Is it Art?

The weather was outstanding yesterday. Nicole and I walked around Davis Square on our way to the re-opening of Magpie: a store that supports local artists by selling their art and crafts (cards, purses, wallets, magnets, jewlery etc.) and funky t-shirts. They had food, music and a speaker from the Museum of Bad of Art to discuss some of the art they have displayed in the store.

The speaker was really interesting! The museum started as a joke (not a surprise) by her brother who use to pull stuff out of trash to refurbish. He picked up a painting to save the frame and refurbish the frame. The painting was so bad that someone suggested he keep it. People then kept giving him "bad art" so he finally painted his basement white and put up all the art and had a Bad Art Party. People went nuts for it so he and a few people started the Museum of Bad Art. It became too much for the small basement of his house in West Roxbury so they moved it to the Dedham Public Theater where it still resides.

Some people ask, what lets you decide which art is bad? The speaker said "If the MFA can decide what's "good", we can decide what's "bad." They have an actual curator who has different qualifications that a real museum would have, but for things being bad, not good!

They try to contact the artist of the work and some pieces have actually ended up as success stories! This one woman painted a "Picasso Elvis" for her brother in law, who donated it to the museum. A local radio station saw it and commissioned a piece from her for their Elvis memorabilia collection. 2 years later she was supporting herself with her art!