Hi Fred,
Thanks for your input and apologies for my delayed reply.
One of the basic definitions of
kitsch is
the inferior copy of an existing piece, which embodies a lack of experimentation of the context in which the original piece was made.
In this case I would place all the Chinese and American made katanas in this category.
I am not putting words in your mouth. I am just thinking out loud myself.
It can also be
merely repeating convention and formula, lacking the sense of creativity and originality displayed in genuine art.
I don't see this happening in both definitions when it comes to re-interpreting. However I think that a contemporary piece can exist side by side with a historical piece, the former being a inheritor of the later, in as much as we are the same. Otherwise how could we justify our own existence today as being an evolutionary process that preserving the past does not deny the present?
I guess we are in total agreement
Thanks Kaibigan