Kitsch gets me high
Ivan | Mon, 2004-10-25 01:02By definition kitsch is sentimentality or vulgar, often pretentious bad taste, especially in the arts: “When money tries to buy beauty it tends to purchase a kind of courteous kitsch” (William H. Gass).
I think kitsch is a deeply rooted essential basic human need like strawberry ice-cream, jokes or pop music. We need kitsch to survive. Without kitsch we would never appreciate simplicity and fine taste. It's the necessary contrast.
If you think kitsch is disgusting by default, think again. Innocent, visually uneducated children love kitsch. Their judgement of what's nice and what's not is as sincere as their words telling that grandma has a moustache. They want to learn and enjoy life to the full. They love puppies and theme parks. They are instinctively drawn to kitsch. It visually stimulates them.
If you can't stand kitsch that means your taste is refined and too much stimulation tires you. You look for gentle visual stroking rather than hard rubbing. But, it also means that your senses die like unworked muscles. By rejecting kitsch you are closer to death day by day.
Let's celebrate kitsch and give it the credit it deserves.
Commenting on this Blog entry is closed.
Your site is better than this. The pictures, especially the last one with the tongue, looks like it borders on cheap porn. Stick to the tips! :-)
"By rejecting kitsch you are closer to death day by day."
By accepting kitsch you are closer to death day by day.
Either way, you are closer to death...everyone is, you can't escape it.
Ivan, is that woman in photo one in your life? Is that your doll? How personal are your examples? I am trying to figure you out...
the first image is Jenna Jameson, you obviously don't watch porn, she is very famous ;) click the image for more.
the second doll is in our office and was bought by a collegue of mine as a girlfriend to another co-worker. we were teasing him, that he's always single. i took the picture.
the third one is from the website that i linked in. click it to check it out.
let me know what you figured out about me. :)
Reveling in the lowbrow is the latest game of the self-appointed avant-garde that would tell us what tastes we should have. I'll stick with my own tastes, thank you.
charlie, if i didn't know about the recent events in your life i would've answered with a high strung post. but that would've been highly inappropriate at this time. hope all turns out fine soon.
i don't like writing as if i was above all and i'm just commenting on the events as an outsider. i can't help it, i'm involved and want to encourage people to have a discussion that leads somewhere. that active involvement in the subject might feel like i'm trying to force my opinion down your throught but in fact it's not the case. i'm happy not to convince my readers.
probably i have learned much more from my readers than they learned from me. i'm grateful for the constructive disagreements and discussion that goes on here and in the forum. i value your opinion why don't your share it with us?
A high-strung response would have been inappropriate regardless of my circumstances. But I appreciate your concern.
It is not my intent to be critical of you, specifically. You have been duped. This is all part of the modern art conundrum. The avant-garde moves forward with high-art, inspiring a postmodernist countermovement of low art. Now to be one of the truly revolutionary postmodernists (according to themselves - think: Jeff Koons) you must appreciate kitsch, it is "ironic appreciation." But these people do not understand postmodernism.
Be yourself. You don't have to appreciate Disneyland, ukeleles, and comic books to be cool, as some prominent "taste-maker" web sites would have you believe.
In response to:
let me know what you figured out about me. :)
I was addicted to Porn until about 4 days ago. I unsubscribed from all the various websites I was going to, and more importantly, I put my recently purchased book How To Make Love Like a Porn Star: A Cautionary Tale
by Jenna Jameson into the recycling bin after the first 50 pages sent me into a horrible depression.
Actually, I have always trusted your good taste on some instinctive level, and your link from the Tongue Girl to that site was what I needed. Porn Irony. Porn Comedy. The tunes they play there make me happy.
What I have learned is that you are a healthy, balanced person with a little bit of a "thrill" seeking side to you. I think you like to use visual stimulation. You're just about to cross over to the erotic life, which is ok as long as you keep that grin on your face.
If you want to know if you are addicted to porn, there is a website that will give you a test:
http://www.no-porn.com/test.html
My favorite question is "Do you dig through other people's garbage to find pornography?"
Well, that was the only one that I answered no to.
I failed miserably. But now I am on the wagon. Hope your site doesn't tip me over!
In responce to:
"Your site is better than this. The pictures, especially the last one with the tongue, looks like it borders on cheap porn. Stick to the tips! :-)"
Ivan, I started reading your site every day after I saw your post about flexing your creative muscles. It was a great post and many of your other posts had continued to inspire and give me new ideas or ways of looking at the creative media, and hell I am a programmer, not a graphic artist :) thats how well they translated over.
Your tips are good, but anyone can do tips, Ivan you have shown to be veyr smart, keep up with the good posts like this one, don't be listen to this anonymous, don't be a tipMonkey.
NitroPye (on forums)
thanks for the nice words guys, but don't come any closer. ;)
porn? yes, i'm glad you picked it up. i do think strawberry ice-cream is as pink as porn. porn is all around us, just like pop music. even here in the middle east. you can't escape it. :)
charlie, seriously you're right, this subject has been discussed by others, however it doesn't stop me from bringing it up in my way. unfortunately i doubt i can come up with an entirely original idea regularly if at all in my life. i just wright about what's on my mind and what interests me. most importantly i want to hear my readers opinions about the subject.
Wow. That's deep, man. ;)