Museum of Bad Art: Difference between revisions
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{{redirect|MOBA|the town in the Democratic Republic of the Congo|Moba}} |
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{{Infobox Museum |
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|name = Museum of Bad Art |
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|image = Moba Logo.PNG |
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|imagesize = 250 |
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|caption = |
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|map_type = Massachusetts |
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|map_caption = MOBA's Dedham location |
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|latitude = 42.248026 |
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|longitude = -71.172969 |
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|established = 1994 |
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|dissolved = |
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|location = [[Dedham, Massachusetts|Dedham]] and</br>[[Somerville, Massachusetts|Somerville]], [[Massachusetts]] |
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|type = [[Art museum]] |
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|visitors = |
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|director = Louise Reilly Sacco |
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|curator = Michael Frank |
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|publictransit = ''Dedham Gallery'': [[Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority|MBTA]] Bus number 34E to High Street in central Dedham.</br>''Somerville Gallery'': [[Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority|MBTA]] [[Red Line (MBTA)|Red Line]] [[Davis (MBTA station)| Davis Station]] |
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|website = http://www.museumofbadart.org/ |
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}} |
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The '''Museum of Bad Art''' ('''MOBA''') is a privately owned museum whose stated aim is "to celebrate the labor of artists whose work would be displayed and appreciated in no other forum".<ref>Frank and Sacco, vii</ref> It has two branches, one in [[Dedham, Massachusetts|Dedham]], [[Massachusetts]], [[United States]], and the other in nearby [[Somerville, Massachusetts|Somerville]]. Its permanent collection includes 500 pieces of "art too bad to be ignored", 25 to 35 of which are on public display at any one time.<ref>Walkup, Nancy. "ArtEd Online - [[National Art Education Association|NAEA]] in Boston - Reproducible Handout". ''School Arts'', Volume 104, no. 7, March 2005. 36 {{ISSN|0036-6463}} {{OCLC|1765119}}</ref> |
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MOBA was founded in 1994, after antique dealer Scott Wilson showed a painting he had recovered from the trash to some friends, who suggested starting a collection. Within a year, receptions held in Wilson's friends' home were so well-attended that the collection required its own viewing space. The museum moved to the basement of a theater in Dedham. Explaining the reasoning behind the museum's establishment, co-founder Jerry Reilly said in 1995: "While every city in the world has at least one museum dedicated to the best of art, MOBA is the only museum dedicated to collecting and exhibiting the worst."<ref name=Mutch>Mutch, David. [http://www.csmonitor.com/1995/1102/02131.html "Art from the Bottom of the Heap: A 'Museum' Devoted to Bad Painting".] ''[[The Christian Science Monitor]]'', November 2, 1995. 13</ref> To be included in MOBA's collection, works must be original and have serious intent, but they must also have significant flaws without being boring; curators are not interested in displaying art that is deliberately [[kitsch]]. |
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MOBA has been mentioned in dozens of off-the-beaten-path guides to [[Boston, Massachusetts|Boston]], featured in international newspapers and magazines, and has inspired several other collections throughout the world that set out to rival its own visual atrocities. [[Deborah Solomon]] of ''[[The New York Times Magazine]]'' noted that the attention the Museum of Bad Art receives is part of a wider trend of museums displaying "the best bad art".<ref name="solomon">Solomon, Deborah. "[http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9405E1DE1530F937A15752C0A96F958260&scp=1&sq=%22museum%20of%20bad%20art%22&st=cse In Praise of Bad Art]". ''[[The New York Times]]'', January 24, 1999 <!--Retrieved on March 2, 2009--></ref> The museum has been criticized for being anti-art, but the founders deny this, responding that its collection is a tribute to the sincerity of the artists who persevered with their art despite something going horribly wrong in the process. According to co-founder Marie Jackson, "We are here to celebrate an artist's right to fail, gloriously."<ref name="irishtimes">"[http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/features/1999/0918/99091800051.html The Gallery of the Garish Masterpieces of Bad Art]". ''[[The Irish Times]]'', September 18, 1999. 9</ref> |
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== History == |
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[[File:Lucyflowers.jpg|thumb|200 px|upright|''Lucy in the Field with Flowers'' (in original frame), the first of MOBA's collection, which inspired a museum "dedicated to the collection, preservation, and exhibition of really awful artwork"<ref name=>Nobel, Carmen. [http://www.boston.com/ae/theater_arts/articles/2007/11/26/baby_drew_a_bad_bad_thing/ "Baby Drew a Bad, Bad Thing"]. ''[[The Boston Globe]]'', November 26, 2007. SID3</ref>]] |
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The Museum of Bad Art was established in 1994 by antique dealer Scott Wilson, who discovered what has become the museum's signature piece—''Lucy in the Field with Flowers''—protruding from between two trash cans on a [[Roslindale, Massachusetts|Roslindale]]-area curb in Boston, among some garbage waiting to be collected. Wilson was initially interested only in the frame, but when he showed the picture to his friend Jerry Reilly, Reilly wanted both the frame and the painting. He exhibited ''Lucy'' in his home, and encouraged friends to look for other bad art and notify Wilson of what they found.<ref name="gaines">Gaines, Judith. [http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-7775472.html "Exhibiting Works of Trial and Error: Museum Finds Landscapes Gone Awry"]. ''The Boston Globe'', May 4, 2003. 9</ref> When Wilson acquired another "equally lovely" piece and shared it with Reilly, they decided to start a collection. Reilly and his wife, Marie Jackson, held a party in their basement to exhibit the collection to date, and hosted a reception they facetiously titled "The Opening of the Museum of Bad Art".<ref name="english07">English, Bella. [http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2007/04/29/high_standards_for_low_art/?rss_id=Boston%20Globe%20--%20Globe%20South "High Standards for Low Art"]. ''The Boston Globe'', April 29, 2007. Reg7</ref> |
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Regular showings of the pieces collected by Wilson, Reilly, and Jackson (and those donated by others), became too much for Reilly and Jackson's small home in [[West Roxbury, Massachusetts]], as hundreds of people attended the receptions.<ref>Frauenfelder, Mark. "[http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/3.07/scans.html?pg=5 Canvas Catastrophes]". ''[[Wired (magazine)|Wired Magazine]]'', July 1995 <!--Retrieved on March 2, 2009 --></ref> Word spread about the collection until, according to "Permanent Interim Acting Director" Louise Reilly Sacco, "it got completely out of hand" when a group of senior citizens on a tour bus stopped to see it.<ref name="gaines"/> In 1995 the display space was moved to the basement of the Dedham Community Theatre, a building with an aesthetic described in 2004 as "ramshackle".<ref>Citro and Foulds, 114</ref> The museum in Dedham has no fixed operating hours, instead opening when the theater upstairs was open.<ref>[http://www.foodandwine.com/thingtodo/museum/museum-of-bad-art Museum of Bad Art]". ''[[Food & Wine Magazine]]'', October 2008 <!--Retrieved on March 3, 2009--></ref> As the ''[[Boston Globe]]'' notes, the art collection is appropriately placed "just outside the men's room",<ref name="english">English, Bella. "[http://www.boston.com/yourtown/newton/articles/2009/02/08/doing_a_good_deed_with_bad_art/ Doing a Good Deed with Bad Art]". ''The Boston Globe'', February 8, 2009. Reg1</ref> where sounds and smells carry to the collection and the constant flushing of the toilet "supposedly helps maintain a uniform humidity", according to the ''[[South China Morning Post]]''.<ref name="wilson">Wilson, David, "It May Be Art, But They Sure Ain't No Oil Paintings". ''[[South China Morning Post]]'', May 17, 2004. 5</ref> |
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In MOBA's early days, the museum hosted traveling shows; on one occasion the works were hung from trees in the woods on [[Cape Cod]] for the "Gallery in the Woods Gala". [[Aesthetics of music#Bad music|Bad music]] was played during the public viewings to complete the ambience. In an exhibition titled "Awash in Bad Art", 18 pieces of art were covered in shrink wrap and placed in a drive-through car wash. Marie Jackson, formerly the Director of Aesthetic Interpretation noted, "We didn't put any watercolors in there."<ref name="irishtimes"/> MOBA features its works in rotating collections. In 2003, "Freaks of Nature" focused on landscape artwork "gone awry". A 2006 exhibit titled "Hackneyed Portraits" was designed to "pick up some of the slack" when the [[David Hockney]] show at Boston's [[Museum of Fine Arts, Boston|Museum of Fine Arts]] closed.<ref name="johnson">Johnson, Carolyn. [http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2006/06/25/dedham_museum_is_proud_home_to_unforgettable_art_thats_anything_but_fine/ "So Bad It's Good: Dedham Museum Is Proud Home to Unforgettable Art That's Anything But Fine"]. ''The Boston Globe'', June 25, 2006. 1</ref> MOBA unveiled its show "Nature Abhors a Vacuum and All Other Housework" in 2006; this format continues on the museum's website. |
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A second gallery opened in 2008 at the [[Somerville Theatre]] in [[Davis Square]], [[Somerville, Massachusetts]], where the collection was placed near both the women's and men's restrooms.<ref>Smykus, Ed. "[http://www.wickedlocal.com/somerville/archive/x1658008848 Museum of Bad Art Will Open Second Branch at the Somerville Theater"]. ''Wicked Local'', May 5, 2008 <!-- Retrieved on March 2, 2009--></ref> Although the original gallery is free and open to the public, the second is only free with admission to the theater.<ref>"[http://www.somervilletheatreonline.com/somerville/theatre/index.php General Info]". [[Somerville Theatre]]. Retrieved on March 3, 2009.</ref> Exhibitions titled "Bright Colors / Dark Emotions" and "Know What You Like / Paint How You Feel" have been held in the academic gallery at [[Montserrat College of Art]] in [[Beverly, Massachusetts]].<ref>Garcia-Fenech, Giovanni. "[http://www.artnet.com/Magazine/reviews/garcia-fenech/garcia-fenech2-18-99.asp Bad Art Bonanza]". [[New York]]: [[artnet]] Worldwide, 2009. Retrieved on March 4, 2009.</ref> MOBA was hoping "to take bad art on the road" in 2008, according to Sacco.<ref name="veryvery">Gray-Blanc, Elena. "[http://www.independent.com/news/2008/sep/20/good-bad-and-very-very-ugly/ The Good, the Bad… and the Very, Very Ugly - The Museum of Bad Art: A Worthwhile Stop on the World Weird Web]". ''[[Santa Barbara Independent]]'', September 20, 2008 <!--Retrieved on March 7, 2009--></ref> Pieces from MOBA's collection have been on display in museums in [[Virginia]], [[Ottawa]], and [[New York]].<ref name="goldberg">Goldberg, Carey. [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=950DE2D6173AF937A25753C1A96E958260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all "Arts In America: Art So Bad a Museum in Boston Relishes It"]. ''The New York Times'', October 14, 1998. E2</ref> |
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In February 2009, MOBA announced a fundraiser to assist the [[Rose Art Museum]] at [[Brandeis University]], which was seriously considering whether to sell masterpieces because of the [[global financial crisis of 2008–2009]], made worse for the university by its participation in [[Madoff investment scandal|Bernard Madoff's investment scheme]]. Current MOBA curator and [[Balloon modelling|balloon artist]]/musician Michael Frank placed ''Studies in Digestion''—a four-panel piece showing four renditions of the human digestive tract in various media—on [[eBay]] for a buy-it-now price of $10,000; the first bid was $24.99.<ref name="english"/> It eventually sold for $152.53 and the meager proceeds went to the Rose Art Museum, while both museums gained publicity.<ref>Bolton, Morgan Michele. "[http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2009/02/15/bad_art_sells_for_good_cause/ 'Bad' Art Sells for Good Cause]". ''The Boston Globe'', February 15, 2009 <!--Retrieved March 4, 2009--></ref> |
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== Thefts == |
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The loss of two MOBA works to theft has drawn media attention, and enhanced the museum's stature.<ref name="irishtimes"/><ref>Wulff, Julie "All Things Bad and Beautiful". ''The Boston Globe'', December 13, 2006. SID2</ref><ref name="Cobb" /> In 1996, the painting ''Eileen'', by R. Angelo Le, vanished from MOBA. ''Eileen'' was acquired from the trash by Wilson, and features a rip in the canvas where someone slashed it with a knife even before the museum acquired it, "adding an additional element of drama to an already powerful work", according to MOBA.<ref>[http://www.museumofbadart.org/collection/portraiture-9.html Portraiture #9 Eileen]. Museum of Bad Art, 2009. Retrieved on March 8, 2009.</ref> |
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[[File:Eileen by R Anglo Le.jpg|thumb|upright|left|The stolen ''Eileen'']]The museum offered a reward of $6.50 for the return of ''Eileen'', and although MOBA donors later increased that reward to $36.73, the work remained unrecovered for many years.<ref>Belanger, 59</ref> The [[Boston Police Department|Boston Police]] listed the crime as "larceny, other",<ref name="irishtimes"/> and Sacco was reported saying she was unable to establish a link between the disappearance of ''Eileen'' and a notorious heist at Boston’s famed [[Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum]] that occurred in 1990.<ref>Wright, Chris. [http://www.bostonphoenix.com/boston/news_features/this_just_in/documents/02844044.htm "Framed: Good times for bad art,"] ''[[The Phoenix (newspaper)|The Boston Phoenix]]'', April 25 – May 1, 2003</ref><ref>Kurkjian, Stephen. [http://www.boston.com/news/specials/gardner_heist/heist/ "The Gardner Heist"], ''Boston Globe'', March 13, 2005 <!-- Retrieved on March 9, 2009--></ref> In 2006—10 years after ''Eileen'' was stolen—MOBA was contacted by the purported thief demanding a $5,000 ransom for the painting; no ransom was paid, but it was returned anyway.<ref>Frank and Sacco, xi</ref> |
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Prompted by the theft of ''Eileen'', MOBA staff installed a fake video camera over a sign at their Dedham branch reading: "Warning. This gallery is protected by fake video cameras".<ref name="swoger">Swoger, Kate. "Art Only a Mother Could Love: No Picture is Too Imperfect for Massachusetts Museum". ''[[The Gazette (Montreal)|The Gazette]]'', Montreal, Quebec, February 13, 2000. H6</ref> Despite this deterrent, in 2004 Rebecca Harris' ''Self Portrait as a Drainpipe''<!-- source says "Self Portrait as a Bird", but Louise Sacco and ''MOBA: Masterworks'' say it is "Self Portrait as a Drainpipe"--> was removed from the wall and replaced with a ransom note demanding $10, although the thief neglected to include any contact information.<ref>Frank and Sacco, xii</ref> Soon after its disappearance the painting was returned, with a $10 donation.<ref name="Bird">Michael Frank, [http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/letters/articles/2006/02/11/art_theft_hits_home_in_dedham/ "Art Theft Hits Home in Dedham"], letter to the editor, ''The Boston Globe'', February 11, 2006. 10</ref> Curator Michael Frank speculates that the thief had difficulty [[Fence (criminal)|fencing]] the portrait because "reputable institutions refuse to negotiate with criminals."<ref name="Bird" /> |
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==Collection standards == |
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[[File:MOBAcamera.JPG|thumb|Fake security camera at the Dedham branch of MOBA]] |
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Although the museum's motto is "Art too bad to be ignored", MOBA holds rigorous standards as to what they will accept. According to Marie Jackson, "Nine out of ten pieces don't get in because they're not bad enough. What an artist considers to be bad doesn't always meet our low standards."<ref>Swoger, Kate. "Bad Art Finds a Good Home at This Anti-Museum". ''[[Ottawa Citizen]]'', February 26, 2000. K6</ref> As stated in the introduction to ''The Museum of Bad Art: Masterworks'', the primary attribute of an ''[[Work of art|objet d'art]]'' to be acquired by MOBA is that it must have been seriously attempted by someone making an artistic statement. A lack of artistic skill is not essential for a work to be included; a prospective painting or sculpture for the collection ideally should "[result] in a compelling image",<ref name="saccox">Frank and Sacco, x</ref> or as honorary curator Ollie Hallowell stated, the art must have an "Oh my God" quality.<ref name="english" /> |
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An important criterion for inclusion is that a painting or sculpture must not be boring. Michael Frank says they are not interested in commercial works like ''[[Dogs Playing Poker]]'': "We collect things made in earnest, where people attempted to make art and something went wrong, either in the execution or in the original premise."<ref name="english"/> [[Montserrat College of Art]] used MOBA's exhibition as a demonstration to its students that "sincerity is still important, and pureness of intent is valid".<ref name="hirsch"/> |
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MOBA accepts unsolicited works if they meet its standards. Frequently, curators consider works by artists who display an intensity or emotion in the art that they are unable to reconcile with their level of skill. The museum dedicated a show to "relentless creativity" in an exhibition titled "I Just Can't Stop" that was covered by local news and [[CNN]].<ref>[http://www.museumofbadart.org/about/36.html The MOBA news: The Museum of Bad Art (MOBA) Newsletter, Issue #36 Excerpt]. Museum of Bad Art, 2009. Retrieved on March 8, 2009.</ref> Other artists are clearly technically proficient, but attempted an experiment that did not end well.<ref name="architecture"/> Dean Nimmer, a professor at the [[Massachusetts College of Art]] (also holding the title of MOBA's Executive Director of Good Taste), noted the parallels between the Museum of Bad Art's standards and those of other institutions: "They take the model of a museum of fine arts and apply the same kind of criteria to acceptance for bad work ... [Their rules] are very similar to a gallery or museum that says 'Well, our area is really installation art or realist paintings or neo-post-modern abstractions.{{' "}}<ref name="goldberg"/> |
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[[File:MOBA Somerville Theater gallery.jpg|thumb|left|MOBA's Somerville Theatre gallery in 2008]] |
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MOBA does not collect art created by children, or art traditionally perceived as lesser in quality, such as [[black velvet painting]]s, [[Paint by number|paint-by-numbers]], [[kitsch]], or factory-produced art—including works specifically created for tourists. Curators are also not interested in crafts such as [[Rug making#Hooking|latch hook rug]] kits.<ref>Frank and Sacco, x–xi</ref> MOBA curators suggest that more appropriate venues for such works would be the "Museum of Questionable Taste, The International Schlock Collection, or the National Treasury of Dubious Home Decoration".<ref name="saccox"/> |
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The Museum of Bad Art has been accused of being anti-art, or taking works that were sincerely rendered and mocking them. However, Scott Wilson insists that a work of art accepted into MOBA is a celebration of the artist's enthusiasm.<ref name="goldberg"/> Marie Jackson reiterated this thought, saying "I think it's a great encouragement to people... who want to create [and] are held back by fear, and when they see these pieces, they realize there's nothing to be afraid of—just go for it."<ref name="caro">Caro, Mark, "Not a Pretty Picture—Boston-Area Museum a Monument to the Absolute Worst in Art". ''[[Chicago Tribune]]'', May 20, 1997. 1</ref> Louise Reilly Sacco agreed, stating, "If we're making fun of something, it's the art community, not the artists. But this is a real museum. It's 10 years. It's 6,000 people on a mailing list. It's recognition all over the world."<ref name="Cobb">Cobb, Nathan. [http://www.boston.com/news/globe/living/articles/2004/02/28/in_dedham_this_museum_is_exhibiting_bad_taste/ "In Dedham, This Museum is Exhibiting 'Bad" Taste"]. ''The Boston Globe'', February 28, 2004. C1</ref> Curators insist that artists whose works are selected by the MOBA enjoy the attention and that it is a [[Win-win game|win-win]]; the museum gains another work of art, and the artist receives exposure in a museum. A 1997 article in ''[[The Chicago Tribune]]'' stated that none of the 10 to 15 artists who had stepped forward to acknowledge their work in MOBA had been upset.<ref name="caro"/> |
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Many of the works in MOBA are donated, often by the artists themselves. Others come from yard sales or [[thrift stores]]; the Trash Collectors Union in [[Cambridge, Massachusetts]] has donated works rescued from imminent demise. Occasionally a painting may be purchased; at one time MOBA's policy was not to spend more than $6.50 on any piece.<ref name="irishtimes" /> More recently, twice and even three times that amount has been paid for an exceptional work.<ref> Belanger, 158</ref> Those pieces not retained by the museum are included in a "Rejection Collection" that may be sold at auction. In the past, some proceeds went to the [[Salvation Army]] for providing so many of MOBA's pieces; the museum itself usually benefits from most auctions.<ref name="caro"/> |
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== Collection highlights == |
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Each painting or sculpture MOBA exhibits is accompanied by a brief description of the medium, size, name of the artist, as well as how the piece was acquired, and an analysis of the work's possible intention or symbolism. ''[[Museums Journal]]'' noted that the discussion accompanying each work would most likely have most visitors reduced "to hysterics".<ref>Lewis, Jamie. "Museum of Bad Art, Boston". ''[[Museums Journal]]'', Volume 106, Issue 5, May 2006. 62</ref> The captions—described as "distinctly tongue-in-cheek commentaries" by David Mutch of the ''[[Christian Science Monitor]]''<ref name=Mutch/>—were primarily written by Marie Jackson, until the "dissolution of the MOBA interpretative staff"; the task was then taken over by Michael Frank and Louise Reilly Sacco.<ref name="saccoxiv">Frank and Sacco, xiv</ref> |
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=== ''Lucy in the Field with Flowers'' === |
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Many of MOBA's works generate extensive discourse from visitors. ''Lucy in the Field with Flowers'' (oil on canvas by Unknown; acquired from trash in Boston) remains a favorite with the news media and patrons. As the first work acquired by the museum, ''Lucy'' is "a painting so powerful it commands its own preservation for posterity", setting a standard by which all future acquisitions would be compared, and causing MOBA's founders to question if Scott Wilson found ''Lucy'' or she found him.<ref>Stankowicz and Jackson, 82</ref> |
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[[File:Compelling Detail of Lucy.JPG|thumb|upright|left|MOBA's website shows this "compelling detail" of ''Lucy in the Field with Flowers'';<ref name="lucy" /> some see a resemblance to [[Norman Mailer]].<ref name="Mailer" />]] |
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Kate Swoger of ''[[The Gazette (Montreal)|The Montreal Gazette]]'' called ''Lucy'' a "gorgeous mistake", describing her thus: "an elderly woman dancing in a lush spring field, sagging breasts flopping willy-nilly, as she inexplicably seems to hold a red chair to her behind with one hand and a clutch of daisies in the other".<ref name="swoger"/> Author [[Cash Peters]], using less florid language, summarized it as "the old woman with an armchair glued to her ass".<ref>Peters, 67</ref> |
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MOBA's statement about ''Lucy'' reads: "The motion, the chair, the sway of her breast, the subtle hues of the sky, the expression on her face—every detail combines to create this transcendent and compelling portrait, every detail cries out 'masterpiece'."<ref name="lucy">[http://www.museumofbadart.org/collection/portraiture-1.php Portraiture #1 Lucy In the Field With Flowers]. Museum of Bad Art, 2009. Retrieved on March 4, 2009.</ref> ''[[The Times]]'' recounted comments left by a museum visitor regarding the "endless layers of mysteries" the image offers: "What is Norman Mailer's head doing on an innocent grandma's body, and are those crows or [[F-16 Fighting Falcon|F-16s]] skimming the hills?"<ref name="Mailer">[http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/whats_on/listings/article743688.ece "So Bad It's Good: The Arts Online".] ''[[The Times]]'', March 25, 2006. 15</ref> |
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''Lucy'''s granddaughter, a Boston-area nurse named Susan Lawlor, became a fan of MOBA after seeing the portrait in a newspaper.<ref name="lucy" /> She recognized it as her grandmother, Anna Lally Keane (c. 1890–1968); upon seeing the picture, Lawlor snorted [[Coca-Cola]] from her nose in astonishment.<ref name="stank2">Stankowicz and Jackson, 2</ref> The painting was commissioned by her mother, and it hung in her aunt's house for many years, despite the trepidation family members felt at seeing the final composition. Says Lawlor: "The face is hauntingly hers, but everything else is so horribly wrong. It looks like she only has one breast. I'm not sure what happened to her arms and legs, and I don't know where all the flowers and yellow sky came from."<ref name="caro"/> |
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===''Sunday on the Pot with George''=== |
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[[File:Sunday on the pot with George.jpg|thumb|upright|right|''Sunday on the Pot with George'' by Unknown: viewers "interpretate" that he may be wearing [[diapers]], [[underwear]], [[mawashi]], or a [[toga]].]] |
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''Sunday on the Pot With George'' (acrylic on canvas by Unknown; donated by Jim Schulman) has been deemed "iconic" by Bella English of ''The Boston Globe'', who assures the work is "100 percent guaranteed to make you burst out laughing".<ref name="english07"/> Scott Wilson offered ''George'' as an example of a technically well-executed piece of art using a subject not usually seen rendered in paint.<ref name="caro"/> |
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Many admirers of the first work donated to MOBA are hypnotized by the image of a portly man wearing "Y-front" underwear while sitting on a chamber pot, in [[pointillist]] [[impressionism]] similar to the style of [[Georges Seurat]]. One critic speculates that the pointillist style in ''George'' may have been acquired "from watching too much TV".<ref>Citro and Foulds, 115</ref> Author Amy Levin sees the work as a spoof of ''[[A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte]]'', more commonly known as ''Sunday in the Park with George''.<ref name="levin198">Levin, 198</ref> The subject of this painting has been "tentatively identified" by the ''[[Annals of Improbable Research]]''—the creators of the [[Ig Nobel]] award—as [[John Ashcroft]], former [[United States Attorney General]].<ref>{{cite web | title = The George / John Controversy| work = [[Annals of Improbable Research]] | url = http://improbable.com/projects/george/george-pot.html| accessdate = March 3, 2009}}</ref> |
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A visitor was so moved by ''George'' that he felt compelled to express his gratitude for its display in the Dedham Community Theatre basement, writing "Someone had slipped into the bathroom as I took in this painting and began peeing loudly into a toilet. The reverberating sound of urine splashing while viewing ''George'' brought the painting to life, and when the denouement of the flush sounded, I wept."<ref>Stankowicz and Jackson, 97</ref> MOBA's accompanying caption introduces questions and observations: "Can the swirling steam melt away the huge weight of George's corporate responsibilities? This pointillist piece is curious for meticulous attention to fine detail, such as the stitching around the edge of the towel, in contrast to the almost careless disregard for the subject's feet."<ref>[http://www.museumofbadart.org/collection/portraiture-2.html Portraiture #2 Sunday on the Pot With George]. Museum of Bad Art, 2009. Retrieved on March 4, 2009.</ref> |
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===''Juggling Dog in Hula Skirt''=== |
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In contrast to the pointillist impressionism of ''George'', the museum also features a "fine example of labor-intensive pointlessism",<ref name="newman"/> according to MOBA staff. Mari Newman's ''Juggling Dog in Hula Skirt'' (tempera and acrylic paint on canvas; donated by the artist), a recent addition, inspired this description by MOBA: "We can only wonder what possesses an artist to portray a dog juggling bones while wearing a hula skirt."<ref name="newman">"[http://www.museumofbadart.org/collection/recent06.php Juggling Dog in Hula Skirt]". Museum of Bad Art, 2009. Retrieved on March 4, 2009.</ref> MOBA enjoys the mystery as much as any other aspect of art, however.<ref name="wilson"/> |
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[[File:Bone Juggling Dog In Hula Skirt.jpg|thumb|upright|left|Mari Newman's ''Juggling Dog in Hula Skirt'']]Newman, a professional artist from Minneapolis, responded to the curators' cogitation by describing how the image came into being. She bought used canvases while a poor art student, and was unsure how to use a canvas with these dimensions. Inspired by a cartoon of a [[dachshund]], she chose that as a subject, but was unhappy with the effect until she added a [[grass skirt|hula skirt]] she had seen in a magazine, and colored dog bones she spied in a pet store. Newman wrote to them, saying "I almost threw it out until I heard of MOBA. After many years of slashing rejected work, now I wish I had saved them all for you."<ref>Frank and Sacco, 52</ref> |
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===Motifs and interpretations=== |
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Travel writer Cash Peters identifies six characteristics common to many of the museum's artworks. The first is that MOBA artists are unable to render hands or feet, and mask them by extending figures' arms off the canvas, hiding them with long sleeves, or placing shoes on feet in inappropriate scenarios. Second, Peters compared artists [[Rembrandt]] and [[J. M. W. Turner]], masters of landscapes, who "could probably paint with their eyes shut" to MOBA artists who apparently did paint with their eyes shut, as skies are often painted in any color but blue, [[flora]] are created without reference to any existing plant organisms, and [[fauna]] appear so small in the background it is impossible to discern what kind of animals they are. Third, MOBA artists apply [[perspective (visual)|perspective]] inconsistently, either from one painting to the next, or within a single work. Peters's fourth observation concerns the difficulty MOBA artists seem to have in successfully rendering noses: he writes that a nose will be attempted so many times that the work takes on a third dimension as paint is reapplied over and over. Fifth, bad artists favor "mixed media": if in doubt, they glue feathers, glitter, or hair to their work. Lastly, Peters suggests that artists know their work is bad, but apparently feel the piece may be saved by including a monkey or a poodle in the composition.<ref>Peters, 71–72</ref> |
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Since late 2008, MOBA has been experimenting with allowing the public to title and caption some works. According to the curatorial staff, since some of the works are so puzzling, mere artistic interpretation is not sufficient: they must be "interpretated".<ref name="saccoxiv"/> The "Guest Interpretator's Collection" is an invitation for MOBA's visitors to include their thoughts on compelling artworks; a contest decides the best analysis and one is added every two months.<ref>"[http://www.museumofbadart.org/interpretations/ The Guest Interpretator's Collection]". Museum of Bad Art, 2009. Retrieved on March 3, 2009.</ref> A professor at [[Boston University]] offered his thoughts: "The location of the museum as much as its collection suggests a commitment to the abject and a belief in the power and force of culture's marginalized effects. I was also reminded that I need to pick up some toilet bowl cleaner on my way home!"<ref name="english07"/> |
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According to curator Michael Frank, the works of MOBA are "very similar to [[Outsider Art]] or Art Brut. Some of the artists are also in many outsider art collections."<ref>{{cite web | url = http://blogs.walkerart.org/offcenter/2009/01/25/the-museum-of-bad-arts-michael-frank/ | title = The Museum of Bad Art's Michael Frank | publisher = Off Center | year = 2009 | accessdate = 2009-03-31 }}</ref> |
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== Influence == |
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The Museum of Bad Art has been mentioned in hundreds of international publications, as well as in Boston-area travel guides highlighting offbeat attractions. It has inspired similar collections or events in [[Ohio]],<ref>[http://www.museumofbadart.org/about/61.html MOBA Newsletter]. Museum of Bad Art, December 1, 1999. Retrieved on March 4, 2009.</ref> [[Seattle]],<ref>Ingham, Allison. [http://www.northseattleherald-outlook.com/main.asp?SectionID=3&SubSectionID=3&ArticleID=27424&TM=12898.84 "Museum Offers Eyeful of Bad Art"]. ''North Seattle Herald-Outlook'', December 2008 <!--Retrieved on March 4, 2009--></ref> and [[Australia]].<ref>[http://www.mopba.org/ Museum of Particularly Bad Art]. [[Museum of Particularly Bad Art]], 2009. Retrieved on March 3, 2009.</ref> A local theater company in [[Minneapolis, Minnesota]]—the Commedia Beauregard—was so inspired by MOBA's mission that its players wrote one-act plays based on their favorite works. The plays were performed in January and February 2009 in the company's ''Master Works: The MOBA Plays'' show, to sellout crowds.<ref>"[http://www.cbtheatre.org/badart09/badart09.htm Master Works: The MOBA Plays]". Commedia Beauregard website, 2009. Retrieved on March 3, 2009.</ref> |
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=== Responses to bad art === |
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[[File:MOBAfacade1.JPG|thumb|upright|The Dedham Community Theater houses the first MOBA gallery in its basement.]] |
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Response to MOBA's opening and continued success is, for some, evocative of the way art is treated in society. MOBA works have been described as "unintentionally hilarious", similar to the atrocious films of [[Edward D. Wood, Jr.|Ed Wood]].<ref>[http://www.ffwdweekly.com/Issues/1998/0917/art3.html “Exhibit Preview: The Museum of Bad Art”]. ''[[Fast Forward Weekly]]'', September 17, 1998 <!--Retrieved on March 6, 2009--></ref> Visitors—and even MOBA staff—often laugh out loud at displays. In ''Gullible's Travels'', Cash Peters contrasted this behavior with what is expected of patrons at galleries such as [[Southern California]]'s [[J. Paul Getty Museum|Getty Museum]]; though viewers might find the art at the Getty equally hilarious, were they to show it they would almost certainly be thrown out.<ref>Peters, 68</ref> |
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In 2006, Louise Reilly Sacco participated in a panel discussion with authorities on art and architecture about standards of beauty and ugliness in art, published in ''Architecture Boston''. She remarked that teachers bring high school art students to MOBA, then to the [[Museum of Fine Arts, Boston]] (MFA). Sacco observes, "Somehow MOBA frees kids to laugh and point, to have their own opinions and argue about things. Then they take the experience to the MFA, where they might otherwise feel intimidated... Maybe the ugly ... frees us."<ref name="architecture">[http://www.architects.org/emplibrary/AB_May_June_2006_RoundTableB.pdf "Pretty Ugly" (pdf)]. ''Architecture Boston'', May 2006. 18–24</ref> Sacco believes that extreme ugliness is more striking than extreme beauty, and it forces people to think more deeply about what is wrong or misplaced. She connects this rigid judgment of what does not conform to beauty with intolerance for physical imperfections in people, noting that such rigidity sometimes causes parents to "fix" the perceived flaws in their children's faces to keep them from suffering later.<ref name="architecture"/> |
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[[File:SomervilleTheater.jpg|thumb|left|upright|The [[Somerville Theatre]] houses a MOBA gallery in its basement.]] |
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Jason Kaufman, a [[Harvard]] professor who teaches the sociology of culture, wrote that MOBA is part of a social trend he calls "annoyism", where mass media venues promote performances and artists who mix the deliberately bad with the clever. The Museum of Bad Art happens to embody this trend, and further illustrates its central aim to mock the judgment system by which people identify what is bad from what is not. For Kaufman, "The beauty of MOBA—though beauty is surely the wrong word—is the way it undermines aesthetic criteria from numerous angles."<ref>Kaufman, Jason. [http://caliber.ucpress.net/doi/abs/10.1525/ctx.2007.6.4.81?cookieSet=1&journalCode=ctx "So Bad It's Good"]. ''[[Contexts]]'', Fall 2007, Vol. 6, No. 4: 81–84.</ref> Amy Levin, describing how American history and culture have been shaped by small local museums, suggests that MOBA is a parody of art itself, and that MOBA's commentary, newsletter, website, and publications mock museums as authorities on what is good art.<ref name="levin198"/> The director of the Ellipse Arts Center, a gallery in [[Arlington County, Virginia|Arlington, Virginia]], that hosted a traveling exhibition of MOBA works, was astonished to see people's exuberant laughter because no one visiting the Ellipse had ever responded to art this way. She observed, "If I didn't have a sign on the door, people might not think it's so bad. Who's to say what's bad and what's good?"<ref name="lewis">Lewis, Nicole. [http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-694807.html "For Badness' Sake"]. ''[[The Washington Post]]'', October 8, 1998. D5</ref> |
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[[Deborah Solomon]], in ''[[The New York Times Magazine]]'', asserted that MOBA's success reflects a trend in modern art among artists and audiences. The arrival of [[abstraction]] and [[modern art]] in the early 20th century made art appreciation more esoteric and less accessible for the general community, showing that "the American public ... think[s] of museums as intimidating places ruled by a cadre of experts whose taste and rituals [seem] as mysterious as those of Byzantine priests."<ref name="solomon"/> Bad art is in vogue, as a movement that rejects the anti-sentimentalism that marked earlier disdain for artists such as [[Norman Rockwell]] or [[Gustave Moreau]], according to Solomon. Garen Daly, a MOBA fan on several Boston-area [[Arts council|art councils]], stated in 1995, "I go to a lot of openings, and sometimes they're pretty damn stuffy."<ref name="hirsch">Hirsch, James "Gosh, That's Awful! It Would Look Great Hanging in a Museum—Painting Failures Are Displayed on Some Walls in Boston Dedication to 'Bad Art'." ''[[The Wall Street Journal]]'', July 12, 1995. A1</ref> Not only does the Museum of Bad Art offer different fare for the eyes, but instead of the wine and cheese that is provided for most museum and art gallery visitors, a MOBA show provides its patrons with [[Kool-Aid]], [[Fluffernutter]]s and [[cheese puffs]].<ref name="lewis"/> |
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=== Use in academic research === |
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The Museum of Bad Art has been used in academic studies as a standard of reference for the spectacularly awful. In one such study, published in ''[[Perspectives_on_Psychological_Science#Journals|Perspectives on Psychological Science]]'', researchers tested the consistency of responses between people asked to make "gut" judgments versus those who gave conscious well-reasoned responses regarding the quality of various pieces of art. The researchers showed respondents images from MOBA and New York's [[Museum of Modern Art]] (MoMA), and asked them to rate each painting on a scale with two ends representing "Very Attractive" and "Very Unattractive". The study found that those who reasoned in conscious thought were neither more accurate nor as consistent in their ratings.<ref>Dijksterhuis, Ap and Nordgren, Loran. [http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/118600565/abstract "A Theory of Unconscious Thought",] ''Perspectives on Psychological Science'', Volume 1, Issue 2, June 2006. 95–109 {{DOI|10.1111/j.1745-6916.2006.00007.x}}</ref> Study participants identified and rated MoMA art higher quality, but those who used conscious reasoning did not find MoMA art more attractive than those who rated with "gut" judgments. Furthermore, the deliberators did not find MOBA art as unattractive as those with quicker response times. The study concluded that people who make quick judgments do so more consistently, with no significant change to accuracy.<ref name="Chicago">Nordgren, Loran and Dijksterhuis, Ap. [http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/596306 "The Devil Is in the Deliberation: Thinking Too Much Reduces Preference Consistency",] ''[[Journal of Consumer Research]]'', Volume 36, June 2009.</ref> |
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In another study that appeared in the ''[[British Psychological Society|British Journal of Psychology]]'', researchers tested how respondents considered balance in artwork composition of differing qualities. Fifteen pairs of works from [[ArtCyclopedia]] by artists such as [[Paul Gauguin]], [[Georgia O'Keeffe]], and [[Georges-Pierre Seurat]], and fifteen from MOBA by artists including Doug Caderette, Unknown, and D. Alix were shown to participants; in each, an item in the painting was shifted vertically or horizontally, and respondents were asked to identify the original. The researchers hypothesized that respondents would identify balance and composition more easily in the traditional masterworks, and that study participants would find a greater change of quality when items were shifted in traditional masterworks than they would in MOBA pieces. However, the study concluded that balance alone did not define art of higher quality for the participants, and that respondents were more likely to see that original art was more balanced than the altered version, not necessarily that the traditional art was significantly better composed and balanced than MOBA works.<ref>Vartanian O, Martindale C, Podsiadlo J, Overbay S, Borkum J. [http://bpsoc.publisher.ingentaconnect.com/search/article;jsessionid=3bo8sd8pctnud.alice?title=Masterworks&title_type=tka&year_from=1998&year_to=2009&database=1&pageSize=20&index=1 "The Link between Composition and Balance in Masterworks vs. Paintings of Lower Artistic Quality]". ''British Journal of Psychology'', 9-6, Pt 4, November 2005. 493–503 {{PMID|16248938}}</ref> |
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== See also == |
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* [[American Visionary Art Museum]] |
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* [[Bad Painting]] |
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* [[Museum of Particularly Bad Art]] |
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== Notes == |
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{{reflist|2}} |
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== References == |
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* Belanger, Jeff. ''Weird Massachusetts''. Sterling Publishing, 2008. {{OCLC|179788920}} ISBN 9781402754371 |
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* Citro, Joseph A; Foulds, Diane E. ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=X3L-D9i9BOMC&pg=PP1&dq=%22Curious+New+England:+The+Unconventional+Traveler%27s+Guide+to+Eccentric+Destinations%22&ei=-FSxSfX8BZL-lQTancBx Curious New England: The Unconventional Traveler's Guide to Eccentric Destinations]''. University Press of New England, 2004. {{OCLC|55591139}} ISBN 1584653590 |
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* Frank, Michael J; Sacco, Louise Reilly. ''Museum of Bad Art: Masterworks''. Berkeley: Ten Speed Press, 2008. {{OCLC|182621558}} ISBN 1580089119 |
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* Levin, Amy K. ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=cpYnOluwq8MC&pg=PP1&dq=%22Defining+Memory:+Local+Museums+and+the+Construction+of+History+in+America%27s+Changing+Communities%22&ei=NVWxSfzEKoKGkATjjJgW Defining Memory: Local Museums and the Construction of History in America's Changing Communities]''. Series title: ''American Association for State and Local History book series''. Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield, Altamira, 2007. {{OCLC|301935913}} ISBN 0759110506 |
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* [[Cash Peters|Peters, Cash]]. ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=2gRX9X72OFMC&printsec=frontcover&dq=Gullible%27s+Travels:+The+Adventures+of+a+Bad+Taste+Tourist&ei=plWxSZCZHY6ukAS1l-hW Gullible's Travels: The Adventures of a Bad Taste Tourist]''. Globe Pequot, 2003. {{OCLC|51534983}} ISBN 0762727144 |
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* Stankowicz, Tom; Jackson, Marie. ''The Museum of Bad Art: Art Too Bad to Be Ignored''. [[Riverside, New Jersey]] : Andrews and McMeel, 1996. {{OCLC|34640796}} ISBN 0836221850 |
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== External links == |
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{{Spoken Wikipedia|MuseumOfBadArt.ogg|2009-03-21}} |
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{{commonscat}} |
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* [http://www.museumofbadart.org/ Museum of Bad Art website] |
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* [http://www.massbaytrading.com/moba/ Museum of Bad Art gift shop] |
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* [http://www.dedhamcommunitytheatre.com/ Dedham Community Theatre] |
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* [http://www.somervilletheatreonline.com/ Somerville Theater] |
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* [http://savvytraveler.publicradio.org/show/features/2002/20020208/feature2.shtml Bad Taste Meets Bad Art]: coverage of MOBA from [[Minnesota Public Radio]] |
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{{featured article}} |
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[[Category:Art museums and galleries in Massachusetts]] |
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[[Category:Buildings and structures in Dedham, Massachusetts]] |
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[[Category:Buildings and structures in Somerville, Massachusetts]] |
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[[Category:Museums in Boston, Massachusetts]] |
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[[fr:Museum of Bad Art]] |
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