Maryland Gallery Takes Crass out of Kitsch

BALTIMORE, Dec. 23, 2005—Things are looking a little kitschy at Maryland Art Place. And that's just the way the gallery likes it.

The gallery, tucked away in the back of the entertainment enclave of shops and restaurants in Power Plant Live!, is currently exhibiting (Un)Konventional Kitsch! through the end of December.

But you won't find what most consider kitsch art: garish sequins, crass pop-culture-influenced artwork or warped religious iconography.

This art is the kind of stuff (thanks to John Waters' films and the legendary "hon" style) that's come to be as much a part of Baltimore as the Inner Harbor.

The artwork in (Un)Konventional Kitsch! showcases the wide variety of work that has its roots in the much-lovedand also much-malignedstyle.

"We're definitely looking at the boundaries of kitsch," said Lisa Lewenz, MAP's director of programs. "When you think of kitsch, you usually think of the crass and tasteless, but we're looking beyond that."

Kitsch is a German term for art that is considered to be an inferior copy of an existing style. More simply, it's art done in poor taste, especially trite or sentimentally melodramatic.

Think tacky knickknacks at the dollar store or a clock with swinging Elvis hips as its pendulum. The work displayed in the new exhibit doesn't seek to be kitschy, but to explore the far perimeters of what exactly can be called kitsch.

For example, Lee Millard's Deer Memorial features a wooden cross with the head of a killed deer (it's been stuffed) square in the middle, ringed by fake flowers. Gary Medovich's Chic art depicts several rubber chickens lying on top of each other. A background of flashy Technicolor yellow demands attention.

A middle gallery features several works by Baltimore-based artist Les Harris. The work is from his Labyrinth at the Amaranthine Museum series and reflects old art forms of the Egyptians and Greek, containing copies of famous works of art painted in subdued pastel coloring.

"The work really plays on themes of fame and notoriety with an ironic tone," Lewenz said. "It's not in-your-face kitschy, but shows how kitsch can go beyond glittery sequins or outlandish characteristics."

A third gallery space in the exhibit features themes of death, religion and celebrity in kitsch. A series of photographs by Virginia Warwick shows dead squirrels and mice as they would appear in a funeral, lying peacefully on white sheets.

Rachelle Lowe's Saint Mick plays on the themes of religion and celebrity in kitsch by portraying Mick Jagger as a saint in a medieval-esque rendering.

"Much of the work pushes the envelope, but what makes it interesting is that it really makes you think," said Lewenz, an artist and filmmaker who recently moved to her hometown of Baltimore from New York City.

"It's easy to trivialize kitsch, but its subject matter is always important."

"The exhibit gives people something to chew on," Lewenz said. "I'm sure some of the work would offend some people, but it will also be intriguing while pushing some buttons."
 
By Jordan Bartel, Copyright 2005 Associated Press