- The adjective "bad art" is problematic, because it brings up the idea of bad art versus good art, and I prefer to talk about bad art versus important art.

(mellow bass jazz music) (mellow bass jazz music continues) We do indirectly ask the questions, "What is art?"

And the fact that we're a museum, ask the question, "What is important art?

And who gets to decide what's important art?"

I'm Michael Frank.

I'm the Curator-in-Chief of a Museum of Bad Art.

- I'm Louise Reilly Sacco.

I'm the Permanent Acting Interim Executive Director of the Museum of Bad Art.

(upbeat jazzy music) Scott Wilson and my brother, Jerry Reilly, both are kind of quirky people.

And when they saw this painting of a woman who was maybe sitting, maybe standing in a field of flowers, and the sky was yellow, it was just something that made them smile, and enjoyed looking at art that would never make it in a fine art museum, but that had heart and soul and raised question.

(mellow jazz bass music) We started in my brother's basement, Jerry Reilly's basement, in a small house in West Roxbury.

The owner of the Dedham Community Theatre was a friend of a friend, and he gave us his basement space.

We were there for many years.

The Somerville Theatre, another old, old movie theater, gave us their basement.

(mellow jazz bass music) In 2019, we were trying to find space and just didn't.

For almost three years, we were homeless.

And through some City of Boston Economic Development people, got connected here to the Dorchester Brewing Company.

They ended up giving us wall space all over the place, so we're throughout the brewing company now.

(mellow jazz bass music) - I don't remember how I heard of the museum, but as soon as I was aware of it, I thought it was pretty interesting, and I donated a number of paintings that I had collected from yard sales.

(mellow jazz bass music continues) The conceit of the museum is that we take pieces that either come from yard sales or thrift stores, and present them in a formal way, the way any traditional museum would present them.

This painting was a gift.

That person thought it was kind of a funny painting, and gave it to his friend as a gift.

(snappy jazz music) At one point, one of the families went to Italy on vacation, and came across this image in the Sistine Chapel.

This is a copy of one of the 300 images in the Sistine Chapel, painted by Michelangelo.

(snappy jazz music continues) Here, in this case, the artist did a pretty good job of copying the image, but added his own details, such as the eyeball spewing some sort of slime.

(snappy jazz music continues) We have a number of images of presidents.

(snappy jazz music continues) There's a photograph of John Kennedy on his sailboat.

(camera shutter clicks) You can actually see that he's dripped some ice cream onto his shirt.

But by eliminating the background information, and focusing on his face, the artist probably created the most repugnant image of one of the most photogenic leaders that the world has ever known.

(snappy jazz music continues) This was clearly inspired by "Madame Matisse".

It's part of my nature to not be able to pass a yard sale or a thrift store without checking it out.

Just to see if there's something interesting.

I don't know why.

It's part of my personality.

The same is true for an interesting pile of trash on the side of the road.

(mellow music) (text dings) We have upwards of 900 pieces in the collection.

Clowns are like low hanging fruit.

This is something I bought this winter in a flea market.

This is Thomas Edison, and this is Henry Ford.

And here's a bird feeding two babies.

This is baby Aladdin.

This is called "Stealth"...

I think it was "Stealth Victory".

Oh, actually, it goes this way.

Let's see what's here.

(mellow calming music) Never shared this one.

Actually, I don't remember where this came from.

If my fellow curators from the MFA could see this place, they would be appalled.

(mellow calming music continues) (mellow guitar music) - [Louise] The Museum of Bad Art, it's a gateway drug to museums and to art.

(mellow guitar music continues) - [Michael] We relieve people of feeling somehow that they're missing something.

When the people look at our collection, they really don't have to think that they're missing anything.

(upbeat groovy music) I think I can tell pretty quickly whether the artist had some purpose, the artist was trying to make some sort of an artistic statement.

- [Louise] We don't say negative things about the art or the artist.

Our stated goal is to collect, exhibit and celebrate this art that would be appreciated nowhere else.

(lighthearted upbeat music)