Chapter 5 : History of Arts and Designs-Assignment 1

As shown here is a picture of a mosque located at KL town which resembles the design of an ancient Greek sacred place for praying so called as temple in this new era. The pillars within the wall are the influence of Greek architecture designs which is using Doric columns. The design of Doric column is then combined with the Malays' design to form the new shape with its own taste and feeling. The idea of the design comes mainly from Arabic countries. The design of Doric column actually symbolised the meaning of harmony. The culture is added mainly to show harmony and peace between religions. The spacing between the pillars shows Kitsch as it shows repetition.

In this picture, it is clearly shown that people are burning things for their relatives for afterlife usage. These so called ''things'' are now called as incense or offerings. People especially Chinese always have the thinking that if they burn something for their late relatives, their dead will receive it and then they can use it during afterlife. This trend or habit has been going for centuries even since the Qin Dynasty. This culture is clearly the influence of Egyptian's culture. However, there are differences between these two cultures. Chinese gives offering to their late relatives just to hope that their relatives can have a better life during afterlife; while during old times for the Egyptians, they give offerings to the God which is Pharaoh who is believed to be the descendant of the Gods. They can then get favours from the Pharaoh. 

This is the picture of the Bukit Jalil Stadium. The shape and form of the stadium is like a theatre-shape like. This could be the influence of Greek and also Roman. The shape of the stadium is an oval. During Greek old times, the theatre is used for performances including festivals, religious rituals, wedding, funeral, politics, laws sports, musics and others. Nowadays, the stadium which is the shape of the theatre is also used as sports purpose. Many kinds of sports were performed here. Besides, this can also be the influence of Rome because the stadium applied the shape of a Roman Colosseum. Men fought in the Roman Colosseum to see who is the strongest; this happen also in the stadium. Athletes compete each other and see who is the most outstanding.

This is a modern coffin made of wood outside and cloth inside of it. A coffin is actually a funerary box used in the containment of dead people. The ancient Egyptians think that it is necessary to bury the dead according to the burial custom to ensure their immortality after death. They thought    of rituals and protocols including mummification. Besides that, they also undergoes the casting of magic spell and also buried the dead with specific goods which are thought to be needed afterlife. These customs are carry down for generations and are still practice by us. We believed that the coffin act as a house for the dead for their afterlife. Even Dracula lives in a coffin. We often believed that without the coffin, maybe the dead will suffer of coldness in their afterlife.

 This is a dragon caryatids. The dragon is a legendary creature in the Chinese culture of mythology. Dragons are believed to have possess great, magical powers which can control the nature. It also symbolised the meaning of strong, power and good luck. In Greek version, caryatids are often carved in the form of either woman or man, however, in Chinese version, the Chinese thinks that the dragon is a mystical and powerful creature and believed that it is the dragon which is holding the sky up without letting it falling down over the billions of innocent lives.

Definition of Kitsch (wikipedia-Kitsch)

Kitsch is a form of art that is considered an inferior, tasteless copy of an extant style of art or a worthless imitation of art of recognized value. The concept is associated with the deliberate use of elements that may be thought of as cultural icons while making cheap mass-produced objects that are unoriginal. Kitsch also refers to the types of art that are aesthetically deficient (whether or not being sentimental, glamorous, theatrical, or creative) and that make creative gestures which merely imitate the superficial appearances of art through repeated conventions and formulae. Excessive sentimentality often is associated with the term.

The contemporary definition of kitsch is considered derogatory, denoting works executed to pander to popular demand alone and purely for commercial purposes rather than works created as self-expression by an artist. The term is generally reserved for unsubstantial and gaudy works that are calculated to have popular appeal and are considered pretentious and shallow rather than genuine artistic efforts.

The concept of kitsch is applied to artwork that was a response to the 19th century art with aesthetics that convey exaggerated sentimentality and melodrama, hence, kitsch art is closely associated with sentimental art.