Yes, there really is a Museum of Bad Art. The Independent reports:
With 600 pieces in its permanent collection MOBA prides itself on being “the finest bad art establishment in the world”.
MOBA Collection – “Dog”
Located in Massachusetts, USA in an old basement (“conveniently beside the toilets”) of the Dedham Community Theatre, it has attracted some priceless contributions with little or no funding.
MOBA Collection – “Retch Like An Egyptian”
The brainchild of a group which includes Michael Frank, currently the curator-in-chief who has a sideline as a musician and children’s entertainer (“with enviable balloon-twisting skills”), and Louise Reilly Sacco, a founding member and the Permanent Acting Interim Executive Director, MOBA has been going since they discovered a picture so bad they felt compelled to exhibit it back in 1993.
MOBA Collection – “Sunday On The Pot With George”
With the help of another founding member, Marie Jackson, MOBA’s Director of Aesthetic Interpretation (“who refuses to be restrained by a lack of formal artistic training or her inability to distinguish one end of a computer keyboard from another”), and a one time Playboy photographer Tom Stankowicz, MOBA has published a book to accompany its online and physical exhibitions, also titled Museum of Bad Art: Art Too Bad to Be Ignored.
There’s more at the link. The Independent has a small gallery of the ‘worst of the worst’ from MOBA, and the Museum’s Web site has an extensive online display of its collection.
I suppose it’s generally considered an honor to have one’s work selected for exhibition in a museum . . . but if the museum in question is MOBA, does that still count as an honor? And can one decline?
Peter