See Kyle

While most gnomes seem to have fairy-tale evoking ornamental names like Grumbledorff or Wigglebottom, I've decided that maybe this little fellow should simply be called Kyle.

See Kyle here.



"Kyle" (as I've now dubbed him) is currently on display at an art gallery in Nuremburg.

The gnome, standing 35 centimetres tall, is one of 700 made by German artist Ottmar Hoerl that were displayed in Belgium and Italy. Nuremberg prosecutors are investigating after a complaint to local police, said spokesman Wolfgang Traeg.

"We've asked both the artist and the gallery owner to explain what the intention is," said Traeg, spokesman for the Nuremberg prosecutors. "It's not a crime if it can be proved that the artist was being critical of the Nazis."

Giving the outlawed Hitler salute or using Nazi symbols is a crime in Germany punishable by up to three years in prison.

The artist, who had previously been commissioned to make the egregious "giant blue and yellow Euro symbol" adorning the front of the European Central Bank, is a tad bewildered, and doesn't understand what all the fuss is about.

"I'd have been executed by the Nazis if I had portrayed the 'super race' as gnomes in 1942,"

I had always thought that gnomes were creepy. This story does nothing to change my mind.

On second thought. Don't see Kyle.