• The Journal of Art Theory & Practice
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• no.5
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• pp.25-41
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• 2007

Despite continuous efforts to redraw the boundaries between art and culture, the conventional concept of originality has persisted in approaches to the practice of contemporary art. In the discourse of originality, various forms of lesser arts that employ the method of replication have been referred to as kitsch, or "rear-guard," the opposite of avant-garde. This categorization points to the contested issue regarding the oppositional relation between modernism and mass culture. With its easily accessible content and financial affordability, mass culture has become both an irresistible attraction and a most powerful threat to modernism. This threat has instigated a discursive system that has situated mass culture as a cultural other of modernism. Taking the marginalized category of kitsch as the area of contention, this paper examines a discursive repression of kitsch. It analyzes the conceptual framework that defends originality and autonomy in art and, conversely, degrades kitsch as an inferior and dangerous cultural category. Greenberg'S concept of kitsch as a by-product of industrialization evolved into the criticism that advocates the autonomy of art. The Frankfurt School scholars, particularly Theodor Adorno and Max Horkheimer, practiced comparable cultural critiques. Focusing on mass culture such as film, radio, and television, instead of art works, they critically analyzed the system of mass culture and theorized the negative implications of the ubiquitous presence of kitsch. Some critics, on the other hand, perceived the growth of mass culture as opening possibilities in cultural development. Walter Benjamin and Harold Rosenberg asserted the socio-cultural dynamics of mass culture underlining the potential for continual transformation in reality and in the subject. They acknowledged that technological advances changed the condition of creation and enabled unmediated interactions between media. By scrutinizing conflicting views on kitsch, this paper intends to reassess arts that draw "the forces of the outside."

• Journal of Korea Multimedia Society
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• v.18 no.8
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• pp.980-987
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• 2015

Most of cultural area which people enjoy and consume is kitsch culture, though the culture is barely acknowledged. In this multimedia era, people create, publish and enjoy contents of 'webtoon(web+cartoon)', which is relatively faster and more convenient to enjoy comparing to published cartoon. Contrarily to its physical growth, the webtoon shows difficulty in advancing with other genres, is full of irritative factors and contents, and has tough time to become more sophisticated one. This study derived characteristics of kitsch in webtoon, suggested the way of webtoon as an art by analyzing conditions and usage motivation of webtoon. The conditions of kitsch are uniformity of mass consumption, popular vein, catharsis, vicarious satisfaction, immediate feedback-requiring image flood, and reproduction of techniques. The usage motivations of webtoon are studied as pursuit of information, entertainment, relaxation, socialization, convenience, and effectiveness. Usage motivation factors in webtoon and kitsch culture are almost identical. Contrary to its past of being underestimated and vulgarly considered, kitsch is acknowledged as an 'kitsch art'. By studying the process of becoming an art, the study has its purpose to suggest the experimental and developing way to make webtoon be acknowledged as 'webtoon art'.

• The Research Journal of the Costume Culture
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.578-590
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• 2003

The purpose of this study was to analyze the formative characteristics appeared in modem Kitsch fashion which has been shown through the empirical data photogrphes from the 2000's to 2003 and the formative characteristics of Kitsch were divided into the material, ornament, color, pattern to understand the modem Kitsch fashion. The findings of this study could be summarized as follows: First, the modem Kitsch fashion in the material was used cheap, counterfeit materials like vinyl, artificial leather, immitation fur, beads and non-artistic materials like metal, plastic, paper and voluptuous material like seethrough to express eroticism and superficiality as the characteristic of Kitsch. Second, Kitsch fashion in the ornament was shown over-decoration by using the various accessories like bracelet, metal belt, gloves, etc to express as childish and coarse mixtures as the characteristic of Kitsch. Third, the modem Kitsch fashion was using splendid and bright, primary colors to express the image of complicated accumulation. Fourth, the modern Kitsch fashion mainly in the pattern was using ethnic, folklore and pop art pattern or print used hippies and pop art fashion to express the primitive purity as bounding of civilized society.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Costume
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• v.47
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• pp.143-160
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• 1999

The purpose of this dissertation is to interpret fashion through a socio-cultural phenomenon called kitsch by understanding its aesthetic characteristics and clarifying its significance in the modern consumer society and analyzing the examples of kitsch appearing in modern fashion. The following are the arguments and conclusion of this dissertation. First kitsch has negative meanings such as aesthetic inadequacy or bad tastes implying vulgar popular tastes of faked sensations just imitating elite culture and using things indiscriminately for inferior reproduction or at best the philosophical and aesthetic category that expresses the mass of people's attitudes toward life in accepting the consumer culture of the industrial society. It started from the art of romanticism accompanied by th commercializing of art with the bourgeois society background formed in the mid-19th century. Though kitsch started to prevail following the socio-cultural changes caused by the Industrial Revolution in the 19th century it is only in the late 20th century that kitsch has come tc our everyday life and has become an object of aesthetic arguments. Second formative characteristics of kitsch appearin in fashion have a cumulative inadequate romantic pleasure-seeking satirizing and multicomplex nature. Third the socio-cultural meanings of kitsch appearing in fashion are as follows: The extension of commercialism which gratifies the pleasure-seeking mass consumers the enlargement of the aesthetic category by inclining to everyday commonplace aesthetic sense the expression of one's identity through the gratification of desire and the new aesthetics of resistance and deviance by an anti-traditional and anti-elite tendency towards the traditional society and aesthetic values.

• Journal of Korean Philosophical Society
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• v.123
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• pp.87-110
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• 2012

The kitsch was emerged from the people's cultural desire in the conditions of the various duplicating technology, the capital economy system, and the civil revolution in the western modern mass society. But it is underestimated constantly because of the conspicious consumption and the aesthetic inadequacy. Even though some kitsches are elevated to the 'kitsch arts' in the historical description of the modern arts, still the most of kitsches are remained as 'just kitsches' and excluded from the aesthetic research according to the double standard. In this essay, I research for whether anti-kitsch theory is convincing theoretically and practically. Anti-kitsch theory criticizes the kitsch on the basis of the modernist aesthetics, in which the 'fine art' provokes the aesthetic pleasure in the disinterested contemplation. But kitsch purposes for the sensual gratification and the sentimentality. So the anti-kitish theorists conclude that the kitsch is the bad taste. In critically analyzing the argumentation of Greenberg's. Kaplan's and $C{\tilde{a}}linescu^{\prime}s$, I refute the privileged prejudice of the ideal critic. They don't justify the criteria of the classification of 'art'/ 'kitsch'. They supplement the economical and the political grounds for the evaluative theory of the kitsch. But the argumentation of the kitsch is consumed conspicuously and results in the unlettered masses is not sufficient. People produce and enjoy the kitsches in the various ways. People envelope the genres, styles and media of the kitsches and they try to suggest the new horizon of the popular aesthetics. So anti-kitsch theories cannot be accepted because they adhere to the elitism and formalism. The exclusion of the kitsch is the derogation for people's taste. Also they didn't reflect the contemporary cultural practice and the aesthetic needs in the system of post-art. The alternative aesthetics of the kitsch is the topic of my next essay.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Costume
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• v.34
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• pp.91-107
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• 1997

For the purpose of this study is the re-searcher investigated the concept and background of kitsch and the character of Kitsch in the paintings with focus on the Surrealism and Pop Art. In this study it was focused that how the shapes and materials was expressed in the modern fashion. Surrealism in paintings is lead thoughts and art movement to humanism of be-having man and pursuit of mental sub-stance of human beings expressing un-conscious word and transforming image in new way by the methods Automatism and Depaysements. Pop Art in paintings is used to objects common and cheap in the popular con-sumer's society. That is to say Pop Art sublimated con-sumptional culture of mass as art. And this phenomenon is appeared in the modern fashion which have influencedon the shapes and materials in design. Kitsch's character was researched in terms of shapes materials in the modern fashion with focus on the Surrealism and Pop Art and their aspect are summarized as follows: 1. In he aspect of shapes it appears that the shapes in the modern fashion is that of play through the method distor-tion or modification of dress. It was un-derstood that the cause of the dreaming and fantasy in the childhood. In the aspect of materials it apepears that the materials in the modern fashion is that of exagerated-decoration through using of object which is various asses-sories flower doll etc. 2. In the aspect of shapes it appears that the shapes in the modern fashion is that of disharmoney disorder and unsuit-ableness. The major cause of that is be-cause of Antistandard fashion I the aspect of materials it appears that the materials in the modern fashion is that of sarcasm pleasantness. It was reviwed that the major cause of the wit or humor comes from the image of the masses makes use of such as plastic fun-ny picture can coin etc.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Costume
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• v.30
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• pp.139-152
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• 1996

THe purpose of this study is to clarify Kitsch in the modern society and to analyze the modern fahion design adapting Kitsch's materiality. Thus this study explains the concepts and background of kitsch and examines its aes-thetic value in consideration of the relation be-tween Kitsch and plastic art. Through a theoretical examination of histori-cal documents the meaning of the Kitsch is explored from various angles. The result of this study were as follows: Kitsch began in the period of the 19th cen-tury when was society began to form and so-ciety grew to be rich. This is to say Kitsch is the result of intrusion of capitalist modernity in the domain of the aesthetic modernity The concept meant ethical something bad counterfeit and bad taste. The materialities of Kitsch are over-decor-ation unfitness the use of imitation malfunc-tion used fashion design. 1. Over-decoration is due to the material abundnce through various accessories many colors etc. 2. Unfitness is obtained by the error of ar-rangement which means the wrong cohesion of form size of material. 3. The use of imitation makes use of cheap materals such as vinyl imitation leather imi-tation fur etc. 4. Malfunction comes from losing the orig-inal function by the addition of un-neccessary functions.

• Korean Journal of Human Ecology
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.371-382
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• 2000

Fashion, a means of communication, is the symbol conveying the social information and the individual identity. The opulence of material and the development of civilization make the sign of fashion variable and individual; especially, The importance of hair style among the today's sign of fashion, as a determinant element in judging each person's look is emphasized. Kitsch, based on the variety and the individuality is the manner of art in diverse hobbies. In addition, it enlarges the sphere of modern an, creates new open aesthetic world. Therefore, we need to understand the symbol of Kitsch aestetic represented in hair style, which is meaningful. The method of this study is quality analysis by means of semiology, aesthetics, Fashion artical, magazine, atc. To support this statement, we will study the form, a primary symbol, and the ideology, a secondly one in $\ulcorner$Mythologies$\lrcorner$ of Roland Bartes(1972). Then by means of the form and the ideology, we will try to recognize the myth, an essential symbol. The result of this study is following like these three points. First, the Kitsch patterns of representation in hair style use the accumulation by an excessive ornamentation; the inappropriateness by the lack of form, the disagreement, the unbalance, and the nonfunctional form; and finally, the amusement by the reconstruction, the exotic, and the satire. The above three is true to the Barthes's primary symbol-the form. Second, the anti-traditionality(including the lack of form, the disagreement, and the unbalance), the homesickness(including the reconstruction and the exotic), and the eclecticism(including the parody and the mixed imitation) are created as the ideology of the liberal artistic notion, different from the past outlooks on aesthetic. This is true to the Barthes's secondly symbol-the ideology. Third, the form and the ideology enable us to express our own thoughts and to recover the humanity, which is the primary purpose of Kitsch aesthetic. The Kitsch hair style, as we witness, does lead the varied and liberal aesthetic world, create its accessible value, and place the art of hair style in a higher status.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Clothing and Textiles
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• v.21 no.8
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• pp.1427-1438
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• 1997

The art plastique is the part from which designers draw their inspirations to create fashion design. Many designers look for their inspirations from Art Plastique. Since the early 20th century, lots of designers led by Paul Poiret drew their inspirations from Art and co-works with artists. The direct involvement of those artists helped to position Fashion to be an art. Also, these co-works brought the mass media's attention and commercial profit. The most prevalent relationship between the fashion design and art plastique is the reproduction of art such as the 1960s 'Pop Art printed on T-shirts, which can be seen easily todays. After World War ll, art was popularized in a new society where young generation played a major role. Pop Art having image of the freedom and the rejection of tradition was considered as the major trend of 1960s. This study considers reflection of anti-traditionalism, anti-elitism and popularity as the kitsch of Pop. That is the attraction which youth culture looked for from Pop Art and the reason that 60's avast-garde cloth could position itself into the masses. Therefore, this study examines the influence of the kitsch of Pop and the expression of parody upon the major changes in 1960s fashion from which are the mini-look and women's trousers wearing. This study examines Andra Courreges who led 1960s Mini look and Yves Saint Laurent who introduced Pop dress, Smoking look and transparent blouse to find the way which makes it possible for avant garde fashion to have a close relationship with the public and to position itself to be a art.

• Korean Institute of Interior Design Journal
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.12-20
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• 2007

This study, as discussed herein, tries to understand how modern commercial buildings occur and develop in certain type of social and cultural conditions. There are many words standing for modern society, of which the most remarkable one is 'commercial society'. Commercial society is where goods are manufactured to one's taste and consumption is a way of communication and a way of discriminating one from the others by using different code. Nowadays, architecture gets more and more popular and becomes commercial object which is intended to the sign of the social meaning. So, the sign of commercial buildings varies according to the social and cultural backgrounds and kitsch is applicable to it. The original meaning of kitsch, which usually is considered an inferior copy of an existing style, is examined and applied to architecture in order for comprehension. Throughout this study, the types of commercial buildings are selected and immanent meaning to the psychology of consumers as applicable to commercial buildings is considered. Also, the trend of kitsch in commercial buildings is analyzed by classifying the image and code of a building's shape. In a conclusion of the study, two major points can be found; commercial building has a significant meaning in terms of design, and commercial building is the conceptual result of a continuous change in the relationship between society and art.