Museum of Bad Art: Too bad to be ignored

Most of us are familiar with artworks, proudly presented, which look like they’ve been produced by a four-year-old at playgroup. But now rather than simply congratulating your friend/relative on their talentlessness you can suggest they make a contribution to Museum of Bad Art (MOBA), an institution which only takes art so bad it can’t be ignored.

With 600 pieces in its permanent collection MOBA prides itself on being “the finest bad art establishment in the world”. 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.

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.

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.

MOBA has kindly granted Independent.co.uk access to pictures from its archive, with accompanying razor sharp critical analysis.

Click here or on the image to see some of the best bad art

To make a contribution visit www.museumofbadart.org