Post #690769 by bigbrotiki on Tue, Aug 20, 2013 3:24 PM

Well, the question - when it arises - is really only answered by my book "Tiki Modern". If you REALLY want to know, get the book, and read it, too. And then tell me again you still think Witco is just ugly.

Witco to me is about the Picasso quote I open the "Book of Tiki" with (and that never gets mentioned):

“Ah, good taste! What a dreadful thing! Taste is the enemy of creativeness.”

Having "good taste" is boring. Good taste does not move anything, it doesn't get a reaction. Just like Hawaiiana, it is a quaint consensus reality that keeps you put, and puts you to sleep. Bad taste gets people riled up, they have a reaction, and in the best case, it opens their minds.

In the case of Witco I hope I demonstrated that behind the ugliest piece of burnt swamp cedar you find in the thrift store, there might be a creative genius whose artistic sensitivity reflected the spirit of whimsy and escapism of a certain time period in America in a unique and singular way - beyond the restrictions of the general consensus of what constitutes "good taste".

But there will always be truth in another saying: "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder"