What is the difference between art and kitsch?

The theme for the seminar this week has been cultural history, with a focus on music. The highlight of the seminar was two talks by Raquel Paraíso from the University of Wisconsin, who studies the traditional Mexican musical form known as Son. Son is generally played on a series of string instruments accompanied by the rhythmic stomping of dancers. It is played all over Mexico, with different variations in different regions. After taking us on a musical tour of Son throughout Mexico, with numerous audio and video files, Raquel taught us all two very basic steps. Let's just say most of us should probably stick to academia.

In addition to classes this week, we were also assigned group projects looking at different aspects of daily culture in Oaxaca. Topics included prison art, the Oaxacan soundscape, and fireworks. Vero, Shayna and I jumped at the chance to do a project on calaveras, the skeleton figures that can be found all over Mexico and are particularly prevalent in Oaxaca. Calaveras have been around for a long time, as they are associated with the Day of the Dead celebrations that take place throughout the country on the 1st and 2nd of November. At the turn of the 20th century, a cartoonist by the name of José  Guadalupe Posada began using them as form of political satire, mocking the country's elite and reminding us all that life is fleeting. Posada's most famous figure was the Catrina, the Porfirian woman in skeletal form who can now be found in shops all over Oaxaca. While locals continue to associate calaveras with the Day of the Dead, it is the Catrina that draws in tourists and it is this market that she really caters to. 

I have to say, this project was perfect for us. What better way to spend our spare time than wandering in markets and shops doing 'research'? At one point I mentioned that we should have done our project on food, but since that's basically a running research project anyway, it was good to learn something else too. All three of us have acquired a love of calaveras and used the project as an excuse to justify the purchase of some amazing examples. One of the questions that has driven the project, and which has always been present in our minds as we look at tourist wares, is: what is the different between kitsch and art? Oaxaca surely has a lot of kitsch, but are all calaveras kitsch? I found an amazing specimen in one of the markets, but she was placed on a wall along with hundreds of others, clearly mass produced and meant to supply the demands of the tourist market. This calavera was unlike any I'd seen up to that point: she was indigenous, carried a machine gun, and had ammo belts strung across her chest. This was my calavera, but could I find a nicer version of the same model? Actually, yes. Friday night Shayna and I stumbled across a little shop we hadn't seen before. Unfortunately it was closed, but through the window we spotted a calavera in the form of a nun and we knew we had to go back. When we returned yesterday and went  inside, we were amazed. The shop was full of beautifully painted calaveras, saints, and alebrijes (a topic I'll come to shortly). Not only did they have a nun, but they also had my soldier woman, and a much nicer model at that. The man who owned the shop sat painting a Catrina at his counter, and his work was beautiful. Although I found the woman I'd been looking for, ammo and all, there was another beside her who drew my attention. This one was indigenous as well, but she was a dancer. She wore a shawl, and held up her green skirt as she danced. I had to have her. That night, Shayna, Vero and I all walked out a few hundred pesos lighter, each with an amazing calavera in hand. I bought my dancer, Shayna her nun, and to my relief, Vero took home my soldadera. These models were clearly of better craftmanship than those in the market, but does that make them art? We all justified our spending as having invested in art, but I'm pretty sure none of our new purchases would ever show up in an art gallery - at least, not in Oaxaca. And yet, to me at least, she is a work of art.

 

Let's turn to another example. Another piece of tourist kitsch that is unique to Oaxaca is the alebrije. Alebrijes are brightly painted wood carvings that became common here a few decades back and continue to be marketed largely to tourists. Now, when I first got here, I thought these things were tacky and rarely gave them a second glance. However, on Friday we took a field trip. We went first to Monte Albán, the ruins just outside of Oaxaca, and then we headed to Arrazola, which is a local village known for its wood carvings. A few years ago, there was a good market for alebrijes, but with tourism down in recent years, the carvers have been struggling. One group, Ecoalebrijes, has begun marketing itself as an environmentally sustainable union of carvers, and it was this group that we visited. While most of the alebrijes found in markets and street corners in Oaxaca are cheap and show shoddy workmanship, I acquired a real appreciation for the form on our visit to Arrazola. One of the men took out his machete and demonstrated how they make the carvings. In most cases, the carvers are men, but it is often the women of the village who do the incredibly intricate painting. The carvings are generally animals, and I saw examples of giraffes, cats, praying mantises, and one breathtaking octopus that I just couldn't afford. Some of the pieces are quite large, and the more expensive ones are carved from a single piece of wood. They are also priced according to artists, as some of them have started bringing in high prices for their work in the U.S. and abroad. I looked up one local artist on e-bay and found his work selling for about $400. Many of us did our part to keep the local economy going, and some people even bought 4 or 5 pieces. Again, we justified our spending as purchasing art, but only days ago I would have told you these were kitsch. So which are they?

Can we differentiate between pieces that are mass produced and those that are lovingly created one at a time? Is the difference found in the quality of the workmanship? Does it matter if I buy a piece in the market or at a higher-end shop? Is it ethnic folk-art, or is it kitsch?