Art is always open to interpretation. And time and context change the view of what is considered naff to one that is now a highly desirable object. The lava lamp is a case in point. Greenberg suggests in "Avant-Garde and Kitsch" (1939, Clement Greenberg) that avant-garde and modernist art was a means to resist the "dumbing down" of culture caused by consumerism. That "art" made for mass consumption and commercial gain was dumbed down and as mass produced, no longer art as art was for pushing boundaries and for the few. Yet here we are with art that we now think of as kitsch (Jeff Koons et al) which is priced out the realm of the average consumer, yet is replicated by retailers. A model of a balloon dog can be found in many homes yet it's a copy and similies of the original.
The artists we chose created work work that is kitsch in an ironic or knowing way and really engaged with the theme. We had lots of fun with this month and we hope you enjoy it as much as we do.
Artist name: Vinay Hathi
Title: GA VIN TURK ISH
Media: Sculpture
Description: 2018 Plaster cast of a plastic water bottle mounted on MDF. Hand painted with white emulsion to blend into the background.
Influenced by Gavin Turk's work. Dimensions: 27 x 13 x 5 cm (H x W x D) Edition of 8. https://vinay.mozello.com/sculpture
Instagram: @vinayhathi
Artist: Paul Blenkhorn
Title: Tribute to R. Mutt #2
Media: Digital art. Giclée print on Hahnemühle German Etching paper.
Description: I have a particular interest in the development of 20th Century art and how that will develop using new technologies in this century. This collage uses images produced by my neural style transfer system of a urinal (cf Duchamp's Fountain, 1917) and a banana (cf Warhol's album cover, 1967). It was put together in Photoshop with a background made from manipulating a photograph of one of my acrylic paintings.
Instagram: @sensoryarthouse
Artist name: David G Taylor
Title: Princess Leia as Tretchikoff's Chinese Girl
Media: Mixed media: inkjet, collage and drawing
Description: I love Tretchikoff's Chinese Girl with her blue-green skin (sometimes known as The Blue Lady or the Green Lady). It was an image printed onto canvas and mass-produced for the home by Woolworths in the 1950s and 60s. The hair and pose reminded me of an image of Princess Leia from Star Wars – Carrie Fisher, whom I also admire – so I decided to make it happen. There are three variations in the series. Your website would only let me upload one, but all 3 - and my other kitsch art - can be seen on my Instagram.
Instagram: @davidgtaylorart
Artist name: Kevin Devonport
Title: Have a Coke and a Smile
Media: Acrylic on Canvas
Description: The painting is a response to how consumer society transforms everything into a commodity, be it material or phenomena. In this instance it is violence that is capitalised upon, glamorised in order to package it for sale. Nothing can stand in the path of consumerism without being engulfed and commodified.
Instagram: @the_art_of_no_noise
Artist name: Beth Mckinty
Title: 24 Hour Party People.
Media: Digital art
Description: In this piece I was inspired by the head shape of 1950 kitsch baby dolls. I used the same base for the four figures faces, which was based on kitsch doll designs, whilst altering the design slightly in each figure. This was inspirited by Warhol's print method, in which the same image is repeated but altered slightly. As the use of bright colours is central to my work, I wanted to create a piece where the colours used invoked a sense of fun.
Instagram: @_sorrel_
Artist name: Jen McGowan
Title: Canned fruit
Media: Digital Collage
Description: Based on Louise Bourgeois’ ‘Femme Maison’ drawing of a house/woman composite, I explore the inherent contradictions within motherhood using the playful medium of collage. I create hybrids of maternal 1950s women with food or household appliances using found digital images. Motherhood includes being bound to another as well as beholden to societal expectations - both historical and current. These women who are literally fused to their roles reflect my own internal struggle to negotiate the expectations that confine me as a mother.
Instagram: @jenmcgowanart
Artist name: Lara Buffard
Title: Call me by your name!
Media: Visual art
Description: Call by your name! is a joyful encounter, a hymn to life in its all glory. More is more!
Instagram: @LaraBuffard
Artist name: ChrisPrintedThis
Title: Big Shot
Media: Silk screen print
Description: I printed this miniature silk screen of Andy Warhol in action using his 'Big Shot' camera. I've always found it so interesting that whilst the (now defunct) camera has a current market value of less than £50, and silk screen printing is so fast and cheap, Warhol's extensive back catalogue of work often sells for record high prices!
Instagram: @chris.printed.this
Artist name: Shauna Richardson
Title: The John.
Media: Textiles
Description: Via Crochetdermy® and back. Here it is - crochet full circle.
The John - serving Kitsch granny realness with charisma uniqueness nerve and talent.
Instagram: @theoriginal_john
Artist name: Keron Beattie
Title: Wargames
Media: Found lead and glass figures and hand formed glass
Description: My small scale work using found or recycled materials, explores themes including fragmentation, remaking and wholeness.
In this work I wanted to create piece which responded to the brief but which also had it’s own distinct personality, meaning and integrity.
Joining disparate materials is always a challenge both technically and aesthetically.
Instagram: @keron_beattie
Artist name: Jared Orlin
Title: Rainbow Queens
Media: Digital giclee print
Description: Like so many people, I'm fascinated by the Royal family, particularly Queen Elizabeth II. What could be more kitsch than an image of the most famous woman in the world reproduced multiple times—not just within the print design itself but also as an unlimited range of bright, bold pop art prints?
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/iheartpopart_/
Artist name: Michaela Hall
Title: Downtown
Media: Digital collage
Description: Unashamedly commercial and saturated, this is a landscape for those who love kitsch and the opportunities that it offers in a modern world.
Instagram: @Michaela_hall_artist
Artist name: Vinay Hathi
Title: Sainsbury's Birkin Bag
Media: Mixed media sculpture
Description: Work highlighting wealth inequality and how retail caters to it. Sainsbury’s during 2019-2020 donated 3.8% (1,562 tons) of its 40,759 tons of surplus food, the rest was converted into energy at Biffa Cannock anaerobic digestion plant, at a time millions of people are struggling to afford to eat. Supermarkets currently report their wastage figures themselves, without independent verification. Dimensions: 110 x 90 x 50 cm (H x W x D) Showing at Espacio Gallery @espaciogallery 29th June - 4th July / Tue-Sat 3-7pm Sun 1-5pm.
Instagram: @vinayhathi
Artist name: Lesley Wood
Title: Film Divas
Media: Hand Embroidery -Textile Art
Description: Legendary film stars continue to be immortalised in different forms from commercial to fine art. As part of a miniature embroidery challenge I stitched popular female divas from the silver screen. Each star placed in a hand stitched 30m slide frame that is nostalgic kitsch.
Instagram: @l.wood100
Artist name: Kevin Lycett
Title: Control
Media: Acrylic, fun fur
Description: What is kitsch? To my mind it is not wearing fun fur or see through blouses. It is lies and autocracy. It is opportunistic authoritarianism. It is ravening greed. This to me is vulgar, crass and a lot more dangerous than dumbed down taste.
Instagram: @kevin.lycett
Artist name: Rhian Bolton
Title: Hold Me
Media: DK Wool, washing line, clothespins
Description: Desparation calls out in this granny square piece. The borderline offensive colour combination draws the eye to the centre, to a cry to be held. Dedicated to those who feel alone in their 12 person home.
Instagram: @eatmyshrts_
Artist name: Ryan Peter French
Title: Chic Freak
Media: Digital Collage
Description: My collages are a form of social commentary based upon Baudrillard's writings on hyperreality and the society of excess we live in. Kitsch is inherently a part of this both aesthetically and thematically, as I collage together reproduced images and edit them into fantastical and camp scenes. Any creative process includes many, many obstacles; particularly when editing i can go through hundreds of colour schemes !
Instagram: @ryanpeterfrench
Artist name: Ann Bridges
Title: Adorning the Horses
Media: Printmaking inks (oil based)
Description: Horse Brasses seem to be in every bric-a-brac shop and it never occurred to me to start collecting them until I noticed how suitable their shapes would be for designing into printmaking plates, with their crudely designed themes and lettering.
I found (and bought!) quite a few with a Welsh theme and then made some up of my own to create a souvenir print of the many happy years I lived in that delightful country.
Instagram: @annbridgesartist
Artist name: Susan Plover
Title: The Steaks Were High.
Media: mixed media
Description: A parody of the paintings of dogs playing pool which were so popular in pubs and bars. Also a play on words.Many people bought prints in the 70's and actually displayed them in their houses next to the drinks cabinet with the plastic pineapple ice bucket.