Museum of Bad Art

11/30/2022

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.

11/29/2022

This week's New Yorker Magazine crossword puzzle:

11/24/2022

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.

11/08/2022

The 2023 MOBA Wall Calendar features art from the Eye Eye Eye Gallery.
https://www.massbaytrading.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=BMM1016

11/01/2022

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.

09/16/2022

New video about Elvis in MOBA:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6c8C7YoELYk

09/12/2022

Maybe Beer Goggles Help? Boston's Museum Of Bad Art Reopens in a Craft Brewery | Frommer's

Frommer's talks about MOBA's new venue

https://www.frommers.com/trip-ideas/arts-and-culture/maybe-beer-goggles-help-bostons-museum-of-bad-art-reopens-in-a-craft-brewery

Boston's Museum Of Bad Art has a new permanent location inside the Dorchester Brewing Company.

09/10/2022

08/23/2022

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.

08/14/2022

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.

07/30/2022

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.

07/23/2022

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).

07/07/2022

Hot Red Woman
Mari Newman
Mixed media, approx. 12” x 12”
Donated by the artist
September 2006

How low can she go?

07/04/2022

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.

06/30/2022

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/

05/19/2022

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.

05/10/2022

The Damned Guy
Clarence Leroy Hinds (1970)
Oil on canvas board, 24” x 14”
Heirloom shared by the Weiner and Heller families
and donated by Neil Weiner
May 2022

The artist sought to improve upon Michelangelo’s masterpiece by clothing him in a green Speedo and adding a disembodied eyeball over his right shoulder spewing what appears to be toxic slime.
This is a copy of “The Damned Man” who realizes he has been condemned to spend eternity in Hell; one of the hundreds of figures in The Last Judgement, Michelangelo’s fresco on the altar wall of the Sistine Chapel.

04/07/2022

Fat Cat
Ken Dane
Acrylic on canvas panel, 12" x 9"
Donated by Erika Tarlin
2021
While it is usually difficult to discern a cat's emotions from its facial expression, this tubby tabby seems to be unhappy about the variety of snacks available.

03/14/2022

Alien Adam and Eve
Katherine Somerville Howorth Bouman
Oil on canvas, 40" x 18"
Donated by the artist
June 2006

Text by the artist: “I’m an atheist, so I depicted Adam and Eve as purple aliens. I put them in a landscaped garden, a comment on today’s suburban paradise and the Garden of Eden. The viewer looks out a kitchen window to see Adam and Eve picking apples in the manicured backyard, with an apple pie cooling on the window ledge. Did the aliens bake the pie? Did the viewer? What does it mean to bake and eat a pie made from a symbol of knowledge?” —Text by the artist

Response from MOBA curator-in-chief: “Mmm . . . I love apple pie.”

03/01/2022

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02/24/2022

Dog and Flag
J. Fishman
Acrylic on art board, 12” x 9”

The relative sizes of the dog and flagpole offer a clue into the intensity of the artist’s love for his pet and his country.

02/15/2022

The Clintons and the Gores
Jah Robby, 1993
Oil on canvas, 22” x 30”
Received as a gift and donated by Therese Nielsen
February 2022

The artist’s inscription: “A GIFT OF ART FROM THE HEART TO YOU AND YOURS” is evidence of his sincerity, but does nothing to explain the disproportionate allocation of real estate on the canvas assigned to the members of the Clinton and Gore families.
He incorporated the tradition, begun in the Italian Renaissance, of including a small self-portrait in the lower right corner of the painting.

01/17/2022

Sad Monkeys and Woman
Anonymous
Acrylic on canvas, 20” x 20”
Purchased in a thrift store in Boston, MA
January 2022

Two despondent looking rhesus macaques huddle before a two dimensional background of acacia trees that may represent their shrinking natural environment. One of the monkeys looks back at an equally forlorn woman nursing a large glass of milk in an orange and white striped cabana.

01/07/2022

MOBA Curator Talks are presented via Zoom by public libraries. They are free. Look at Events in the left column for upcoming programs, including "A Visit to the MOBA Zoo", "Dopplehangers", and "Tough Times". ' '

01/04/2022

The Tin Man
J.B. Israel Octobre (2000)
Oil on canvas, 24" x 18"
Purchased at a thrift store in Ft. Lauderdale, FL
December 2021.

The gift of a new heart brings tears of joy to the eyes of the Tin Man, and causes his mind to explode. The Munchkins set fire to their hair in sympathy.

12/03/2021

This book is available again! It’s been reprinted as a paperback.

Each of the 72 works of art is accompanied by an interpretation to help you understand and appreciate the art. There is also interesting text about MOBA, our process, our standards, and more.

https://www.massbaytrading.com/The_Museum_of_Bad_Art_Masterworks_Paperback.html?utm_source=sendinblue&utm_campaign=MOBA%20News&utm_medium=email

11/14/2021

Blue Genie
Anonymous (2007)
Acrylic on canvas board, 16” x 12”
Anonymous donation
September 2021

An amorphous genie has descended from his flying carpet and shape-shifted into a waterfall to provide water for a field of bonsai trees whose roots, in turn, provide nourishment for an underground nursery.

10/26/2021

See Me, Feel Me
Uncle Dan (circa 1971)
Acrylic and mylar on canvas board, 18” x 14”
Family heirloom donated by Blythe Bull
October 2021

The artist captured the psychedelic pretentiousness of the seminal rock opera in this surreal portrait featuring three faces, four hands, and one book – all under the gaze of a giant eye in the sky. Three strange objects floating in the background and the word “cycle” on the outer edge of the eyeball add to the sense of mysterious pomposity.

10/22/2021

The Lion and the Unicorn
(Fighting for the Crown)
D.C. (2007)
Acrylic on canvas panel, 16” x 12”
Donated by the artist
September 2017
This is a visual representation of an ancient British nursery rhyme, adapted by Lewis Carroll in Through the Looking Glass, about an interspecies battle. The unicorn’s lustrous mane and tail offer scant defense against the lion’s sharp teeth and claws.
The artist added fire and water to the background, but chose to delineate neither the white bread, brown bread, nor plum pudding referenced in the poem.

09/24/2021

The Museum of Bad Art (MOBA) in Québec City- VOSTFR

MOBA has a major exhibition in Quebec City until October 11. In this short video, Michael Frank, MOBA's curator in chief, and Michelle Drapeau, programming coordinator for Exmuro Arts introduce the exhibit in English and French.

Michael Frank (Curator at the MOBA) and Michelle Drapeau (PASSAGES INSOLITES Coordinator) present the MOBA in Québec City. The Museum of Bad Art collects, ex...

09/02/2021

Playing With Mommy’s Shoes
Mr. Miller, 1958
Oil canvas, 18" x 12"
Purchased at a thrift store in Boston, MA
May 2011

A little girl tries on her mother’s high heels while her sisters levitate in the background abyss. The artist was clearly inspired by John Singer Sargent’s 1882 painting, The Daughters of Edward Darley Boit.

08/22/2021

The Curator-in-Chief was excited to visit the MOBA exhibit in Quebec City. Vincent Roy and the Passages Insolites crew https://passagesinsolites.com/en/ have done an excellent job organizing and mounting the show of more than 100 pieces - open until October 11!

08/16/2021

STEVE REEVES AS HERCULES
Alain (2019)
Oil on canvas, 18" x 14"
Purchased at a charity shop in Melbourne, Australia
and donated by Michael Wood
August 2021

Before Arnold the Terminator and Lou the Incredible Hulk, Steve Reeves was a virtuoso body-builder/actor. His monumental intensity is reflected in this dopplehanger.

07/31/2021

Today's NY Times!

07/25/2021

Bozo the Poodle
Anonymous.
Acrylic on paper, 14" x 10"
Rescued from his neighbor’s trash in Montclair, NJ by a friend
and donated by Don Leich
April 2021

The artist used an impressive variety of impasto techniques to portray the textures of the wall, the soft chair, and her sweet little dog's curly coat.

06/24/2021

MOBA was on Jeopardy last night. Sandy won $800 for knowing about us!

05/29/2021

Memorial Day 2021

THE NOBLE STEED
For Joe From Dad
Oil on canvas, 24" x 18”
Acquired at the Durham, NH Transfer Station
and donated by Amy and Steve Oliva
May 2021

His mount offers some serious side-eye as a corporal in the Union Army reports to his commanding officer. The men stand on terra firma, while the horse levitates above the tall grass.

05/09/2021

Revisiting a MOBA classic on Mother's Day!

MAMA AND BABE
Sarah Irani
Acrylic on canvas, 24” x 18"
Donated by the artist
1995

The artist places an astonishing emphasis on facial bone structure, and uses flesh tones that bring to mind the top shelf liquors at a border bistro.

05/05/2021

MEXICAN HAT DANCE
L.I.H.
Acrylic on canvas, 16" x 20"

Feliz Cinco de Mayo!

05/02/2021

VENEZIA DI NOTTE (VENICE AT NIGHT)
Anonymous
Oil on canvas, 20” x 28”
Rescued from the trash in Boston, MA
and donated by Stuart Walker
April 2021

The curved horizon adds a sense of mystery to this image of a lone gondolier rowing on a quiet canal.