Kitsch - from the german verkitschen - meaning to sell something cheaply - used to describe 'particularly cheap, vulgar and sentimental forms of popular and commercial culture'
"art, objects or design considered to be in poor taste because of excessive garishness or sentimentality, but sometimes appreciated in an ironic or knowing way ..."
A modern translation of Kitsch might be tacky or even chavvy - symbolising something made in poor taste, or by someone with no style. However, kitsch seems to have been appropriated ironically by the super stylist as the height of fashion. Something so kitsch that no one would dare to wear/have/use it. We have seen this with the resurgence of the early 2000s Y2K - McBling aesthetic. What was once fashionable and then terribly UNFASHIONABLE, has once again come full circle.
"but one person's kitsch is another's lovely table lamp – so how can we talk about it without revealing layers of snobbery?"
Who decides what is kitsch? Is there an authority that decides that something is kitsch and something else is high art? Isn't art subjective? One man's trash is another man's treasure.
Irony plays a huge part in kitsch. For example, the 'Fuck's' part of my own work. Diamantes are the ultimate kitsch - fake diamonds plastered over random objects around the home of a 'hun' with barbie pink carpets. A few years ago I wouldn't have dreamt of using diamantes on anything, let alone my final major project. My best friend even commented "WTF, never thought I'd see the day you put diamantes on anything." - therein lies the point. It's not my style, nor my taste, but the irony of spending 40+ hours adoring a swear word with 15,000 diamantes, is not lost on me!
I've used the diamantes as tool to attract the eye, and hope that the viewer should see the irony and humour in a 3 foot wide swear word, adorned with shiny crystals. Might they be doubly offended by the swearing AND the garish, gaudy crystals? Fingers crossed.
Appropriating the kitsch in a fine art piece is a sort of fuck you to those who might see it is as low art. Low or not, it took me bloody days to make, it's still art!
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