THE NORTH RIDING PROJECT

Kitsch is the Volkswagen beetle that flaunts the good of a Rolls Royce or the stripes of a swanky sports car. Kitsch is the transistor radio with an inordinately long antenna, quite useless to its reception but necessary to its prestige. Kitsch is the sofa with a chintz cover reproducing Van Gogh’s Sunflowers, a tea set bearing the effigy of Botticelli’s Venus, a bar with decor a la Kandinsky.

Eco/Open Work

Koons’ full-blown use of kitsch imagery had made a huge impact on the art world.  His sculptures of cuddly bears, Michael Jackson with his pet monkey Bubbles and cherubs playing with a pig were sensationally banal but entirely relevant to the consumer age in which we lived.  Koons seemed to take over where Warhol had left off.  Even the adverts for his shows became artworks, showing Koons surrounded by seals wearing Hawaiian floral garlands.

Muir/Kunst