Down here on the farm

Kitsch is an acknowledged art form in itself and here I gave in the temptation of using it. The photo project was inspired by a sad set of cheap plastic animals (with blue eyes!), that became the subjects of this shoot. Here are the masterpieces created "down here on the farm" (which is improvised in my parents' living room, naturally):

full deco, trees, fence and some grass

blue-eyed, four-legged

donkey got drunk

note the proportions. killer giant rabbit

slaughtered, yet still alive

a mare, naturally, considering the blue eyes and the haircut

Transylvanian artistic kitsch II

The greatest attraction are the Gypsy palaces. they exist in various places in Transylvania (an entire neighborhood in Huedin, these two twin buildings in Campia Turzii, the so-called "Villa Iţi" from Turda (on sale for half a year and nobody dares buy it for an awesome contemporary art gallery!), the king's palace and the emperor's palace in Sibiu, etc. the newly rich Gypsies, most of them left for "business" in western Europe, started building these residences in the 1990s. Some remain unfinished and uninhabited to this day.

From time to time there are the elections, as silly as everywhere but maybe sometimes more kitsch and in the same time more inventive. the two ads are just two examples from the campaign in June 2008 in Aiud. Ion Dumitrel, boldly gazing at the shy and the Orthodox church reflected in the shop front, ran under the slogan "power.decision.trust". Duma Emilian, a retired old man running as independent for local town councilor, organized his campaign the best he could.


Old buildings are pure art treasures. these photos were taking during the transformation of an old army building in a history museum in Targu Mures:

Very useful indication in the abandoned rooms, pointing to the airport, the zoo, and best of all, the communist room for "political and educational activities".

a once important note (though I wonder in which context): "Postpone other reasons"

An important pottery center in the region also displayed these two historical plates: one with the socialist national coat of arms and the second with an episode from 1601, when Mihai Viteazu, a local ruler who wanted to conquer and rule together all three medieval Romanian states, ended up with his head severed.

Pure urban confusion in Cluj-Napoca.

and the hairy shopping trolley in one of the expensive food stores in town.

Transylvanian artistic kitsch I

This is a wide topic in itself, and I believe that only a few examples will suffice for now.
The first category comprises mannequins, from those with broken noses to the ugliest baby boy advertising some sales and ending with dolls forgotten by children on the street over night. Here are some of these examples of unintentional urban post-revolutionary kitsch.