), where Fred the Frog is hammered (literally and figuratively) to a crucifix with a beer stein in his hand. The translation of the title to English is approx. "What's the difference between Casanova and Christ, when they get nailed the expression is the same."
Ridiculing as well anti-religious sentiment, The Cross of a Frog , is also a satanic ritual outlined by occultist Alistair Crowley's in his book of "Libers." In reference to the frog he orders, "During the day thou shalt approach the frog whenever convenient, and speak words of worship. Also thou shalt promise to the frog elevation fitting for him; and all this while thou shalt be secretly carving a cross whereon to crucify him." The sadism here is transformed to masochism, as the frog is a form of Kippenberger himself. The ritual continues its instructions uncannily "Then shalt thou stab the frog to the heart with the Dagger of Art." Kippenberger's cross is actually made out of the wood used for canvas stretchers. The artist, one presumes, used his art to crucify himself, but at the same time it liberated him and allowed him to engage with the world."