Post #386194 by woofmutt on Tue, Jun 10, 2008 11:59 PM

Among the tiny percentage of the population that is even aware of it "Tiki Art" or "Polypop" seems to include anything that has as its source of inspiration either the actual arts/crafts/imagery of the areas of the world generally referred to as Polynesia (and probably Oceania) OR the pop cultural interpretations of that imagery.

While there could be more exact definitions made it's easier to just include everything from contemporary high quality handmade reproductions of actual Polynesian artifacts to goofy paintings of big breasted "wahines' getting chased by horny "tiki gods".

There no doubt were (and probably still are) people for whom Jackson Pollock's work was not actually "painting". And there's the Truman Capote line about Jack Kerouac's writing: "That isn't writing at all, it's typing." But whether or not you like the end product doesn't actually change the definition of what it is.

There is a lot of really bad Tiki art being made, but it's still Tiki Art. One could look at all this really bad Tiki Art and claim "That's not Tiki!" but if it's a pop take on Polynesia then what would you call it?

Why is the really bad Tiki art really bad? Is it because the artists have not made the effort to fully explore the source of their inspiration? Or the artists have not taken any time to improve what skills they may have? Is it because they just don't get it?

For some of the artists those may be reasons. But the most obvious is that really bad Tiki Art is made by really bad artists, people who are genuinely untalented and not very creative.

Really bad artists making really bad Tiki Art. So what.

Among those who appreciate the arts it sometimes seems there's a "Kill Your Television" mindset. "If we could just convince the masses how crappy Hollywood blockbusters are they'd turn to independent film!" But the existence and proliferation of really bad Tiki Art doesn't have any actual negative effect on quality Tiki Art. Thomas Kincade has not debased the value of works by respected landscape artists. Most people wouldn't consider Sizzler the place to go for a really fine steak dinner.

Other than the lack of creativity, bad design and poor execution, there's really nothing wrong with really bad Tiki Art. There's nothing wrong with bad artists or people wanting to buy their bad art. Maybe the best approach can be found in a Monty Python quote: "Let's not call them anything, let's just ignore them."