"Many things in the world have not been named; and many things, even if they have been named, have never been described. One of these is the sensibility -- unmistakably modern, a variant of sophistication but hardly identical with it -- that goes by the cult name of 'Camp.'" -- Susan Sontag
Annotated bibliography:
Sontag, Susan. Against interpretation: and other essays. New York: Dell Pup. Co., 1966.
Against interpretation is a book comprised of several essays written by Sontag in the 60s on art. One article included in the book is titled Notes On Camp, in which she explains what is camp and how these objects, ranging from art, films, household items, et cetera, are considered to be campy.
"A work can come close to Camp, but not make it, because it succeeds. Eisenstein's films are seldom Camp because, despite all exaggeration, they do succeed (dramatically) without surplus. If they were a little more "off," they could be great Camp - particularly Ivan the Terrible I & II. The same for Blake's drawings and paintings, weird and mannered as they are. They aren't Camp; though Art Nouveau, influenced by Blake, is. What is extravagant in an inconsistent or an unpassionate way is not Camp. Neither can anything be Camp that does not seem to spring from an irrepressible, a virtually uncontrolled sensibility. Without passion, one gets pseudo-Camp -- what is merely decorative, safe, in a word, chic. On the barren edge of Camp lie a number of attractive things: the sleek fantasies of Dali, the haute couture preciosity of Albicocco's The Girl with the Golden Eyes. But the two things - Camp and preciosity - must not be confused."
How this topic relates to my work:
Camp and kitsch are closely related in the fact that they are both not to be taken seriously. There is a difference between the two but it's subtle. The kitsch artwork I've chosen to use in my body of work often has campy undertones in it's outrageousness.
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