Ugly art: aesthetically heretical?
My submission for the 2011 MoCA (MOA) Masks fundraiser was ugly... well-rendered IMHO, but unpleasant to look at (especially compared with everything else in the gallery). It had a little creative writing anecdote to go along with it, but basically I felt (and still do feel) a little bad for making something so unattractive for a show that's supposed to be friendly and fun. Oops. That's just what came out. The picture's posted in my portfolio gallery, but there's no room for the story, so I'm posting it here:
The Wake-up Call...
...during which our hero discovers he is not, in fact, desirable...but charmless, homeless, feckless, reeking, careless, car-less, career-less—ugly all around—strung out, hard up, hung-over, caved in, patted down, knuckled under...devoid of most of his memory and the magnetism that made him...and on the very last page of an exhausted Little Black Book of ex-dealers, ex-groupies, ex-sponsors, ex-bandmates and ex-friends who no longer want anything to do with him. The best time to actually face the music, pal...would have been yesterday.
I like the idea of ugly art... but I'm not sure I'd like it hanging in my actual house. Are their ugly art aficionados in the mainstream public?