Event Item: 00102

Bad Painting - Good Art

Exhibition: 6th Jun 2008 to 12th Oct 2008

Source: http://www.mqw.at

'Personally, I like bad better than good painting' (Asger Jorn) at the MUMOK.

This bold exhibition Bad Painting addresses the phenomenon of consciously 'bad' painting which can be found throughout the history of 20th century painting. Well-known painters such as Francis Picabia, René Magritte, Asger Jorn, Philip Guston, Neil Jenney, Georg Baselitz, Albert Oehlen or Julian Schnabel brought 'bad painting' into play in order to transform or look at their work ironically, challenging the medium of painting, thus introducing a new vitality into the medium.

Without wanting to define it programmatically, 'bad painting' can be understood as meaning ugly, evil, or obscene painting. It criticizes painting with its own means and generally comes to be used in order to open new possibilities to the medium.

Using important works from the MUMOK collection and important works on loan from Europe and the USA, the exhibition travels episodically through the past century up to the present. Positions from Picabia to Polke use 'bad painting' as a contrary position with regards to lifeless canons of all kinds, directing its critique towards traditional academic notions along with positions in the 20th century avant-garde that had become dogmatic. From this perspective, both well-known as well as lesser known works appear in a different light.

Museums Quartier Errichtungs und BetriebsgesmbH, Museumsplatz 1/5, A-1070 Vienna