Some Favorites From The Museum of Bad Art

I'm experiencing writer's block, so please enjoy these gems from the Museum of Bad Art while I go look for my blogging mojo. I discovered MOBA (check out their website here) last week on Wikipedia's homepage, which happens to be my homepage, because you know I love me some Wikipedia. This was a great find - really made my day! As I looked through their collection, I was wishing I'd written each caption. Their motto is 'Art Too Bad To Be Ignored'.

Lucy in the Field with Flowers

Oil on canvas by Unknown 24" x 30" Acquired from trash in Boston

This single painting planted the seed that grew into MOBA.

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."

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The Haircut

Sculpture with barber's chair, scissors, dental floss, and a piece of the curator's cat, by M. Jackson and J. Reilly

74"x28"40"

By special commission for MOBA opening

Mining the swirling currents between violence and personal hygiene, this piece captures the fear, the horror, and the hope intrinsic in that most mundane of human activities.

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In the Cat's Mouth

Acrylic on canvas, probably by Pangorda

24"x22"

Acquired by Tom Stankowicz from the Children's Hospital Thrift Store

A comment on issues of power as experienced by those who dwell with feline pets. Is the artist consumed with or consumed by his love for this cat? Does he identify with the personality of the startling animal? Does the similarity between these inseparable cohabitants stop short at the nose? Or is he simply trying to observe a tree-lined avenue through a cat's eyes?

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Sunday on the Pot with George

Acrylic on canvas by Unknown

22" x 37"

Donated by Jim Schulman

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.

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Dog

Acrylic on canvas by Unknown

Donated by Elizabeth and Sorn Poeckle, Copenhagen, Denmark

A remarkable fusion of ski resort and wolf puppy -- stoical in his yellow-eyed silence, frozen beneath the ice-capped peak, Dog eloquently challenges the viewer to re-examine old concepts of landscape.

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Mana Lisa

by Anonymous

12" x 16"

Donated by A. Schmidt, Vancouver, Canada

A cross-gender interpretation of the daVinci classic.

Mana Lisa's nose strikes nimbly, offsetting the dialogue between the foreground and profoundly varnished background.

Further, by deciphering this work's title, perhaps we can contribute to the growing body of Leonardo's anagrammatic discourse:

MAN ALIAS,

I AM NASAL,

A SAIL MAN,

AS ANIMAL,

AM A SNAIL,

MAIL NASA...

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The Two Fridas

Oh, hahahaha! Just kidding. This is a 'masterpiece' by Frida Kahlo, which is NOT housed in the Museum of Bad Art. It is the painting however, which according to the Facebook quiz 'What painting are you?', represents both me and Matt :) Here's what the result says:

You are a true revolutionary. You are rebellious and individualistic...... a dramatic person with many demons to work out. You feel everything intensely and struggle constantly to define yourself.

Hey, doesn't that sound just like us? We're such revolutionaries, ya know.

Las Dos Fridas was recently on display at the San Francisco Modern Museum of Art (which isn't all that different from the Museum of Bad Art, if you ask me - just pretentious as opposed to humorous).