The Museum of Bad Art (MOBA) is a privately owned museum whose stated purpose is "to celebrate the work of artists whose work would be exhibited and appreciated in no other forum".
It has two branches, one in Dedham, Massachusetts, and the other in nearby Somerville. Its permanent collection includes 500 pieces of "art too bad to ignore", 25 to 35 of which are on public display at any one time.
MOBA was founded in 1994 after antiquarian Scott Wilson showed a painting he had recovered from the trash to some friends, who suggested starting a collection. Within a year, the receptions held at Wilson's friends' homes were so busy that the collection required its own viewing space. The museum has 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 exposure of the worst ". To be included in the MOBA collection, the works must be original and have serious intentions, but they must also have significant flaws without being boring; curators are not interested in showing deliberate kitsch.
The Museum of Bad Art (MOBA) is a private museum that aims to "celebrate the efforts of artists whose work cannot be appreciated in any other gallery". It has long had at least two parallel offices in Massachusetts: one in Somerville and the other in Brookline, now closed. Its permanent collection includes 500 "works of art too ugly to ignore".
In addition to being mentioned in international newspapers and magazines, MOBA has inspired numerous other collectors to collect "visual atrocities". Deborah Solomon of the New York Times pointed out that various museums around the world began to follow in the footsteps of the MOBA by exhibiting "the best of the worst in art". The museum was accused by some of being anti-artistic, but its founders denied this by stating that it was a tribute to the sincerity of the artists who persevered with their activity, despite something going very wrong during the process.
Co-founder Marie Jackson stated, "We are here to celebrate, gloriously, an artist's right to fail." To belong to the MOBA collection, works must be original, have serious purpose, and significant flaws that make them fun; the curators of the museum are in fact not interested in deliberately bad taste creations.
MOBA Museum Of Bad Art
Address: 580 High Street Dedham, MA 02026
Phone: +1 781 444 6757
Site:
http://museumofbadart.org/Location inserted by
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