The Rainbow Collection
Till I Was Blue in the Face
Anonymous
Acrylic on canvas, 14" x 11"
Acquired through barter with Rosalie Gale
June 2007
And you thought you were having a bad day!
Blue Lady with iPod
Bill Morollo
30" x 22", oil on canvas
Purchased at a thrift store in Boston, MA
June 2007
"All you need is love..."
Blue Mushroom Man
Matthew Johnson
Acrylic on canvas, 36" x 24",
Purchased at a thrift store in Boston, MA
November 2007
According to a mycologist friend of MOBA, "Possible chanterelle in upper left corner. Likely boletus family 'shrooms in upper right corner and sprouting out of the top of his head. A flush of shaggy manes emerging from his mouth. Others are unknown, but appear to have little culinary interest."
COULDABEEN MARILYN TODAY
20" x 16", acrylic on canvas
Donated by the artist
MOBA #196
A little too old to have hair so blonde and lips so red. The darkness rises and threatens to overwhelm. Are those fading dreams around her?
Freedom Beach
Anonymous
Oil on canvas, 16" x 20"
Purchased at a thrift store in Boston, MA
March 2007
This hastily executed impressionist painting effectively reminds us that, even if only optional, clothing is advisable when practicing yoga on a tropical beach to avoid hatha sunburn.
From the Mouths of Babes (Chicks)
Anonymous
Paint on pressboard (probably a tabletop), 20" diameter
Provenance unknown
A fine example of twentieth century social commentary on furniture.
Life on a Barstool
Anonymous
Oil on canvas, 60" x 36"
Purchased at a yard sale in Boston, MA
July, 1998
A pretty face or skinny figure, which is more attractive? Are looks everything? The artist peels away layers to find what's inside is actually not more important. Through teeth clenched around a black rose, she spits her response, "Set 'em up Joe."
MAMA AND BABE
24" x 18", acrylic on canvas
Donated by the artist
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 of a border bistro.
MOBA #59
The flesh tones bring to mind the top shelp liqueurs of a border bistro. With an astonishing emphasis on facial bone structure, the artist flirts with caricature and captures the features of Mama's face which reminds us of a former first lady. The upright marionettish pose of the babe hints that the early bond between mother and child is as formal as it is familiar. Good old-fashioned parental respect is at the center of this celebration of color and contour.
From - The Museum of Bad Art: Art Too Bad to be Ignored, by Tom Stankowicz and Marie Jackson, A MOBA Publication
MY LEFT FOOT
30" x 36", oil on canvas
Left anonymously at MOBA
MOBA #271
The feet, unmatched in color and shape, are the well rendered work of a skilled artist. Sooz succeeds in getting us to think about the nature of feet and to face our discomfort with asymmetry in any human form. The floor tiles raise questions about our need for orderly surroundings. Accuracy and perspective are just too difficult and boring, and the tiles are in the background, anyway.
From - Museum of Bad Art: Masterworks by Michael Frank and Louise Reilly Sacco, Ten Speed Press.
Nice Blueish Man
Anonymous
Illegible (2008)
Oil on canvas, 27” x 29”
Purchased at a yard sale in Brookline, MA
June 2006
A Blueish mother gave her son a green shirt and a yellow shirt for his birthday.
Later that evening they met for dinner. The son arrived smiling, wearing the green shirt.
His mother took one look at him and said, “Oh, so I guess you didn’t like the yellow shirt.”
Silicone Clouds
Anonymous
Oil on canvas, 36" x 36"
Anonymous donation
August 2007
Perky Reubenesque clouds float in a cerulean sky.
From: Museum of Bad Art: Masterworks, by Michael Frank and Louise Reilly Sacco
Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
Lloyd Graham (Australia)
Oil on canvas, 20" x 16"
Donated by the artist
April 2007
Artist's statement: "This is an emotive portrait of myself as a college student in the late 70s."
The Last Dance
Artist Unknown
(possibly posthumous work of Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec)
Oil on canvas, 60" x 60"
Anonymous donation
May 2008
This may be a late (posthumous) work of iconoclastic French painter Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. The painting features his trademark subject of the Moulin Rouge dancer in her feathered head-piece and colorful dress. With a stylized Montmartre and the white domed Basilica of Sacre Coeur in the background surrounded by the lights of the rich music hall scene, the artist captures that agonizing moment when an aging can-can dancer removes her dance shoes for the last time. In her turned head and sorrowful expression the artist depicts the inner pain and deep sense of loss that the subject feels in this final act as a dancer. The green tint of her skin symbolizes the envy she feels for the young girl she imagines taking her place on stage.
"The Last Dance" is not only a candid glimpse into the sadness at the end of the dancer's time in the spotlight but a personal admission to the end of this unique artist's own career. He paints not in his trademark poster style, but borrows heavily from his contemporary and yet unknown Vincent van Gogh with heavy unblended brush strokes and from the younger Wassily Kandinsky with swirling color that foreshadows the new modern abstract movement that will follow Lautrec's death. On his deathbed he is rumored to have spoken these immortal words, "La vie est trop courte" ("life is too short") as statement on his death and a personal joke about his stature.
Guest Interpretator: Bob Sepulveda
Worried Man
Anonymous
Oil on canvas with wire, staples, paper, 48" x 37"
Acquired through barter with bARTerSauce.com
April 2007
Rosalie Gale rescued this enormous painting from the trash in Seattle, Washington. She is the proprietrix of bARTerSauce.com, a website through which she trades unusual objects. In her account of finding Worried Guy, she writes, "We drove up to Capitol Hill where my friend Roberta Minor had seen the painting. It was huge . . . and scary. He has metal wire hair and fingernails and staple eyebrows. . . . I decided that since the guy looks so worried, I would write down all the stuff that I worry about all the time and stick them to his wire hair. Then I'd just let him worry about them."
Among the worries she let him assume were:
"Large bodies of water"
"Having too much stuff "
"$"
"Staying home from work"
"Spiders"
Everyone at MOBA hopes Ms. Gale is enjoying her carefree existence and has not found more things about which to worry.
From - Museum of Bad Art: Masterworks by Michael Frank and Louise Reilly Sacco, Ten Speed Press.
Green Goddess
Anonymous
Oil on canvas, 36" x 24"
Donated by Gayle and Bob from Florida
A green-skinned nymphet, her bottom skinned by barnacles, sadly pondering her return to the depths of the murky ocean in the face of an unpleasant storm.
Gilded Nude
Anonymous
18" x 24", oil on canvas
Donated by Ian Michelson (New Zealand)
The viewer is struck immediately by the youthful female subject's oversized left ... arm.
Reclining Nude
Unknown
Oil on canvas
Acquired from trash
late 1990s
The artist plays with the luminosity of skin where the sun never shines, and the grace and comfort of crossed legs in repose. We believe this may be a self-portrait, as Unknown, naked and proud, faces the fiery furnace.
Self-Portrait as a Drainpipe
Miranda
Tempera on cardboard, 22" x 11"
Found in trash in Boston, MA
June 2007
Who knows what moves someone to depict oneself as a plumbing fixture?
Portrait of the Artist as a Blue Man
Anonymous
Acrylic on pine board, 12"x7.5”
Purchased at a thrift shop in Boston, MA
June 2007
James Joyce is depicted in a realistic, if slightly hydrocephalic, manner against a psychedelic background. His bow tie appears to be an afterthought.
At the Turkish Bath
Anonymous
Acrylic on canvas, 14” x 12”
Anonymous donation
1994
Green Nude Reclining
Bo Foisy
Acrylic on canvas, 20" x 16”
Purchased at a flea market in Stuart, FL
January 2024
The artist's model assumed an unusual pose. It is difficult to discern which, if either, of her feet is the right one.
