Philippe Parreno Fraught Times: For Eleven Months of the Year it’s an Artwork and in December it’s Christmas (March), 2010–2015
Paint, marble powder and diamond powder on cast aluminium, stainless steel
Height 250 cm, Ø 215 cm approx.
A painted, cast aluminum sculpture of a decorated snowy Christmas tree. Philippe Parreno’s trees are not religious objects but markers of time, objects that traditionally (perhaps because of their association with childhood) have been granted a near universal license for opulence and kitsch. Outside their traditional context — both temporal frame and domestic setting — the aesthetics can seem out of place. It is this temporal displacement to which the title refers.