Kasperle V

Martin Kippenberger followed his 1992 series of self-portraits with the Kasperle series in 1993. Kasperle, a 'stand-in' for the artist, is a familiar German character who plays the fool or clod, who mocks authority but in essence is a native moralist. The French words 'le poète', 'le philosophe' etc., represent the positive qualities of Kippenberger's Kasperle and the German word 'Kasperle' is negative meaning the 'silly fool'.

The other image in the painting, a duck, was first used by Kippenberger in 1977. He celebrated this simple fowl because its feet were always in water and remained fresh and cool; a reference to one of Kippenberger's reoccuring images--the feet.