Book; ink and colors on paper
Via the Museum of Bad Art

Our sister institution, the Museum of Bad Art (MOBA) has announced the publication of a catalogue of highlights from its collection. It is a remarkable work, and we have obtained an advance copy for display here in our galleries (the publication is also available for purchase in the MoFo Bookstore).

The mission of MOBA, located in Dedham and Somerville, Massachusetts, is “to celebrate the labor of artists whose work would be displayed and appreciated in no other forum.” The centerpiece of their collection, and the first work they acquired, is Lucy in the Field with Flowers (oil on canvas, artist unknown, date unknown), shown below.

While some visitors consider our museum to be similar to MOBA, we subscribe to a completely different philosophy. We do not believe it is our role to be to make judgments about the works we display. We seek to provide information so that viewers can make their own determinations, and we try to avoid labeling works “good” or “bad.” But, in fairness, the MOBA curators probably consider “bad” to be a descriptive rather than an evaluative term.

In any case, the book is a treasure trove of unique and remarkable works. Consider, for example, Ronan the Pug by Erin Rothgeb (American), oil on canvas, MOBA 333 (shown below), in which the subject may appear to lament its own shapelessness.

To learn more about the museum visit Wikipedia or their own website. The catalogue may be purchased through Amazon or your favorite online bookstore (our store manager prefers not to be troubled).

The Museum of Bad Art. 2009 is a post from: museum of folly

Vatican Museums, Vatican City
Colors on mixed media

A delegation from the Museum of Folly recently returned from a fact-finding mission to Italy, where we were startled to discover these signs in the Vatican Museums. The signs bear an unexpected resemblance to our museum’s own stairway sign (visible in the right sidebar).

While we encourage sharing, there had been little indication prior to this point that the Vatican Museums had taken an interest in the Museum of Folly. After all, they are experts in folly in their own right (just check out their object labels, which appear to date from roughly the time of Galileo). But then we realized that, as befits a museum in which every square inch is a masterpiece and every visitor experience is torture, their stairway surfer sign is better than ours.

Our label guidelines discourage evaluative judgments but there is no getting around the fact that our stairway sign looks stiff and clumsy compared to their more fluid and expressive version. We are humbled.

We were humbled, too, on continuing our travels and finding the following helpful sign at the Marina Piccola in Sorrento on the Amalfi peninsula. How clearly it conveys the prohibition “Diving from the pier is not allowed except in motor vehicles!” In short, Italy had much to teach us, and we have resolved to upgrade our own signage to the higher standard we discovered via our grand tour.

Museum signage, 21st century is a post from: museum of folly

Various places of origin
Plastic, metal, wood, and colors
Various lenders

Since our building is new, our Operations, Visitor Services, and Graphics departments have been researching signage options. This small exhibition of 14 signs presents those that our cross-departmental working team felt would be most suitable for our institution.

Below is a list of what the signs signify, as well as the original source.

1. Top row, left: Meet the werewolves in our Fantastic Creatures gallery
   (lent from Mark Strozier’s photostream).
2. Top row, center: Art cars may attract moose (lent from tiny tear’s photostream).
3. Top row, right: Molten sludge controls mutant snowflakes
   (lent from work the angles’ photostream).
4. Second row, left: Terrorists’ hands will be scarified by electric eels
   (lent from mag3737′s photostream).
5. Second row, center: Stunt bicyclists perform during family events
   (lent from stuartajc’s photostream).
6. Second row, right: Redheads must turn off cell phones before exercising in the garden maze
   (lent from Mykl Roventine’s photostream).
7. Third row, left: Delaying the elevator is rude to those waiting
   (lent from hc gilje’s photostream).
8. Third row, right: Strong alcoholic drinks on sale in the Folly Cafe
   (lent from Fecki’s photostream).
9. Fourth row, left: New in the Folly Cafe, try “Pandora’s Surprise”
   (lent from lars hammar’s photostream.
10. Fourth row, center: Canadians should exit this gallery and go watch an art car
    (lent from greefus groinks’ photostream).
11. Fourth row, right: Caution: Cubist art may attack organic forms
    (lent from A.Currell’s photostream).
12. Bottom row, left: Take care in calibrating the auto-massager
    (lent from iwantamonkey’s photostream).
13. Bottom row, center: Do not attempt to comprehend the giant cauliflower
    (lent from WordRidden’s photostream).
14. Bottom row, right: MoFo encourages “Dancing with the Stairs”
    (provenance uncertain).*

*This sign, coincidentally, is similar to our present stairway sign — designed by our in-house Graphics department — visible in the sidebar at right.

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Warning signs, 21st c. is a post from: museum of folly

USA
Mixed organic materials, including sugar, butter, flour, and colors
Via cake wrecks

According to the original owner of this unique object, an image of a man playing golf was submitted on a flash drive to a cake shop. That image was, however, not used, as the following dialogue ensued:

“Hey, Jill, what am I putting on this cake?”
“Oh, check the counter; I left the jump drive out for you there.”
[calling from the back room] “Really? This is what they want on the cake?”
“Yeah, the customer just brought it in.”
“Okey dokey!”

MoFo is pleased to have acquired this unusual flash cake for our permanent collection. It will be on display briefly as our conservators feel an urgent need to stabilize the object against data loss.

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Flash Cake, 2009 is a post from: museum of folly

It’s Hard, by Thomas Christensen, 2009
Digital image, black and white pixels
Lent by the artist

As the USA prepares to inaugurate a new president, we at the Museum of Folly are preparing to add contributions from the outgoing executive to our Hall of Quotations. This has been a difficult assignment for our curators because there is so much material to work with. Our new building is ample, but its space is not unlimited.

This president has been so creative with language that at times he seems to challenge the very concept of communication. And this is clearly by intent. As he noted in a speech in Beaverton, Oregon, on Aug. 13, 2004, “I hope you leave here and walk out and say, ‘What did he say?’”

Language has been a constant concern of the president. As he noted on Nov. 1, 2006, “Anybody who is in a position to serve this country ought to understand the consequences of words.” Which, no doubt, is why he was heard to inform British Prime Minister Tony Blair that “The problem with the French is that they don’t have a word for entrepreneur.”

It also explains his emphasis on literacy. As he noted in a speech in Townsend, Tennessee, “You teach a child to read, and he or her will be able to pass a literacy test.” President Bush was a constant champion of reading (who can forget that he refused to allow the 9/11 attacks to interrupt his reading of The Pet Goat), for, as he pointed out, “One of the great things about books is sometimes there are fantastic pictures.”

As a literary stylist, the president may best be characterized as an experimental modernist who has been influenced by such texts as Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Finnegans Wake. We have already observed his fascination with the French language. Like the French Surrealist Andre Breton, he challenges the listener with seemingly contradictory concepts. For example, on one occasion he stated “I’m sure you can imagine it’s an unimaginable honor to live here.”

At times, like a novelist creating a multivolume saga, the president rolled out his challenges to logic over surprising lengths of time. Who would have guessed that his claim on Sept. 13, 2001, that “The most important thing is for us to find Osama bin Laden. It is our number one priority and we will not rest until we find him”  was merely laying the groundwork for the surprising counterstatement on March 13, 2002, that “I don’t know where bin Laden is. I have no idea and really don’t care. It’s not that important. It’s not our priority.” But both of these statements were, in turn, merely preparing the public for his November 4, 2006, masterstroke: “The only way we can win is to leave before the job is done.”

Such narrative twists and surprises were nothing new for this inventive wordsmith. Consider his May 14, 2001, statement, “For every fatal shooting, there were roughly three nonfatal shootings. And, folks, this is unacceptable in America. It’s just unacceptable. And we’re going to do something about it.” Or an August 5, 2004, statement with an O. Henry-esque surprise ending: “Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people — and neither do we.”

Breton’s influence can also be seen in the president’s October 3, 2001, assertion that “I am here to make an announcement that this Thursday, ticket counters and airplanes will fly out of Ronald Reagan Airport.” Or in his May 25, 2004, statement that “I’m honored to shake the hand of a brave Iraqi citizen who had his hand cut off by Saddam Hussein.”

Like many Modernist authors, the president was obviously deeply affected by Heisenberg’s discovery of the Uncertainty Principle, stating “I think if you know what you believe, it makes it a lot easier to answer questions. I can’t answer your questions.” Perhaps that is why on June 4, 2003, he boasted, “I’m the master of low expectations.” Yet as early as October 31, 2000, he had foreshadowed these remarks by stating that “Never again in the halls of Washington, DC, do I want to have to make explanations that I can’t explain.”

Despite his fascination with Surrealism and Modernist wordplay, the president was not without a Romantic streak. On September 6, 2004, he lamented, “Too many OB-GYNs aren’t able to practice their love with women all across this country.”

Mr. Bush has noted that “You never know what your history is going to be like until long after you’re gone,” but we at MoFo feel this president’s place in history is already pretty well determined. We welcome visitors to witness the hanging of Mr. Bush’s contributions to our Hall of Quotations by echoing his statement at the dedication of his portrait in Austin in 2002, “I want to thank you for taking time out of your day to come and witness my hanging.”

We know that in this time of economic recession there are many ways for you to spend money you may no longer have (sorry, we have been immersed in the president’s style). We appreciate your visit and hope that this addition to our museum will add a little more value against the price of your admission. After all, as the president has said, “It’s your money. You paid for it.”

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Hanging Bush is a post from: museum of folly

New York City (publisher), Hong Kong (printer)
Fragment of a page from a book; ink and colors on paper
Via the New York Times

The Museum of Folly was, regrettably, unable to purchase the original painting by Pablo Picasso of Les Demoiselles d’Avignon (1907). This reproduction was torn out of an art history textbook.

David Galenson, an economist at the University of Chicago, has proposed an exquisitely stupid method of determining the greatest artworks of the twentieth century. He simply counts how often a work is reproduced in textbooks. “Quantification,” Galenson complains, “has been almost totally absent from art history.” Using this method, Galenson has definitively determined that the top five most important artworks of the twentieth century, in order, are:

1. Pablo Picasso, Les Demoiselles d’Avignon, 1907
2. Vladimir Tatlin, The Monument to the Third International, 1919-1920
3. Robert Smithson, Spiral Jetty, 1970
4. Richard Hamilton, Just What Is It That Makes Today’s Homes So Different, So Appealing?, 1956
5. Pablo Picasso, Guernica, 1937

MoFo applauds this marvelously simpleminded approach. By applying the quantification approach to literature, for example, we can also determine the most important works of U.S. literature, simply by referring to best-seller lists. Such a list of great literature would include the following works, all number one best-sellers (one best-seller has been chosen from each decade of the twentieth century):

• 1900s: Frances Little, The Lady of the Decoration
• 1910s: Zane Grey, The U. P. Trail
• 1920s: Zane Grey, The Man of the Forest
• 1930s: Grand Duchess Marie, Education of a Princess
• 1940s: Bob Hope, I Never Left Home
• 1950s: William Brinkley, Don’t Go Near the Water
• 1950s: Pat Boone, ‘Twixt Twelve and Twenty
• 1960s: Jacqueline Susann, Valley of the Dolls
• 1970s: Erich Segal, Love Story
• 1980s: Joan D. Vinge, adapt., Return of the Jedi Storybook
• 1990s: Alexandra Ripley, Scarlett: The Sequel to Margaret Mitchell’s “Gone with the Wind”

Museum visitors wishing to explore the twentieth century’s greatest works of literature are advised to begin with this remarkable list.

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Reproduction of Les Demoiselles d’Avignon, 1990s is a post from: museum of folly

Lake George, Minnesota
Digital photograph; colored pixels
Via Mail Online

This unfortunate Ursus arctos recalls the fictional bear of A. A. Milne’s Winnie-the-Pooh series, who got his head stuck in a honey jar.

While Mr. Milne’s Pooh was, admittedly, a bear of very little brain, our curators do not feel that there is a compelling reason to make a space for him in our already crowded MoFo galleries. Rather, the fools this image evokes are the Lake George police, who shot and killed the bear out of a conern for public safety.

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Real Pooh, 2008 is a post from: museum of folly

Durham, North Carolina
Titanium compounds, urethane, and other synthetic materials
Via SFGate

The Museum of Folly is pleased to have in its collection this golf ball, believed to have been struck by Andrew Giuliani, the son of former New York City mayor Rudi Giuliani, during his attempt to secure a position on the Duke University golf team. The ball was located deep in the rough by a teenage boy, who generously donated it to the museum; it has been marvelously restored by the museum’s conservators.

Errant shots such as the one that caused this ball to become lost may have contributed to Mr. Giuliani failing to make the team. Upon being notified of this decision, Mr. Giuliani filed a 198-page lawsuit, which “claims the coach has interferred with Giuliani’s efforts toward becoming a professional golfer.” The museum’s curators hope someday to add the would-be golf pro’s legal brief to our collection.

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Golf ball, 2008 is a post from: museum of folly

San Francisco, California
Plastic with steel reinforcements
Via SFGate

This car, deaccessioned from a fleet belonging to the city of San Francisco and acquired by the Museum of Folly at auction, was used by a city employee for her daily commute between the Central Valley and the city. According to the Matier and Ross report cited in the credit line above, “San Francisco city records show that no fewer than 246 workers, including police brass, airport employees and Muni managers, have take-home car privileges.”

But the city’s generosity does not stop with merely providing vehicles — it also offers free gas to the commuters. The museum’s Finance office, generously granting the eight-cylinder vehicle a combined 20 mpg, calculates that a commuter logging a 150-mile daily commute would probably ding the city for 35-45,000 miles in a year, or 2,000 gallons of gasoline at a cost of more than $8,000 at current prices. According to noted scholars of folly Matier and Ross, “It’s just one reason why San Francisco’s gas bill is on pace to hit $7.6 million this year – $1.8 million over budget.”

It is not known what percentage of this gasoline was obtained through the Bush administration’s misadventures in Iraq, which were expected (by the oil executive-headed adminstration) to result in lower gas prices.

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Ford Crown Victoria, 1998 is a post from: museum of folly

Keizer, Oregon
Concrete
Via katu.com

In July 2007, Residents of Keizer, Oregon, complained about the erection of this traffic post in their sleepy town. The thrust of their argument was that something about its shape was offensive to the bedroom community.

The object’s shape may actually allude to the scepter that is a traditional attribute of the fool.

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Traffic post, 2007 is a post from: museum of folly