Why Your "Worst" Work Still Matters.

Is bad art an ART? Who decides what “bad art” even means?

Something that we can all agree on is that art is totally subjective. What may appear masterful to some may look amateurish to others – the execution of an idea may land for some and fall flat for others. But what about art that is objectively BAD? For example, the proportions are off, the foreshortening is inaccurate, and the perspective is wonky. What about art that’s 𝘸𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘨?

In my opinion, art that is technically incorrect can hold a lot of merit. It often shows a different perspective on the world. Naïve and outsider art, for example, holds an important role in the art world. Being outsider opinions, their approaches are often novel and hold fresh meaning within them. The same subject is approached from a new light and angle. Often, outsider artists lack technical training but are self-taught, learning the essentials from scratch and molding them to their own unique language. Indeed, the art vocabulary within outsider art is much different than the lingo we’ve attained from classical paintings over the ages.

Outsider and naïve tattoos specifically are a topic of great debate. It’s unthinkable to some that a person could want art that looks like it was drawn by a five-year-old with a crayon on their body. But many great artists have noted that the child’s mind is the most precocious, the richest,  with a well of ideas waiting to spring forth. Picasso himself said that “it took (him) four years to paint like Raphael, but a lifetime to paint like a child.”

Indeed, it’s easy to look at history itself for examples of “bad” art. Picasso’s art was based on African art and was often looked down upon for its avant-garde style and references to Primitivism. The entire dadaist movement was laughed at for its novel and often outlandish values. So much of the art we see today and respect as staples of art history was once mocked or belittled.

So maybe when you see that painting where the hand is drawn incorrectly, think twice before judging. Does the lack of anatomy knowledge take away from the message of the piece or actually add to it? Maybe the imperfections in the piece make it so much more human and grounded in reality, somehow, than if the hand had been drawn correctly. 

And everyone makes bad art. No artist can claim to have made a hundred out of a hundred pieces perfectly. There are always mistakes littered throughout. But we can still be proud of these missteps and learn from them. A failed project is not a loss; instead, it’s a fertile ground for new ideas to take hold. Bad art is simply an intrinsic part of art – it’s an inherent part of the process, and we should embrace it with open arms.