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2015 December 19
by Liz Heller

2012, 8′ x 4′ x 6′, Interactive sculpture, wood, acrylic, steel, steel bolts and collected ceramic figurines.

KitschO is a handmade ‘Plinko’ board appropriated from the game show ‘The Price is Right’. At the bottom are seven receptacles, five of which contain a fragile figurine instead of a monetary value as on the show. Each participant drops a steel puck down the face of the board for the possibility of smashing a piece of kitsch. If the participant hits a figurine, the broken remnants are swept into a Chinese takeout box, signed by the artist and given to the participant as an art object. If the puck hits an empty receptacle the participant gets an intact figurine as a giveaway prize. Creating this piece through a fine art lens, kitsch is considered a low art, an overly sentimental mass-produced commodity, thus attractive to smash. The cheap mass-produced carryout container is allusive to the kitsch inside it, which is recontextualized as a new art object through the KitschO game. This signed artifact renders the "low" piece of kitsch into "fine" art. In an increasingly digital world, this game is physical, loud, and corporeal. It entices participants with the possibility of visceral satisfaction. The notion of winning and losing is individualized by each participant’s personal view on the place of ceramic figurines in the art world.