In high-kitsch essays, the excessive appeal to the emotions should make fence-sitters like myself only more frustrated. As it stands, art seeks to discover new modes of perception while high-kitsch strengthens the senses we already have (or know that we have). Atemporal thinking may be the fusion of both. But for now, kitsch and art are two sides of the same coin. They must exist together.
A serious question now: regarding tragedy, what does Nerdrum think of Rothko, who insisted on tragedy, who dimmed the exhibition lights too, and claimed silence as his music? In many ways, Rothko reinforced through the grinder of modernism the cinematic experience of paintings. Whatever happened to it, I can't say. But I do long for it.