Twerp

The other Whitney scandal

While many may think that Michael Graves's proposed addition to the Whitney Museum of American Art is for the birds, feathers are already flying in the New York museum about another birdbrained artistic endeavor.

The controversy involves an art piece with a live parakeet called Peetie ensconced in it. One "surprised and dismayed" visitor wrote: "I am not an animal fanatic.. .but it certainly seems unnecessarily cruel." The Whitney gets so many complaints that it's circulated a memo explaining how to answer Peetie questions. Affronted animal/art lovers squawked to the A.S.P.C.A., which flew in to inspect, and had no problems. Actually, there are two parakeets, both named Peetie. They are the third and fourth birds in the collection since Edward Kienholz's The Wait was installed at the Whitney in 1981. Kienholz supplied the original Peetie (who died of an impacted gizzard from eating too much gravel).

The Peeties take daily turns perching in a dilapidated old wire cage standing beside a skeletal woman's figure amidst monochrome family memorabilia. "It would have been easier to exhibit the work without the living bird," stated Whitney director Tom Armstrong, "but much of the significance of the work derives from the relationship between life and death, and the vividness of that mysterious relationship is greatly heightened by Peetie's chirrupy presence."

Lisa Cohen