In The Land Of Misfit Art
Wednesday, 11 August 2010
What if there were a place where all the world’s bad art
could go and live together, like Santa’s misfit toys in “Rudolph, The Red-Nosed Reindeer”?
In Boston there is such a place, The Museum of Bad Art, or MOBA, showcasing, of course, ”bad” art. Of their purpose they say, “Since 1994, the Museum of Bad Art has been dedicated to bad art. It is only through the efforts of the worldwide Friends of MOBA that we have been able to carry out our mission: to bring the worst of art to the widest of audiences.” This description obviously begs the question, what is “bad” art.
In a recent NPR article entitled “Museum of Bad Art – A Home For Forlorn Paintings”, museum head Michael Frank says of the criteria he uses to find bad art, “…we look for…pieces of work that are produced in an attempt to make some sort of artistic statement — but clearly something has gone wrong…there has to be something about it that makes you stop, and very often wonder why the artist continued down the path to produce what he or she did.”
Of course Art, with a capital “A”, has long been arguably, indefinable; this does not preclude the inability to define “bad” art though. I know, for example, bad soup even if I’ve never tasted good soup; it tastes bad, offends my senses as it were (I admit, this does bring into play some subjectivity). Bad art does that also, offends our sensibilities; but it goes deeper than just feelings I think.
Art can disgust, anger, sadden, confuse, etc., and still be great art. But we tire from looking at something with no soul; there is no lasting appeal with it. That is what’s missing in bad art I think, soul. Bad art is art without substance. This is why Folk Art can have great appeal and why Cezanne was a master who maybe wasn’t the best draughtsman; I dare say we’ll never see a Cezanne at MOBA.
IMAGE: Blue Meanie at the MOBA
