Museum of Bad Art
Collection highlights
Collection highlights
---------------------

Each painting or sculpture MOBA exhibits is accompanied by a brief description of the medium, size, name of the artist, as well as how the piece was acquired, and an analysis of the work's possible intention or symbolism. *[Museums Journal](/wiki/Museums_Journal "Museums Journal")* noted that the discussion accompanying each work would probably have most visitors reduced "to hysterics". The captions—described as "distinctly tongue\-in\-cheek commentaries" by David Mutch of the *[Christian Science Monitor](/wiki/Christian_Science_Monitor "Christian Science Monitor")*—were primarily written by Marie Jackson, until the "dissolution of the MOBA interpretative staff"; the task was then taken over by Michael Frank and Louise Reilly Sacco.Frank and Sacco, xiv

### *Lucy in the Field with Flowers*

Many of MOBA's works generate extensive discourse from visitors. *Lucy in the Field with Flowers* (oil on canvas by Unknown; acquired from trash in Boston) remains a favorite with the news media and patrons. As the first work acquired by the museum, *Lucy* is "a painting so powerful it commands its own preservation for posterity", setting a standard by which all future acquisitions would be compared.

Kate Swoger of *[The Montreal Gazette](/wiki/The_Gazette_%28Montreal%29 "The Gazette (Montreal)")* called *Lucy* a "gorgeous mistake", describing her thus: "an elderly woman dancing in a lush spring field, sagging breasts flopping willy\-nilly, as she inexplicably seems to hold a red chair to her behind with one hand and a clutch of daisies in the other". Author [Cash Peters](/wiki/Cash_Peters "Cash Peters"), using less florid language, summarized it as "the old woman with an armchair glued to her ass".

MOBA's statement about *Lucy* reads: "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'."[Portraiture \#1 Lucy In the Field With Flowers](http://www.museumofbadart.org/collection/portraiture-1.php) . Museum of Bad Art, 2009\. Retrieved on March 4, 2009\. *[The Times](/wiki/The_Times "The Times")* recounted comments left by a museum visitor regarding the "endless layers of mysteries" the image offers: "What is [Norman Mailer](/wiki/Norman_Mailer "Norman Mailer")'s head doing on an innocent grandma's body, and are those crows or [F\-16s](/wiki/F-16_Fighting_Falcon "F-16 Fighting Falcon") skimming the hills?"["So Bad It's Good: The Arts Online".](http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/whats_on/listings/article743688.ece) *[The Times](/wiki/The_Times "The Times")*, March 25, 2006\. 15

The granddaughter of the painting's subject, a Boston\-area nurse named Susan Lawlor, became a fan of MOBA after seeing the portrait in a newspaper. She recognized it as her grandmother, Anna Lally Keane (–1968\); upon seeing the picture, Lawlor snorted [Coca\-Cola](/wiki/Coca-Cola "Coca-Cola") from her nose in astonishment. The painting was commissioned by her mother, and it hung in her aunt's house for many years, despite the trepidation family members felt at seeing the final composition. Says Lawlor: "The face is hauntingly hers, but everything else is so horribly wrong. It looks like she only has one breast. I'm not sure what happened to her arms and legs, and I don't know where all the flowers and yellow sky came from."

### *Sunday on the Pot with George*

*Sunday on the Pot with George* (acrylic on canvas by John Gedraitis; donated by Jim Schulman) has been deemed "iconic" by Bella English of *The Boston Globe*, who assures the work is "100 percent guaranteed to make you burst out laughing". Wilson has pointed to *George* as an example of a technically well\-executed piece of art using a subject not usually seen rendered in paint.

Many admirers of the first work donated to MOBA are hypnotized by the image of a portly man wearing "Y\-front" underwear while sitting on a chamber pot, in [pointillist](/wiki/Pointillist "Pointillist") [impressionism](/wiki/Impressionism "Impressionism") similar to the style of [Georges Seurat](/wiki/Georges_Seurat "Georges Seurat"). One critic speculates the pointillist style in *George* may have been acquired "from watching too much TV". The title refers to the [Stephen Sondheim](/wiki/Stephen_Sondheim "Stephen Sondheim") musical *[Sunday in the Park with George](/wiki/Sunday_in_the_Park_with_George "Sunday in the Park with George")*, which contains a dramatic recreation of Seurat's painting *[A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte](/wiki/A_Sunday_Afternoon_on_the_Island_of_La_Grande_Jatte "A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte")*. Author Amy Levin suggests that *George* is a pastiche of Seurat's painting.Levin, 198 The subject of this painting has been "tentatively identified" by the *[Annals of Improbable Research](/wiki/Annals_of_Improbable_Research "Annals of Improbable Research")*—the creators of the [Ig Nobel](/wiki/Ig_Nobel "Ig Nobel") award—as [John Ashcroft](/wiki/John_Ashcroft "John Ashcroft"), former [United States Attorney General](/wiki/United_States_Attorney_General "United States Attorney General").

A visitor in response to seeing *George* displayed in the Dedham Community Theatre basement, wrote: "Someone had slipped into the bathroom as I took in this painting and began peeing loudly into a toilet. The reverberating sound of urine splashing while viewing *George* brought the painting to life, and when the denouement of the flush sounded, I wept." MOBA's accompanying caption introduces questions and observations: "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."[Portraiture \#2 Sunday on the Pot With George](http://www.museumofbadart.org/collection/portraiture-2.html) . Museum of Bad Art, 2009\. Retrieved on March 4, 2009\.

### *Bone\-Juggling Dog in Hula Skirt*

In contrast to the pointillist impressionism of *George*, the museum also features a "fine example of labor\-intensive pointlessism", according to MOBA staff. Mari Newman's *Bone\-Juggling Dog in Hula Skirt* (tempera and acrylic paint on canvas; donated by the artist), inspired this description by MOBA: "We can only wonder what possesses an artist to portray a dog juggling bones while wearing a hula skirt.""[Juggling Dog in Hula Skirt](http://www.museumofbadart.org/collection/recent06.php) ". Museum of Bad Art, 2009\. Retrieved on March 4, 2009\. MOBA enjoys the mystery as much as any other aspect of art, however.

Newman, a professional artist from Minneapolis, responded to the curators' cogitation by describing how the image came into being. She bought used canvases while a poor art student, and was unsure how to use a canvas with these dimensions. Inspired by a cartoon of a [dachshund](/wiki/Dachshund "Dachshund"), she chose that as a subject, but was unhappy with the effect until she added a [hula skirt](/wiki/Grass_skirt "Grass skirt") she had seen in a magazine, and colored dog bones she spied in a pet store. Newman wrote to them, saying "I almost threw it out until I heard of MOBA. After many years of slashing rejected work, now I wish I had saved them all for you."

### Motifs and interpretations

Travel writer Cash Peters identifies six characteristics common to many of the museum's artworks. The first is that MOBA artists are unable to render hands or feet, and mask them by extending figures' arms off the canvas, hiding them with long sleeves, or placing shoes on feet in inappropriate scenarios. Second, Peters compared artists [Rembrandt](/wiki/Rembrandt "Rembrandt") and [J. M. W. Turner](/wiki/J._M._W._Turner "J. M. W. Turner"), masters of landscapes, who "could probably paint with their eyes shut" to MOBA artists who apparently did paint with their eyes shut, as skies are often painted in any color but blue, [flora](/wiki/Flora "Flora") are created without reference to any existing plant organisms, and [fauna](/wiki/Fauna "Fauna") appear so small in the background it is impossible to discern what kind of animals they are. Third, MOBA artists apply [perspective](/wiki/Perspective_%28visual%29 "Perspective (visual)") inconsistently, either from one painting to the next, or within a single work. Peters's fourth observation concerns the difficulty MOBA artists seem to have in successfully rendering noses: he writes that a nose will be attempted so many times that the work takes on a third dimension as paint is reapplied over and over. Fifth, bad artists favor "mixed media": if in doubt, they glue feathers, glitter, or hair to their work. Lastly, Peters suggests that artists know their work is bad, but apparently feel the piece may be saved by including a monkey or a poodle in the composition.

Since late 2008, MOBA has been experimenting with allowing the public to title and caption some works. According to the curatorial staff, since some of the works are so puzzling, mere artistic interpretation is not sufficient: they must be "interpretated". The "Guest Interpretator's Collection" is an invitation for MOBA's visitors to include their thoughts on compelling artworks; a contest decides the best analysis and these interpretations are added as each contest ends."[The Guest Interpretator's Collection](http://www.museumofbadart.org/interpretations/) ". Museum of Bad Art, 2009\. Retrieved on March 3, 2009\. A professor at [Boston University](/wiki/Boston_University "Boston University") offered his thoughts: "The location of the museum as much as its collection suggests a commitment to the abject and a belief in the power and force of culture's marginalized effects. I was also reminded that I need to pick up some toilet bowl cleaner on my way home!"


What is the impact of multiple attempts at painting noses on an artwork's three-dimensionality?