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’Net Junkie Shawn "Speedy" Lopes |
Web site posts galling
gallery of the gaucheOne crisp, blustery August evening more than a decade ago, antiques dealer Scott Wilson happened upon a pile of discarded paintings on a Boston street corner. The most striking of the bunch, later christened "Lucy in the Field With Flowers" became the impetus for the audacious venture known as the Museum of Bad Art, which, according to its Web site at www.museumofbadart.org, is "the world's only museum dedicated to the collection, preservation, exhibition and celebration of bad art in all its forms."
Though the oddball collection was originally housed in a private home, it has grown into a permanent gallery in the basement of the Dedham Community Theater in Dedham, Mass., just outside the men's restroom. "Lucy," its flagship piece, must be seen to truly be appreciated. An elderly woman seated (or is she floating?) in a legless chair, over a sloping hill of daisies, flowers in hand, is the very definition of bad art. Its intent is indeterminate, its incongruity absolutely baffling.
Another singular MOBA piece, the startling acrylic painting entitled "Mama and Babe," which you will find by clicking on the site's "Portraiture Collection" button, was submitted by its good-natured creator who, it is presumed, acknowledges its unsightliness. Depending on your viewpoint, the artist ought to either be applauded for her daring exploration of color and form, or scorned for transforming what should have been a quaint, heartwarming mother-and-child portrait into a bad acid trip.
Some works exhibit the markings of astute and learned artists but, through flaws either in concept or execution, appear to have taken a wrong turn somewhere. "Sunday on the Pot with George," for example, utilizes the mottled pointillist method pioneered by French neoimpressionist Georges Seurat to give form to what appears to be a portly man in his white cotton briefs resting on a toilet. Again, you must actually view it to fully grasp its greatness.
The Web site's "Landscape Collection" and abstract "Unseen Forces" sections feature colorful pieces by painters and sculptors whose visions border on the fantastic but whose aptitude for art is somewhat more earthbound. As they say, one man's trash is another man's treasure.
Note: Web sites mentioned in this column were active at time of publication. The Honolulu Star-Bulletin neither endorses nor is responsible for their contents.
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’Net Junkie drops every Monday.
Contact Shawn "Speedy" Lopes at slopes@starbulletin.com.
