Kitsch developed as a form of protest amidst many lanes and bylanes of art forms prevalent in the last century. Towards the end of the last century it got directed to being an extremely free expression of whatever we want to do on a canvas; that canvas can be anything – from a wall to a ceiling to even the sides of a truck or taxi! It was about making a statement to the world as to what you are thinking about a certain issue, or what your opinion is in that matter. It was all about letting go of inhibitions and using whatever material available to draw, sketch or even scratch a scene to depict or make a statement.
Closer home, even funny one-liners are considered a part of this movement. We all have a smile on our faces when we see a funny tag line at the back of a bus or taxi…like a ‘Dheere chaloge to baar baar milenge, jaldi chaloge to haridwar milenge’. Often the spelling mistakes give a whole new meaning to these statement and we can’t help but laugh out loud at it.
Source: http://damncoolcars.blogspot.in/2011/04/bollywood-taxi-art-car.html
That’s Kitsch folks! Do what you want, write what you want, draw what you want, use ash, charcoal, color or even dirt maybe, to put your point across.
The point is to make a point, to make your voice heard and give your opinion the light of day. Elaborate and more ornate works of Kitsch by globally known artists are also covered in detail by the print and electronic media and we all know in today’s times that can have a huge impact on the psyche of a whole society.
Social and even political revolutions across the world have used this form of expression as a medium to strengthen their cause. And surely, your friendly neighbourhood taxi-wala can also make a neat buck by allowing some unknown chap to paint a scene on the hood or side of his taxi. Buses carrying such Kitsch have been quite responsible for spreading a particular message; in fact at times, it has even acted as a secret language of communication between members of a certain legion or group conducting themselves anonymously.
Source: https://www.pinterest.com/jewelley9/vehicular/
Kitsch is not just an art; its very existence is to prove a point that it is something beyond art. It cannot be governed by any subjective law of the domain of art and hence makes your average taxi and truck the dynamic canvas that they have become. It is often a subject of appreciation amongst the intellectual crowd and the subject of ridicule by the average domesticated man.The extra bit of garishness and sentimentality reflecting in the various pictures only tells us that the freedom a person experiences when they make a Kitsch design on the back of a taxi or side of a bus is comparable to none other in the world. It defies logic but then art and kitsch have never been the kind to give two hoots about it.
Source: https://www.pinterest.com/sangitavardhan/indian-truck-art-and-bumper-quotes/
Art itself developed over the centuries as an avenue to give expression to our hidden rebellion, and now we have Kitsch, which is rebelling against art itself to break through the boundaries imposed on various forms of art. So imagine what freedom lies when you look at an ornate design, in its full glory of mindless excessive coloring, or illogical shape, stares back at you and proclaim its glorious existence.
That’s the world of Kitsch for you!
Feature Image Source: https://www.etsy.com/in-en/listing/105903359/india-indian-art-indian-nursery-decor?ref=market
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