Indiscernibly Bad: The Problem of Bad Painting/Good Art

Abstract

Before the emergence of postmodernism, it was unusual to hear the judgment ‘bad painting’ alloyed with ‘good art’ – a peculiar formula that became the title and theme of an exhibition held in Vienna in 2008.1 Opening in the summer of 2008, Bad Painting/Good Art was a major survey exhibition that displayed twenty-one painters representing approximately ninety years of art history. By offering such a gamut, it made a cogent argument for the prevalence of bad painting in avant-garde and neo-avant-garde practice, while also demonstrating its currency in the contemporary artworld. And indeed, recent years have seen contemporary paintings of that ilk performing very well on the secondary market. For instance, Georg Baselitz and Albert Oehlen, who both exhibited in Bad Painting/Good Art, set new personal records for their auction turnover in 2017, at $9.1 million and $3.6 million respectively.2 The recent auction successes of George Condo, although not exhibited in Bad Painting/Good Art, likewise testify to continued interest in this mode of painting.