I first heard of the Museum of Bad Art when Kerry posted about it last March. Kottke linked to it again last week.
(Much of the collection is hilarious, but I must admit, with some pieces I think "that's not all that bad." Shows my artistic sensibilities, I guess.)
Many of the artists are anonymous, and probably not artists by trade, but I believe even the collection of bad art among highly successful professional artists would be fairly sizable. Fine art, especially, is a learned talent. Consider the artwork covering the walls of an elementary school classroom -- some of it is better than others to be sure, but none of it is good. It sounds obvious to say, but I think a lot of people fail to understand this point: Artists are not born, they are made -- even little Van Gogh's crayon drawings would have sucked.
I would love to see the works of the great artists lined up in a timeline by their age. Unfortunately I think much of their earliest work is hidden from public view because, well, it sucked.
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Related:
The latest Think Different TV with Colin Marshall discusses the need for a "museum of first drafts".
