Hipsters in dismay: Museum of Bad Art reaches real, stupid America

    You've probably met so-called "art lovers," those who claim that Jackson Pollock's splotches were genius and that a urinal can be art too. They'll likely tell you that good art is hard to make, that people go to school for artistic training and that some are "gifted" artists with natural talent. But when you ask why everything in museums like the Metropolitan Museum and the MFA seems sort of … blah, they tend to roll their eyes.
    It's not often that a museum has the guts to show some of the truly fine artistic endeavors that experts systematically overlook. At the Museum of Bad Art, eager visitors interested in the real art world (an offshoot of real America) get to see the most miraculous creations of mankind in the appropriate setting: right next to the men's bathroom in the basement of the Somerville Theatre.
    In the expansive collection, pieces hang on the walls like a community of defiant outcasts. For these works, conventional media are more like abstract concepts; paint takes on a more familiar look, like something better left uneaten at the dining hall, or things you flush down the toilet every day. People often feel a familial connection with works, saying that the sculptures remind them of "something that their three-year-old could make."
    Art is a powerful tool, and through these masterpieces, the artists' subjects are immortalized. Though one may be compelled to question why exactly someone would want to paint "Mana Lisa," the cross-gender interpretation of a famous painting, a grinning pug or to photograph two turtles stacked on top of each other, now these important subjects can be interpreted and loved for years to come.
    One particularly inspiring work is Mari Newman's "Juggling Dog in Hula Skirt." In this painting, the artist has used the technique of pointillism, and extended its range of meanings, applying it to the common and touching situation at hand: exactly what the title says. In this stunning portrait, a polka-dotted dog's exceedingly blank eyes stare, filled with joy at the sight of rainbow bones falling through the air. Tiny white flowers, which inexplicably cover the scene, gather around his left paw, which clutches a yellow bone. With some contemplation, the viewer can conclude that the flowers may either symbolize the Hawaiian heritage of this grass-skirt wearing canine or, more likely, nothing at all. Trippy.
    What's truly amazing is that many of the works have been donated by the artists themselves. These people, who are so busy finding ways to express their creativity, still find the time to humbly donate their work, without going through a middleman or asking for money. Their humanitarian attitude shows their admirable belief that this art should be made public, to educate and inspire the masses. Because of their courage, others may carry on the tradition of art-making in the face of a society that begs them to stop.