Understanding Ultrakitsch: A Laugh Waiting to Happen,
by Cosmo Kichman

Kitsch is generally considered to be art or design that is bad taste. It is not just bad taste, but design that is trying too hard to be good design by overdoing it. Kitsch art and objects are done completely unselfconsciously, presenting no awareness that the design in “bad”. Purple ceramic dolphins floating in glittered sea foam are sold completely without irony: they are designed and sold for people to enjoy the design at face value. The salesman does not wink knowingly when he sells the dolphins.

Ultrakitsch, by contrast, is art and design done with complete irony. Elements of un-ironic kitsch are combined completely self-consciously to reach an extreme of irony. The irony in Ultrakitsch is intentionally using bad design to make good design using objects for the opposite of their original intention. Much of the pleasure in Ultrakitsch may be said to derive from this ironic tension: the art is itself a joke, making fun of kitsch by elevating it to an art form.

Kids get it implicitly: the main esthetic of adding as much as you can, with as much excitement as you can. If something is worth doing, it is worth overdoing.

Ultrakitsch follows in a long history of using found objects of different genres as art. Pop art used everyday objects, elevating them to the status of art. Whereas Duchamp used banal objects for his ready-mades, elevating a urinal to the level of art, pop art used mass-culture objects. The art world of the 60’s prior to pop art was constructed partly as a refuge from pop culture. Warhol broke down the walls of high art by introducing pop culture into the heart of the art scene. The famous Campbell’s Soup Cans are intensely ironic: the lowly soup can as an object  is used as art simply by its presentation. Further, the canvases themselves are reproduced en masse, which is antithetical to art historically, thereby turning the process itself of mass production into art.

Whereas Duchamp sought to use the banal as art, and Warhol sought to use the mass-produced object as art, Ultrakitsch seeks to use the world of kitsch design as art.

The Ultrakitsch Creative Process

The key element in the process of creating Ultrakitsch art is to surrender to the esthetic of kitsch and then to enhance and magnify it. Instead of resisting how bad the design of kitsch is, the intention is to completely go in that direction, farther than the creators of kitsch have ventured. There is no holding back with the kitsch sensibility: Ultrakitsch seeks to push the limits of the esthetic of kitsch.

Ultrakitsch relies on answering the question “What is it about this piece of kitsch that is so bad?” Once that question is answered, one can use it, to push the boundaries even further. Kitsch relies on “trying too hard”: kitsch is always overdone. A prime example of the kitsch esthetic is the principle that nature can be improved upon. For example, a grey dolphin is not in itself beautiful enough, but could be improved upon, by say, making it purple and sparkly.

Another way of framing the question is “What is it that I am laughing at?” in looking at a piece of kitsch. In my creative process, the key is to be aware of how my body reacts to a piece of kitsch. If it is really kitschy, it will create a sensation somewhat like the feeling right before the punch line of a joke is reached. Once I am in touch with that sensation, the question can be answered without thought, but through an organic process of exploration. Objects can be combined. Colors and textures can be imagined. And during this exploration maintaining an inner awareness of whether the tension inside builds or subsides. Does the sensation of kitsch get stronger or weaker? If it gets stronger, the art “works”.

To find what "works", I must let of thinking I am controlling the evolution of the piece of art. From the moment an object is placed on my bench, a direction is set. That is, there are many directions that could work, and it is my job to listen. My choice is discerning which paths are working, rather than creating that path. It is very clear at the end of a piece, the point when (usually) I add music. I play different pieces of music, and feel if it evokes a sense of joy in me, ideally a sense of giddiness. I don't have the sense that I am creating anything at that point, more guessing what the piece wants, trying to uncover the humor in universe.

The organic process requires a large array of elements to be present in the workshop. The studio looks like a storm of kitsch. By introducing control through discernment into this chaos, a piece of sculpture emerges. It is essential to be impeccable in transforming the storm into an art piece. That is, each element that moves from the storm into the finished piece must be carefully considered. Each element must magnify the kitschiness of the piece.

Craft and technique are equally important. Combined with impeccability, what might be considered junk pieces of kitsch can become art. This is because if great care is not used, the irony will not be evident: a crude assemblage of kitsch is still kitsch. The intention to magnify the kitsch esthetic (of being overdone) is only evident if done meticulously.

I use my many years of building elaborate science experiments, with metalwork and electronics, in my art. Part of the Ultrakitsch esthetic in the magnification process is to go completely over the top, as far as one can. This means bringing in as many elements as possible: sound, movement, and lights. To be free to create also means being free to be able to construct. As in any medium, great skillfulness of craft allows the artist to dream first, and then figure out how to build it, rather than limiting ones thoughts to what one could build, and creating in that constricted space.

The creative process is thus composed of four parts: surrendering, sensing, magnifying, and dreaming.

Home | Gallery | Mission | Bio | Exhibits | Press | Contact | Privacy | Terms | Copyright

Cosmo Kichman info@ultrakitsch.com (415) 678-9468