Our Story
You can enjoy the MOBA collection by looking through the photos on this page or visiting www.MuseumOfBadArt.org
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Incarnation
Illegible
Tempera paint on paper, spray mounted on foam core board, 29" x 27"
Rescued from the in Medfield (MA) Transfer Station and donated by Jana Kibbe
October 2022
The subject’s belly is mirrored by the yoga ball on which he rests his leg. While his demeanor is more contemplative, his body is reminiscent of Bodai, the Chinese "Laughing Buddha."
A moonlit aquarium-like view holds his expectant gaze. It enters his immediate space, cradling him with a comforting bubble-bath presence that dampens the floor at the top of his Scala Sancta.
This week's New Yorker Magazine crossword puzzle:
Woman with Turkey
Anonymous
Carbro print on paper, 18" x 8"
Purchased and donated by Greg French
May 2021
The anonymous photographer used an esoteric labor-intensive printing technique popular in the early 20th century to create this image of an attractive woman engaging in holiday cosplay.
Medusa Applies Lipstick
M. Conroy
Acrylic on canvas, 24" x 20"
Purchased at a thrift store in Boston, MA
October 2022
Realizing she couldn’t do a thing with her hair, Medusa thought some eye makeup and lipstick would improve her look.
Out of Body Experience
Anonymous
Oil on canvas, 44" x 30”
Found in sidewalk trash in Jamaica Plain, MA and donated by Donna Cohen
July 2013
This monochrome surreal Neo-Cubist painting features a long-haired man performing a dangerous party trick while wearing only a child’s flotation device.
The Waltz
Acrylic on canvas, 20" x 16"
Purchased at a thrift store in Boston, MA
October 2019
An elegant couple performs the traditional ladies underarm turn. Many viewers are so distracted by the woman's décolletage (front and rear) they fail to notice her unusually curved left arm.
Bare Me
Anonymous
Acrylic on canvas, 20” x 16”
Found in a dumpster in Manhattan, KS and donated by Dexter White
July 2022
It is difficult to discern the gender of the artist who made this self-portrait.
That indeterminateness may be precisely the point.
Madam Matisse
Jeff O.
Oil on canvas, 20" x 16”
Purchased at a church rummage sale in Winnetka, IL
and donated by Pam Zukoski
July 2022
Inspired by Henri Matisse’s 1905 portrait of his wife Amélie Noelle Matisse-Parayre, the artist decided to add his own 2¢ to Picasso-ize it, as it were, by giving her lipstick, yellow skin, and a severe case of amblyopia (lazy eye).
Hot Red Woman
Mari Newman
Mixed media, approx. 12” x 12”
Donated by the artist
September 2006
How low can she go?
Celebrate July 4th
Nancy Alain
Collage of oil paint and paper on canvas, 18" x 24”
Donated by the artist
May 2020
Artist statement:
I was living in war torn Bujumbura, Burundi, 2000, and missing the parades and celebrations back home, while dodging bullets and rockets launched between the Hutus and the Tutsis. This is an homage to my homesickness made with what was available at that time, a few tubes of paint and an Oriental Trading Company mail order catalogue full of images of decor for sale to a proud nation on its birthday. I added the tomatoes, because there were none any at the local marketplace.
The Curator-in-Chief was excited to attend the opening of the MOBA exhibit as part of the 2022 Passages Insolites Festival in historic Old Quebec! The show featuring 70 paintings from the MOBA Collection will be open until October 10.
https://passagesinsolites.com/en/
Don't Want to be a Cowboy's Sweetheart
T. Abbott (1975)
Tempera paint on canvas board, 14" x 11"
The singing cowboy's friend questions the rationale for yodeling, while his dog howls along in this cutesy Norman Rockwellian tableau.