Boston | | atractivoquenobello

Here in the UK there’s the Museum of Everything, down in Massachusetts they’ve got the Museum of Bad Art. Some sort of similar WTF museum where anything is possible, all those things that MoMa rejects, MOBA welcomes.

MOBA is a Boston originally established collection of of bad art “in all its forms and in all its glory”. What started in 1993 as a basement exhibition opening with a first show in March 1994 has now become a well-known collection of the weirdest and the worst.

The founders felt morally compelled to explore new, more creative ways of bringing this “priceless” collection of quality bad art to a global audience. So they finally got the support from the Dedham Community Theatre who allowed them to use their basement.

They now have a permanent gallery located just outside the men’s room in a 1927 movie theatre and from there they got a second basement… the Somerville Theater in Davis Square, and a third place… the Brookline Access Television, but this one is a top floor. All in Massachusetts.

The best thing of all? The whole collection is available on-line and you can visit all those portraits, landscapes, “unseen forces”, blue people and “poor traits” on their website. And that’s not all! Because the Moba and friends have managed to publish a “Masterpieces” book and a whole array of buyable objects (postcards, mugs, prints…) for you to buy!

Truly something.

The Institute of Contemporary Art from Boston was firstly conceived as a laboratory where innovative approaches to art could be championed. With this philosophy the museum has established its reputation for identifying important new artists… like for example Damian Ortega.

This is the first-ever survey of Ortega’s work and in order to do so the ICA has asked for Jessica Morgan’s help (from Tate Modern). It will show the arc of his artistic output with a range of sculpture, installation, video, and photography.

Ortega is known for taking things apart and putting them back together again…

Ortega - Volkswagen Beatle (Cosmic Thing 2002) — Ortega – Volkswagen Beatle (Cosmic Thing 2002)

Born in 1967 in Mexico City, Ortega is one of the most prominent artists of the new Mexican generation. His works explore specific economic, aesthetic and cultural situations and in particular how regional culture affects commodity consumption.

He began his career as a political cartoonist and his art has the intellectual rigour and sense of playfulness often associated with his previous occupation. He creates sculptures, installations, videos and actions inspired by a wide range of mundane objects, from golf balls and pick-axes to bricks, rubbish bins and even tortillas, all subjected to what has been described as Ortega’s characteristically “mischievous process of transformation and dysfunction”.

Ortega - Tortillas Construction Module — Ortega – Tortillas Construction Module

Ortega’s work can be found in myriad of public and private art collections both in the United States and abroad, and has been seen in numerous exhibitions worldwide. He currently lives and works in Berlin, Germany, and Mexico City. He has exhibited internationally including solo exhibitions at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (2005), Tate Modern, London (2005), Museu da Arte Pampulha, Belo Horizonte, Brazil (2005)…

The exhibition will be displayed until January 18th 2010, so if you’re lucky enough to live or pass by, go ahead and then tell us about it.