by brenton crozier
Bad art is inescapable. Whether it is a piece of listless realism in a hotel or a mall-bought piece with dolphins involved, bad art is everywhere. We can’t even escape it at work. Besides the motivational pieces that teach us about integrity and teamwork, our coworkers often decorate their cubicle or office (if you’re lucky enough) walls with their children’s art. OK, so I was no Picasso at age 6, but these days if a kid indiscriminately takes a marker to a piece of paper, it makes it to the proud parent’s wall or refrigerator. Seriously, can’t we get something a little more conducive to eating than a squiggly nightmare supposedly depicting the family dog?
My website finds this week go a long way in both celebrating and denigrating bad art. Let’s face it, we all have a small place in our hearts for dogs playing poker and a velvet Elvis depicting the king with a single tear and long microphone. Please enjoy, and if you actually see something that resembles a piece that you have hanging up at home or even like, perhaps you should recalibrate your taste, but don’t mention it out loud.
Welcome to MOBA! The Museum of Bad Art is the “world’s only museum dedicated to the collection, preservation, exhibition and celebration of bad art in all its forms.” My first question when stumbling upon MOBA, was why collect and exhibit bad art? Unfortunately the website gives no real answers to why such an institution exists, but I suppose that the simple lack of such an institution justifies its existence.
Another initial thought was that art is so subjective, so how can they decide what is necessarily bad? It only took a few minutes to peruse the galleries to make me realize that there is truly a line we can all draw when defining bad art. You will begin to feel as if you have stumbled into a virtual flea market, which would not be far off the mark. Each piece is fitted with a title, description and place of acquisition. And yes, some of the pieces were found at the flea market. The most popular places of acquisition are the thrift store, yard sales and the trash.
My favorite work in the MOBA exhibition is Peter the Kitty found in the Portraiture section. Peter was found in a local thrift store and is an oil on board piece depicting a rather angry cat. The description reads “Stirring in its portrayal of feline angst . . . the artist has evoked both hopelessness and glee with his irrational use of negative space.”
There is a lot to explore at MOBA and they are always updating their inventory. If you are in the Boston area, you can visit the actual museum “conveniently located just outside the men’s room in a 1927 movie theatre.”
Holy moley, this guy is angry! A gentleman by the name of Maddox feels that his website is in fact, The Best Page in the Universe. This site is filled with scathing and often crass commentary about everything from how much Idaho blows to what a “steaming pile of Sith” Star Wars Episode III is. Often hilarious and completely boorish, enter Maddox’s opinions at your own peril. Anyhow, I was drawn to this site for a particular section titled “I am better than your kids.” Actual drawings from kids ranging in age from 4 to 9 are judged with candid commentary.
There are two galleries and both are painfully funny. Don’t bother looking for any A+, as every single piece was graded an F. So the artist is 4-years old, shouldn’t they hear the truth now? My absolute favorite is the first drawing in Gallery 2 by Jon, age 8. Like the other pictures, it was graded an F and garnered the description; “I’ve never seen a fire truck that needed to be shaved. I would rather be burned to death than saved by this.” Ouch, the truth hurts Jon, the truth hurts.
Enjoy these sites that celebrate some of the bad expressions of creativity. Perhaps you can do your friends a favor if they decide to take up painting as a hobby to express themselves or display their children’s dreadful drawings by pointing them to these sites.
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EU Critic’s Choice Awards
