Hahn / Cock 2013

Katharina Fritsch's sculpture presents us with an oversized blue rooster, a seemingly simple form laden with symbolic weight. The rooster, since antiquity, has been a potent symbol – a solar emblem, linked to dawn, light, and vigilance. Its crow heralds new beginnings, chasing away darkness. But consider the color: this intense, artificial blue. It disrupts our expectations. The rooster, historically associated with virility and aggression, is here rendered in a hue often linked with the celestial and the spiritual. This electric blue unearths a deeper, almost unsettling resonance, setting it apart from more traditional depictions. Think of the blue Madonna, cloaked in the heavens, or Yves Klein’s arresting blue monochromes, each using the color as a way to explore the symbolic. The rooster, then, transcends its barnyard associations. It becomes a totemic figure, a powerful force engaging viewers on a deep, subconscious level. It's a reminder that symbols are not static. Instead, they are alive, continuously evolving, resurfacing, and adapting through the ages.