#2 Kitsch

He he... time for the second instalment of the personal ten week challenge. One year ago, Finesmith Jewellery had this competition based around their own pieces. I responded... missing the deadline by only one year. ^^ Could have been worse... I might not have seen it at all :P

The theme for the second week was 'kitsch'. 
*Groans* Here goes...
Kitsch in everyday speech refers to something cheaply made, sentimental and in bad taste... and it was a popular term with modernists who looked down their nose on popular culture from their self proclaimed pedestal of the avant garde. Clement Greenberg's essay 'Avant-garde and Kitsch' (1939) is obligatory reading in art history. In our post-post-modern times, 'kitsch' is appreciated as 'camp' and we can love, laugh or cry or whatever we feel about it.

Kitsch in fashion seems to refer to those unique items you've salvaged and wear with pride in a contemporary setting. To be honest, the term seems to be as loose as the proverbial canon. For this week's challenge I decided to base it all around something iconic SL retro of disputable good taste... the PENGUIN SHIRT!!! And it was FREEEEEEEE!!!!! He he, the classic top now sleeping wherever computer files go when they're deleted from the library.

For the rest, I let my SL sentimentality guide me.... My most brightly coloured happy poofy pants from deviant girls...  One of those short japanese jackets that were popular last year... or was it the year before? I won it on a lucky board in a store I can't even trace now, anyway. It came complete with a non-working resizer script so it won't fit me but I keep it because I like the lining... Christmas themed sneakers from In Her Shoes, wonderfully free and beautifully picking up the colours of the rest.

And... the jewellery... well, he he... Ethnica is a past group gift from Finesmith. It's unfortunately no longer available since they moved to their new location. With this outfit, the set is loud and fake looking... and simply wonderful and fun.
Overall result, loving the fun and colours... I think the word 'kitsch' springs to mind. *Strikes a pose* I still look better than the first time I was here, however.

To complete this journey, I used a place with which I have a sentimental connection to, the art works that brought me to SL in the first place. It wasn't with Siss but with The First One, who was revived only last year. I was researching an essay on avatars when I came across SL for the very first time. I found references to the crossworld art exhibition 'Pixel dolls, meat space and everything else at once'... back in 2006 at the Seattle Bumbershoot Art Festival. SL art was shown in a FL gallery and visitors could sit down at a computer and have an inworld walkabout to watch the pieces in situ. What about that eh?
Of course I had to stretch my then lousy internet connection to venture inworld to see for myself. The pic above shows the very birth place of my second life. ^^
A few of the original works still linger on the now derelict looking sim. The ones in the pick above are by Carl Fizz and Chance Abattoir. The wooden figures fall apart as soon as you approach. That was enough to gob smack an absolute noob, for sure.
There you have it, with a little SL art history thrown in for good measure! If any of you want to see the works in first person, here's the limo => X.
Take care and have fun. If anyone fancies the penguin shirt, just contact me inworld and I'll be happy to forward a copy.