The Appeal of Ephemera and the Risk of Kitsch

Photo by Meena Kadri

For me, the ephemeral and the under-appreciated---the realm of vintage matchbox designs, Indian kitsch, hand-painted signage, and firework art, are sources of creative inspiration and come from unexpected places. There is a raw, unrefined beauty that is full of charm in these forms of expression, which are frequently written off or viewed as crass by the standards of formal art schools and elite design. They are the result of an era when art was a product of necessity, spontaneity, and cultural expression rather than being restricted by academic or commercial ambitions.

These designs are little canvases with vibrant colours, unusual symbols, and frequently humorous lettering. They’re odd little time capsules and the cultural misunderstandings are sometimes hilarious. Such pieces belonged to a democratic, approachable art culture prior to the emergence of institutionalized design schools and elite art movements. They stood for a vision free from the strict limitations of "high" art. What was once used and discarded today provides a wealth of ideas for the contemporary world. We are reminded by this outsider art that creativity does not have to be restricted to an ivory tower; it can be found in the commonplace, the transient, and in things we frequently take for granted. These "low" kinds of art are becoming more and more valued in the age of homogenized, mass-produced design. Their handcrafted nature, faults, and capacity to convey meaning free from the burdens of elitism or intellectualism are what make them so appealing.

But that's not what we were taught in design school.

In fact, I was told that "kitsch" is the antithesis of good design and to give it a wide berth because one never knew when one would fall off the edge. We were sent out to the old markets of Ahmedabad to find the worst possible examples of design that we could find. A dangerous assignment; the appeal of ‘low’ design couldn’t have been greater. To wit, what is ephemeral does not often mean kitsch, but they do overlap and I found my inspiration in the crosshairs.

Not to cast away a rich history, for Indian does not automatically mean kitsch: we have a long record of elegant luxury that has been replaced by the commercialized, the poorly thought out, and the immediateness of appeal, so we are fighting the tide, but we can salvage the inspiration from places where we don’t normally look. In India, it is everywhere, and there are people who have been rescuing it for years, excavating like archeologists, and making it available for people like me who can’t get enough of it.

Something magical began to happen around the time I left my design school twenty-four years ago. Students were secretly collecting ephemera and drawing inspiration from them, though on the surface, they continued to emulate what their betters would consider 'good' design. Mostly drawn from Western sources and superimposed on Indian culture, which we were taught to have the highest respect for but also taught to make more 'presentable.'

Someone once mentioned that the Taj Mahal, with its slim, graceful, muted aesthetic, is the most famously appreciated monument in India because it suited the European aesthetic. At work, we continued to alter our natural Indian 'kitschness' to suit what good design would be. Otherwise, we would be without jobs. The thing is, ‘low’ design can take the ridicule, whereas we, the high and mighty designers with one eyebrow in the air casting aspersions on inferior art forms, can’t often bear it. Also, is it really my prerogative to raise Kitsch-Ephemera out of its low and quirky status? Do I have to beautify it to embrace it, or do I just leave it be? Will I debase myself after all those years of developing my skills, or will I be liberating myself?

Leaving design was very freeing. It's how I caught on to 'lowbrow' art, because I couldn't shake my saturated colour palette or my love for less than perfect outline art of Indian ephemera, the hyper-saturated palette of Hindu religious art, or the experimental, highly skilled, and representative art of old Bollywood posters. To cross borders, there is Victorian kitsch, Mexican calendar art, and some of the campiest retro sci-fi art from the fifties that one can lay eyes on. Fortunately, many people think so too and have uploaded a great deal of material to the great hoard of images: Pinterest. These artistic reserves serve as a never-ending source of inspiration for contemporary artists and as a reminder that inspiration frequently arises in the most unpredictable settings.