WTF is “orientalism”?
In this context it refers to Westerners patronizing Asians and people from the Middle East. It comes from Orient and also is used to describe Western art, which immitates arts from the North Africa, Middle East and Asia. So it depends on the context if it is actually bad.
also is used to describe Western art, which immitates arts from the North Africa, Middle East and Asia
Not necessarily imitate their art (which would probably result in artistically more interesting works), but mainly present the foreign people and cultures in an exoticising and stereotyped manner, as objects of fascination rather than normal culture.
I personally like a lot of the art, which is very clearly Orientalism. Gaudi for example clearly stands on his own, but also obviously imitated Islamic tile art, especially in his early works. Also a lot of Art Nouveau graphic art imitates very clearly Chinese and especially Japanese prints. I also have a hard time seeing it as racist to do so, but sure I guess I am and stuff like this is shit.
