Yes, such a thing exists. And, as you’d expect, ’tis probably one of the more…interesting art museums out there. To be honest, though, I don’t actually like the idea of it too much. Sure, it might be a little funny, but it also comes across to me as mean-spirited, and a little petty. Still, it is weird, which is reason enough to blog about it. (Anyhaps, I don’t have to agree with something to find it interesting.)
There’s MOMA (Museum of Modern Art, for all you culturally deficient out there), and then there’s MOBA. In case the name wasn’t clue enough for you, ’tis a museum entirely dedicated to showcasing what is considered some of the worst art in the world. The story goes that the museum was started up after its founders discovered a painting entitled Lucy in the Field with Flowers. (You can see it above.) And so began a collection of unintentionally bad artwork, whose location is just as ridiculous as its premise. (It was originally meant to be a kind of virtual museum thingy, but now it’s in some hideous building, with the paintings displayed in a disorderly fashion next to the men’s toilets. To top it all off, it has no opening hours and is equipped with fake security cameras. And just to reiterate, this place does actually exist.)
I suppose that you have to admire MOBA for its utter dedication to complete awfulness at least. They do take the badness of the art they display pretty seriously, in a tongue-in-cheek way. And anything can be elevated into an art form, so why not lack of talent?
However, the negative aspects of MOBA far outweigh the positive. I just don’t really see the point of it existing at all. If you are going to put so much effort into displaying art, shouldn’t it at the least be either enlightening, thought-provoking or entertaining? It doesn’t even have that much of a humour value when you start to realise how mean the whole thing is. Think about it: this museum is making fun of other people’s work. MOBA doesn’t display intentionally bad stuff, and it doesn’t display its collection of bad art in an affectionate manner either. It’s basically getting a few cheap laughs out of other people’s shortcomings. And fair enough, everybody mocks stuff they consider to be bad. Nobody’s perfect, and we can’t be nice all the time. However, if you are to make fun of or criticise something, I feel that you should have a valid reason behind it, like if it promotes something immoral, for instance, or if the artist is a blatant sellout. That, to me, would be a true crime against art. MOBA’s collection, on the other hand, has a sense of sincerity about it. They’re like an Ed Wood film. Sure, there’s little skill to them, but at least the artists did take joy from what they were doing. Okay, that isn’t enough to validate them maybe, but I feel that it at least spares them from being classified as “bad”. And how does one judge what is bad anyway? Surely that’s a subjective thing? And who knows, maybe there’s something good in them that we can’t see. The Shaggs are often considered to be one of the worst bands of all time, yet they gained a cult following of individuals who genuinely liked them, including the musical genius Frank Zappa, who believed that they were superior to the Beatles. So who are we to judge?
Well you’ve gotta give it to them for uniqueness. But then…
At least it makes the world a more interesting place. 😉
Oh, I wish I had known this existed earlier! My aunt used to paint the most awful pictures, the faces were all greeny. She gave us one and it was cursed, it kept causing accidents, so we had to throw it away. We could have given it to MOBA. Although it’s magic may have increased over time and it might have burned down the museum.
The first one amuses me. It’s like Von Gogh’s grandma.
Have you seen Regretsy? It’s like a page/ site of awful things sold on Etsy. Similar premise. Although the artwork of Lady Gaga eating a unicorn was amusing.
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