Aesthetic Misalignments: Art and Kitsch

Abstract

Abstract

This article examines the relationship between art and kitsch through the lens of Brazilian cultural formation, arguing that aesthetic categories are inseparable from social history, class relations, and processes of cultural hybridization. It begins by distinguishing folklore from popular culture, drawing on Luís da Câmara Cascudo to show that folk expressions are living, dynamic forms of collective memory rather than lesser art. From there, the text traces major Brazilian cultural manifestations—such as Bumba Meu Boi, Frevo, Jongo, Quadrilha, and Afro-Brazilian religious syncretism—to demonstrate how Indigenous, African, and European traditions merged into new artistic forms. The article then shifts to the transformation of caipira music into sertaneja music, emphasizing how urban migration, commercial interests, and changing audience expectations altered its themes, instrumentation, and social function. Using examples such as Cornélio Pires, Alvarenga and Ranchinho, and the censorship imposed during the Vargas era and the military dictatorship, the author shows how Brazilian popular art was shaped not only by creativity but also by repression, ideology, and the market. In the final section, the discussion turns to kitsch as a product of mass society and conspicuous consumption. Drawing on Thorstein Veblen and Immanuel Kant, the article argues that kitsch should not be dismissed simply as inferior or tasteless, since it also reflects artistic labor, market logic, and aesthetic judgment. Through examples such as Vik Muniz and Jeff Koons, the text suggests that the boundaries between elite art and mass art are unstable and historically contingent. Ultimately, the article proposes that both kitsch and “high” art are commodities embedded in capitalism, and that their value depends not only on form, but also on class, reception, and cultural context.