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Bad Art 2: 2 Bad Asks, "Isn't All Art Created Equal?"

The hierarchy between high and lowbrow artwork gets flipped on its head with the sophomore showing of 'Bad Art.'
Louie Miles. All images courtesy of Stour Space

With a mixture of paintings, drawings, sculpture, and video, the newest iteration of the "Bar Art" exhibit, Bad Art 2: 2 Bad, at London's Stour Space, aims to flip the idea of highbrow artwork on its head. An idea of injecting sincerity (over irony) into the artwork drives the overarching question, “What is modern art?” The exhibit is brash with its loud, Pop-y works, covering everything from a fridgeful of unmarked groceries, to a Sharpie portrait of Kanye West.

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Bad Art 2 brandishes its self-deprecating title to the fullest, examining what it means to categorize art as product of intention, or maybe just child’s play. What’s significant is the exhibit isn’t too wrapped up in itself, instead enjoying a little fun at the expense of the modern art intelligentsia. After all, the success of the exhibit depends partially on the series’ appeal as “contemporary art.” As the official press release shares, “The exhibition aims to question why certain art is ‘bad’ while other art hangs gloriously in the National Gallery, or why one person’s pretty seascape is to another the epitome of kitsch.”

Oscar Farmer

Artist Louie Miles, who created the portrait of a man wearing a bandana with the caption “All Dogs Go to Heaven,” shares his perspective with The Creators Project: “To infer a definition of ‘bad’ on art as a subjective medium would be redundant; in a formal sense ‘bad art’ could surely only be anything that is unintentionally ‘unfinished’ or ‘incomplete’, or created with the express intention of not being art.”

“In fairly bleak times we find this sincerity in our collective anxiety,” Miles continues. “It’s a liberation to be able to reclaim and revel in one’s own misery by celebrating the dirty, the lurid and the disreputable aspects of art, modernity and society."

Check out some of the "bad" artworks below:

Alexander Glass

Jessica Forrest

Nicholas Gizbert

Alexander Glass

Anna Choutova

Anna Choutova

Kiya Major

Nisha Desai

Bad Art 2: 2 Bad begins showing July 2, 2016 at Stour Space in London. Learn more about the exhibit, here.

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