Bad art

DEFINITION

Quotes about bad art: "It does not matter how badly you paint, so long as you don't paint badly like other people." George Moore (1852-1933), British writer. Confessions of a Young Man, 1888. "Bad art is a great deal worse than no art at all." Oscar Wilde (1854-1900), English author, playwright. "House Decoration," lecture, 1882 (published in Aristotle at Afternoon Tea: The Rare Oscar Wilde, 1991). "Under ordinary circumstances, bad art naturally gets sorted out and disappears. That is how history works when it is left alone to do its job. The paradox of the culture wars is that they have made celebrities out of some artists who would otherwise vanish. Censorship has become a growth industry. This may be the best argument, in the end, for unfettered freedom of expression." Michael Kimmelman, American art critic, writing about a controversial exhibition of works by young British artists owned by adman Charles Saatchi, New York Times, October 1, 1999, B29. "Bad artists always admire each others work." Unknown. Another resource concerning bad art: Museum of Bad Art. Also see academic, art, banausic, bland, brummagem, buckeye, calendar painting, camp, confection, decoration, decorative, decorative arts, derivative, gewgaw, hooptedoodle, kitsch, low art, mediocre, paint-by-number, ornament, picturesque, popular culture, pornography, quotations, taste, tchotchke, and ugly.