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As in earlier years, the perception of folk art kitsch con tinues to be in terms of misuses or transfers of tech niques from one field to another (as the printing of the cross-stitch on ceramics or the painting of wooden pysanky), yet the critics of kitsch have not yet addressed with sufficient vigor the underlying causes of such deviations. Folk art kitsch is, in fact, only part of a general con temporary syndrome, only one symptom of a much more fundamental problem of understanding art. The primary cause of the blurring of distinctions between fine art and its imitations can, doubtlessly, be traced to the flourishing of mass culture, when vast possibilities of choices in art became available. Specifically, the growth of kitsch in the arts was facilitated by the indus trialization of Western culture, when artifacts and then art works became more readily accessible to a wide consumer. These include souvenirs for tourists as reproductions of the Eiffel and Piza Towers, and not excluding the Empire State Building. The fine arts were initially affected when black and white prints, mainly in publications, received a large circulation, and even more so later, when reproductions of art works, as posters, became available. As an outgrowth of mass production, such prints pervade many aspects of contemporary cul ture and have assumed an aura of prized and valid art, simply because they look exactly like the originals and thus minimize valid distinctions. Eventually, as the availability of actual art works grew, it reflected the tastes of a public which sought to influence the prevalent artistic sensibility of the origi nals which it purchased. Many artists saw rewards in playing to the sentiments of the wide buying public and, thus, contributed to the diminution of esthetic criteria, as the distinctions between fine art and its imitations became ever less obvious and kitsch flourished. Although the sugary and nostalgic feelings (most frequently identified with lovely girls, flowers, romantic settings and similar subjects), which are usually identi fied with kitsch “art” are generally abundant, the most flagrant and offensive abuses of art probably occur when oppressive societies use kitsch to promote their ideologies. This was most widely apparent when tota litarian regimes, such as the Soviet Union, employed artists to depict glorifications of life under Communism. In such cases portrayals of happy workers, as well as monumental portraits, and especially huge statues of their leaders. Of course the many statues of Lenin, some of which have not yet been removed from the streets and squares in Ukraine, most readily come to mind. Another cause of wide abuses of the fine arts and the growth of kitsch can be traced to changing ap proaches to what actually constitutes valid perception of art. This is especially due to the waning of the Classi cal ideal as the determining criterion of art evaluation and the introduction (most decisively by Kant) of sub jectivity as the inevitable principle of artistic judgment. Since then, the concept that art appreciation is subjec tive has developed considerably and bolstered the idea that art connoisseurship is really up to the taste of the beholder. The fact that educated information as a basis of any subjective approach is needed as well (as also postulated by Kant), is largely ignored. The absurdity of the purely subjective approach can easily be imagined if we consider the tastes of members of primitive societies as determining factors in evaluations of contemporary Western art. The subjective approach has also affected art criti cism, which is not always based on educated criteria and, besides, is hardly accessible to most amateurs of art. In societies such as contemporary Ukraine and the subculture of the Ukrainian diaspora there is nearly a total absence of valid criteria of artistic judgment. The subjective basis of art appreciation has resulted in the self-confidence of those who are poorly educated in art yet, who have, indeed become the arbiters of taste. Artists throughout the world are catering to an ever growing market, as they are well aware that art consumers buy works on the basis of thematic content of such works, and not on the basis of their inherent artistic values. Of course, the well informed connoisseur of art has built for himself reliable defenses against the barrages of kitsch, but in the newly developed artistic markets of Ukraine such defenses are not yet in place. This is particularly troubling as depictions of sentimen tal and nostalgic subjects become ever more abundant in the galleries and spill out into the sidewalks of Ukrainian cities. The holidays will be here in a week’s time. But I don’t feel the holiday spirit. Spring never did bring me joy. An unutterable longing blooms with the first spring flowers, a longing which rings from each tiny bell of the lillies-of-the-valley, which every evening burns so painfully as a star in the heavens. Iryna Senyk, “Reflections" From “Invincible Spirit,” Translated by Bohdan Yasen. Smoloskyp Publishing, 1977. 14 ’’НАШЕ ЖИТТЯ", КВІТЕНЬ 1994 Видання C оюзу Українок A мерики - перевидано в електронному форматі в 2012 році . A рхів C У A - Ню Йорк , Н . Й . C Ш A.
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