The work consists of a wooden frog hanging from a cross, which is also made from wooden elements that remind of easels, commonly attributed with artistic practice. With its tongue hanging out and gaping eyes looking in different directions, a beer mug in one hand and an egg under its arm, Fred the Frog Rings the Bell shows the (self-)image of an artist who ridicules his own habitus in order to expose the snobbery that so often confers a special status on artists. “Every artist is a human being,” was Kippenberger’s’
comment on this myth.
Fred the Frog Rings the Bell counts as one of the most important and controversial series by the artist Martin Kippenberger in which the figure of the frog, usually crucified, appears repeatedly, both in paintings and in sculptures. At first glance, the focus here seems to lie on the humorous appropriation of a religious icon. With a little background knowledge, however, the frog proves to be a caricature of a self-portrait. Kippenberger created many works based on a series of alter egos, among them Fred the Frog, which are essentially adaptations and variations on the genre of self-portrait that he put through the wringer in his iconoclastic punk practice.
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