15. A museum dedicated to bad art
The appropriately named Museum of Bad Art is, as of August 2021, closed to the public. However, it retains its website. It began in the basement of a Boston, Massachusetts, home. From there it moved to a community center in Dedham and has also occupied a public access television station in Brookline, the lobby of the New England Wildlife Center in South Weymouth, and finally the basement of the Somerville Theatre, Somerville, Massachusetts. According to its website, public access to the gallery depends on where and when the museum, which calls itself MoBA, may reopen. The museum boasts, if that is the correct word, a collection of over 700 examples of notably bad art. It originated with a single painting, culled from trash in Boston.
When open, the entire collection is not on display, but roughly two dozen, more or less, paintings are shown with an accompanying written interpretation. The interpretation is intended to act as “helping the public grasp many of the complexities inherent in the works”. The Museum of Bad Art offers virtual tours and curator talks to organizations including community centers, senior centers, businesses, and other museums. MoBA claims to be the “world’s first and foremost museum dedicated to the collection, preservation, exhibition and celebration of bad art”. However, according to its Facebook page it is “searching for gallery space in the Boston area”. Over its more than two-decade history, it has amassed a sizable collection, some of which can be admired or despised online until it reopens. One can’t help but wonder what the financial value of its collection may be.