Art too bad to be ignored

Looking for something to do to round out your summer? I have just the thing: A visit to MOBA, the Museum of Bad Art, conveniently located in the basement of the Dedham Community Theatre, just outside the men's room. As noted by the management, the nearby flushing helps maintain a uniform humidity. The gallery is open whenever movies are showing, typically 5 to 11pm on weekdays, noon to 11 on weekends and school holidays.

The curatorial standards of the museum are rigorous and clear:

The pieces in the MOBA collection range from the work of talented artists that have gone awry to works of exuberant, although crude, execution by artists barely in control of the brush. What they all have in common is a special quality that sets them apart in one way or another from the merely incompetent.

So, who's the lady in the picture above? That's Louise Sacco, the museum's Permanent Acting Interim Executive Director. She's also one of the photographers for FanFoto for games at Fenway Park. I met her at a Red Sox game earlier this year. Louise reports that she got the job at Fenway in a tough competition with lots of, er, younger photographers. At the interviews, they all talked about their geeky love of photographic equipment, Photoshop, pixels, and the like. She said she thought it would be fun to meet lots of people in the park. She was hired on the spot.

Back to MOBA. Like any legitimate museum, MOBA depends on its gift shop to reach its financial goals. You can buy items here.