Doing a good deed with bad art

"MOBA was shocked to learn that the trustees of Brandeis University have decided to close the Rose Art Museum and sell the valuable collection to raise money," according to a news release.

It is the first time the Dedham museum (also known as MOBA) has offered one of its acquisitions on eBay. The bidding closes today on "Studies in Digestion."

"We're trying to do our part," says Louise Reilly Sacco, MOBA's permanent acting interim executive director. "We don't like to see a sister museum having to shut down."

Brandeis officials last month cited a universitywide budget crisis when they announced the decision to shutter the Rose and sell off its collection of modern and contemporary artwork. The plan has evoked outrage and protests from students, faculty, and alumni as well as those in the art world. The Waltham museum includes works by such superstars as Andy Warhol, Willem de Kooning, and Jasper Johns.

MOBA's slogan, on the other hand, is "Art Too Bad to be Ignored," and it is dedicated to "the collection, preservation, exhibition and celebra tion of bad art in all its forms and in all its glory."

Michael Frank, curator in chief at the Museum of Bad Art, was the one who listed "Studies in Digestion" on eBay. He had put a "buy-it-now" price tag of $10,000 on it, but when the first bid came in at $24.99 the buy-it-now deal died.

The drawing includes four panels of the digestive tract, which Frank describes as "drawn in the styles of Keith Haring, Georges Seurat, René Magritte . . . and a Picasso single line drawing." It is signed by the artist, Deborah Grumet, who lives in Queens.

Within an hour of listing the masterpiece on eBay, Frank had five bids. As of Thursday, "Studies in Digestion" had been bid up to $98.

An official MOBA Certificate of Rejection comes with the work. That's because the piece is from the museum's Rejection Collection, not from its permanent collection.

A work may be rejected for a number of reasons: It's not original enough, or it's kitsch instead of "art," or the artist wasn't serious. "We don't collect dogs playing poker," says Frank. "It's too commercial. We don't collect black velvet. We collect things made in earnest, where people attempted to make art and something went wrong, either in the execution or in the original premise."

Or, as honorary curator Ollie Hallowell puts it, the art must have "that 'Oh my God' quality." The museum acquires its artwork from thrift shops, flea markets, garage sales, and trash barrels. Often, artists themselves will make a donation, in the hopes that their work will be displayed in a museum, any museum.

As for "Studies in Digestion," that artist makes posters for a living - too commercial for MOBA's permanent collection. Frank says it's a fitting choice for a donation to Brandeis because of is educational value. "It displays the human digestive system in various styles," says Frank.

His own art background? "I'm self-taught." Besides curating, he is a balloon artist and a musician.

He and Sacco are proud of their permanent collection, which includes such iconic paintings as "Juggling Dog in Hula Skirt" and "Retch Like an Egyptian." They are currently running an "Interpretation Contest" in which the public is asked to interpret - make that interpretate - a work displayed on the website (www.museumofbadart.org). "Interpretate" because "some of these images are so vexing that merely interpreting the work would not be enough," says Frank.

Frank recently returned from St. Paul, where he attended the first theater work based on masterpieces from MOBA. Commedia Beauregard, an independent theater group, commissioned six local playwrights and directors to translate six MOBA works into short plays. "Mr. Frank enjoyed his first visit to St. Paul," according to a MOBA news release issued last week. "The feeling has almost entirely returned to his toes." Among the MOBA works turned into theater were "Gina's Demons" and "Mana Lisa."

"It was a big kick," says Frank. "Their biggest claim to fame is that they do a Klingon Christmas Carol every year."

One of the Museum of Bad Art's newest acquisitions is "James the Male Model," discovered at Boomerangs thrift shop in Jamaica Plain. It's a 16-by-20 oil on canvas by an anonymous artist. Here is the museum's description: "Humiliated by being asked to pose wearing nothing but a Davy Crockett hat, James knew that his modeling career was dwindling and made a silent vow to stop eating sweets and to renew his membership at the gym."

"It's a very sad piece," says Sacco, the permanent acting interim executive director.

Bella English of Milton can be reached at english@globe.com.