#Kitch

[departmentofinteriors]

[oracle-fae]

ewa szewczyk

[kitschykitschykoo]

I'm dreaming of a white christmas...

[rosewoodgirl1]

coquette collage

[shiftythrifting]

When I saw the shirt actual question marks spawned in my head.

The cowboy’s mine.

New Orleans

[i-am-worm]

So this week's Inktober 52 prompt was 'Ducks' and it got me off my arse and do something I've been meaning to do for a while.

So @scifer and I always promised that when we moved in together, we wouldn't have a boring house. In fact, we really wanted decor that would make you look twice. And we joked about having those 30's flying ducks on the wall but changing something about them. Somewhere along the line was, 'what if they were wearing cartoony gas masks?'

Anyhow I managed to get a set cheap in a charity shop because they were a little broken (I still got to repair a wing and a few chips).

And this week finally go to work after @scifer gave me an idea of how the gas marks should look.

And here are our horrible ducks.

PERFECT.

[rainedragon]

[ludophonie-zero]

[glamsadness]

It’s soooo matte

[julycom]

⠀ KITCH KITCH KITCH KITCH KITCH KITCH

[bluebelly-sun-serpentine]

scenes from my father's garden

[williamfthackerphotography]

[kitschykitschykoo]

Christmas angel...

[mothlingmeg]

my cute clown babe and my monchichi

[cricketcat9]

More on the subject of art and cringe

Today I got paid for the painting of a mer-cat with a glitter-covered fishtail, cringe cringe cringe. I’m happy because the money went to a friend’s sister cancer treatment, the buyer is happy because they got th painting they liked, the friend is happy, for obvious reasons. I’m painting another mer-cat with a tail covered in glitter and SEQUINS! 😱 I may keep it for myself. I also had fun gluing real shells to the painting 😁 As a student of art history I was a young snobbish intellectual, who knew everything, especially good art from bad art and cringed a lot, as did my friends. It was encouraged, and a sight of a “swan on a lake” or a “cavalry officer and a peasant girl” - cringe, epitome of kitsch!

My point of view on this changed, because I’m no longer young and quite a bit less snobbish. Out of curiosity I googled “Kitsch”***, and found an interview with an art historian, Professor Maria Poprzecka. Maria was a cool and well-liked TA at my faculty back then; here’s what she has to say:

“I'm constantly drawn to, let's call it, bad things in art. Hence the text about patriotic murals (…) What is interesting to me about these murals is that there was no order from above, as in the times of the People's Republic of Poland, when a banner had to be hung. They're authentic, and I've always been attracted to what's authentic. That's why I defended kitsch for ethical reasons. I believe that we have no right to mock "kitsch" created for genuine reasons, to mock from our cultural pedestal people who put plaster figures of kittens in pink bows. It hurts me so much that this pedestal endures.”

I agree 100%, and that’s why: do glitter, do rainbow colours, do kittens with bows, do tentacles, do swan on a lake, do what you REALLY want to do, don’t worry about the “intellectuals” on the pedestal at all. Someone will like it, and enjoy it, and if you did too, that’s good enough.

*** Kitsch: art, objects, or design considered to be in poor taste because of excessive garishness or sentimentality.

Recent mural in the “patriotic” category, by Kawu, in Poznan

[rochastocade]

link