Kitsch takes time. According to Clement Greenberg's definition of kitsch, we could even call the Ghiberti doors an early instance of kitsch precisely for the reason that troubles Kierkegaard--they leave out a dimension of lived, authentic experience in time. The aesthetic cheats this experience with a gaudy shortcut.
When diamond plate becomes kitsch, it is something altogether more complicated than souvenir statues of David . . . or the statue of David itself as a temporal shorthand of event and experience.
