"Art too bad to be ignored"

September 2, 2009 7:54 AM

From Sunday on the Pot with George to In the Cat's Mouth* to Think Again, The Museum Of Bad Art (MOBA) is "the world's only museum dedicated to the collection, preservation, exhibition and celebration of bad art in all its forms." Some images NSFW

*: my personal favorite
previously (original long deadlinked)

posted by Cat Pie Hurts (44 comments total)

I kinda like In the Cat's Mouth. It's colorful and strange.

But Sunday on the Pot with George....what were they THINKING?!
posted by misha at 7:59 AM on September 2, 2009

Hooray MOBA! Although, I would have to argue with the "bad" moniker; I can't get enough of this. It's far more real than most people I would see at, like, the ICA (if I ever went there koff koff though I go to the MFA on Wednesday Nights sometimes 'cause it's FREE and awesome. koffkoff).

And thanks for tipping me off to the new location in Davis Square! Now I might really have an excuse to go to Davis Square a local art museum!
posted by not_on_display at 8:02 AM on September 2, 2009

Yeah, I don't know about the "bad" either. And posting loose sheets from the trash seems pretty unfair. I KNOW it's bad, that's why I threw it away! Stop mocking me!
posted by DU at 8:03 AM on September 2, 2009

This was one of my favorite interweb sites back when they started the ol' cybernet back in "the day", but I had pretty much forgotten about it - thanks for reminding me about it, it's been far too long since I've wandered through their collection.
posted by monkey!knife!fight! at 8:04 AM on September 2, 2009

Okay, this one makes me feel better about my own feeble attempts at art.
posted by misha at 8:04 AM on September 2, 2009

Some of the pieces here are brilliant in their clumsy execution. Tangentially related (in perceived quality and beauty) is the work of Alien Sex Fiend's Nik Fiend.
posted by Cat Pie Hurts at 8:05 AM on September 2, 2009

And I believe admission is free with a movie ticket from the Somerville Theater.
posted by MasonDixon at 8:06 AM on September 2, 2009

That cat is disturbing as all hell. Yikes.
posted by Iosephus at 8:11 AM on September 2, 2009

Love this place! I make it to the Dedham community theater maybe once a year, and always make sure to leave time to check out the latest additions to their collection.

This is my favorite.
posted by rottytooth at 8:13 AM on September 2, 2009

I just burst out laughing. I think the artist really captured the inner surliness of the feline soul.
posted by dortmunder at 8:14 AM on September 2, 2009 [2 favorites]

I can't believe this has never been posted!
posted by Elmore at 8:15 AM on September 2, 2009

Ah, come on. Some of these are bad, but a couple of these look like they were done by little old ladies. You'd hang it up if your gramma did it. You know you would.
posted by jquinby at 8:19 AM on September 2, 2009

I think I have seen somebody with a tattoo of this one.
posted by chugg at 8:19 AM on September 2, 2009

Remember this from back in the day... even wrote an article on art sites on the internet that mentioned it.

Glad to see Jerez The Clown is still as utterly terrifying as I remembered.
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 8:23 AM on September 2, 2009

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"


what
posted by louche mustachio at 8:25 AM on September 2, 2009 [1 favorite]

Still, better than Tracey Emin.
posted by stuck on an island at 8:30 AM on September 2, 2009

I can't tell if this is too snarky for me, or not snarky enough.

i don't think 'in the cat's mouth' is that bad though. I would maybe even pay a little money for it
posted by Think_Long at 8:34 AM on September 2, 2009 [3 favorites]

I officially give up on art. If In The Cat's Mouth is bad, I don't want to be good.
posted by louche mustachio at 8:38 AM on September 2, 2009 [2 favorites]

Maybe I just love it because it's obviously a portrait of my boyfriend and his large, loud, weird orange cat. It doesn't resemble him so much, but the cat is a ringer for Norma.
posted by louche mustachio at 8:41 AM on September 2, 2009

I agree with not-on-display. wrong name. I'd love to see something like this in a swank hotel lobby.
posted by philip-random at 8:42 AM on September 2, 2009

i like stuff like this. i went to an art gallery in pittsburgh a few years back & bought the last piece they had from a show they'd done a month or so prior: art by homeless people. the piece i have is an 8x10, purple background, with a crudely drawn neck & head. on the back it says: 'gordon head.' i have no idea if gordon head is the artist, or if it's a painting of gordon's head, or if the painting of a head was done by gordon. but i like it. a lot.

it's entirely possible that the only taste i have is bad, though.
posted by msconduct at 8:48 AM on September 2, 2009

Great FPP! I live right by Davis Square, and MOBA is one of my favorite hangouts. It's worth noting that one doesn't have to get a movie ticket to enter the MOBA in Dedham, but one does need a movie ticket at the Somerville Theater to get into the MOBA in Davis Square. It's absolutely worth it, though, especially since the Somerville Theater is one of the best theaters in the Boston area IMHO. It's also funny, and almost certainly intentional, that in both theaters the MOBA exhibits are right by the bathrooms.

As fantastic as these paintings look on the internet, one truly needs to see them in person to fully experience them. For example, Sunday On the Pot with George is . . . um, really big in person, and unlike a lot of other paintings in the MOBA collection, the anonymous creator of that masterwork has serious painting chops. This makes his choice of material all the more bizarre.
posted by Frobenius Twist at 8:50 AM on September 2, 2009

Previously.
posted by scalefree at 8:52 AM on September 2, 2009 [1 favorite]

I've seen worse. But I guess the fact that these are real paintings you can look at (or could, if you were nearby) makes it a bit more interesting.
posted by delmoi at 9:07 AM on September 2, 2009

Most of these are brilliant.
posted by fire&wings at 9:09 AM on September 2, 2009

At first I thought this would be yet another mean spirited point-and-laugh posts, but boy was I wrong. This is great! MOBA is treasure for those of us who appreciate the purity of art for art's sake.
posted by JeffK at 9:10 AM on September 2, 2009

No mean-spiritedness intended here; I LOVE the works at MOBA in a totally real and non-ironic way and that's why I posted it! It's like being offered "tube-shaped asshole loaf", being hesitant, taking a bite and realizing what an amazing hot dog you have.
posted by Cat Pie Hurts at 9:18 AM on September 2, 2009 [3 favorites]

I love MOBA! I can't believe this hasn't been posted before.

It's like being offered "tube-shaped asshole loaf", being hesitant, taking a bite and realizing what an amazing hot dog you have.

1) incredible analogy.
2) seconding that for sure.
posted by Lutoslawski at 9:21 AM on September 2, 2009 [1 favorite]

I love MOBA! I can't believe this hasn't been posted before.

I wrote this before seeing the [previously]. No snark intended.
posted by Lutoslawski at 9:22 AM on September 2, 2009

Museum of Bad Analogies
posted by DU at 9:22 AM on September 2, 2009

I've wandered in before and after movies -- it was always a little nice post-potty interlude.
posted by Never teh Bride at 9:31 AM on September 2, 2009

I love MOBA! I can't believe this hasn't been posted before.

Yeah, neither could the person who posted it the first time.
posted by scalefree at 9:43 AM on September 2, 2009

This one brought tears (nsfw, I suppose). What the hell was the artist thinking?
posted by ghiacursed at 10:13 AM on September 2, 2009

Museum of Bad Analogies

Yes! Take us there, DU!
--oh, wait.
posted by JaiMahodara at 11:02 AM on September 2, 2009

I love the Davis Square branch of the MOBA if only because the gallery has an incongruous pint-sized door set into one wall (about two or three feet up, even) and they helpfully put a display card next to the door which identifies it as a "Portal to John Malkovich."
posted by Spatch at 11:13 AM on September 2, 2009 [2 favorites]

I've been drawing as long as I've been capable of holding a pencil upright. I think mostly I suck (please feel free to look and tell me yourself, as the only people who've ever evaluated my work is friends and family and they're not the most trustworthy of sources), but some of these paintings make me feel like I might actually have some talent.

Then I look at that clown painting and I'm pretty sure I couldn't paint something that cool, driving home the suck again. Is it bad to aspire towards getting something hung in da MoBA?
posted by Bageena at 11:36 AM on September 2, 2009

I love Lucy! I've always loved Lucy.
posted by disclaimer at 11:55 AM on September 2, 2009

Bageena: Not sucky. At all. I love your WYWH take, would lurrv to hang it on my wall.
posted by papafrita at 12:21 PM on September 2, 2009

Bageena: if I didn't think you were trawling/derailing for compliments, I'd tell you that your work looks pretty damned good to me. Then again, I've been known to fuck up drawing stick figures, so take it for what you will.
posted by Cat Pie Hurts at 1:10 PM on September 2, 2009

Cat Pie Hurts; I was counting on people being extra critical just because they thought I might be trolling for compliments. I've seen some art by other artists on Mefi who are off-the-charts amazing so again, I really consider my stuff to be pretty amateurish. Hence my pondering if I might be able to get something hung up in the MoBA. I'll take your and Papafrita's compliments though and squirrel them away to my happy place. I don't want to derail the discussion on a great post (thank you, by the way, CPH) so everyone else, please, if'n you have something you want to say about my earlier comment, just e-mail me or something.

Thanks.
posted by Bageena at 1:17 PM on September 2, 2009

Wow, even if this was posted before, it's new to me. This type of stuff is why I love MetaFilter.
posted by look busy at 3:39 PM on September 2, 2009

This one has some Happy Trees.
posted by louche mustachio at 3:54 PM on September 2, 2009

This one is great and doesn't belong in the collection. Which is not to say that the ones that do belong in the collection aren't also great, in their own way.
posted by hydrophonic at 8:44 PM on September 2, 2009

Bageena, you do not suck. Or rather, maybe you do, but your art doesn't.

Uhm -- does that help? What?
posted by Guy_Inamonkeysuit at 8:16 AM on September 3, 2009