First shown at the artist’s solo exhibition ‘Snow Flurries – Glitterstorms’ at the Kunsthalle Exnergasse in Vienna in 1993, Renate Bertlmann’s 'Orange Carpet' (1992) exemplifies the artist’s interest in kitsch.

Inspired by a fairytale in which a young girl picks an orange off a tree, only to have it turn into a golden orange at that moment. The work is Bertlmann’s pop, contemporary and parodic reference to the art-historical subject of the still life and the religious iconography of the “forbidden fruit”. Here the temptation is the neon-coloured orange: a platoon of oranges are set almost in religious adoration of the orange “queen”, mockingly embellished with a massive translucent bow. It is a witty critique of religious tradition and the art historical treatment of the 'still life.'