That was the week that was. . .
For a few days this temporary conceptual art piece anchored on the Place Vendôme has been the talk of the town, not so much for it's artistic value, but for its worth as an obvious social statement regarding the budgetary cuts for the United States' educational television station, PBS. In the past PBS aired The Muppet Show, starring the puppet Kermit the Frog.
Installation of a giant inflatable Kermit the Frog is the work of American artist Alex Da Corte coinciding
with the private and for-profit contemporary art fair in Paris, Art Basel.
The accompanying interpretative panel explains that Da Corte's work evokes a mishap at the Macy's
1991 Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City in which a huge helium-filled ballon in the form of Kermit was punctured when it snagged on a tree branch. Kermit's deflated head and drooping body somewhat saddened parade morale.
As the panel explains, "Da Corte's Kermit appears suspended in a never-ending moment of defeat. Between humor and melancholy, the piece embodies the artist's interest in how cultural icons absorb and reveal our collective anxieties."
Expression
en berne: at half-mast or half-staff as in the position of a flag to symbolize mourning, distress, or respect; humoristically--in a position lower than normal
©2025 P. B. Lecron
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