Wyoming Humanities Network

So far, we’ve talked quite a lot about high art. But what about the history of design, say? Or folk art? Or out-and-out kitsch?

Enter The Museum of Online Museums, a clearinghouse of collections big and small. Sure, they’ve got links to heavy hitters like the Rijksmuseum and The Art Institute of Chicago, but they also feature quirky online exhibits like Toothpaste World, the Gallery of Pulp Paperback Covers, and the Virtual Shoe Museum. Prefer audio collections? Try the Speech Accent Archive or the Locomotive Horn Sound File Collection. My personal favorites are Plan59 (of course), which bills itself as “The Museum of Mid-Century illustration,” and the Condiment Packet Gallery.

Since collage is one of my recent obsessions, I’ve also enjoyed nu-real: a timeline of fantastic photomontage and its possible influences, 1857-2007. I do wish the photomontages were bigger, but I’ve enjoyed scrolling through and reading random entries about the form’s various incarnations.

Finally, if satire is your thing, the Museum of Bad Art (MOBA), whose stated goal is “to bring the worst of art to the widest of audiences,” might just become your new favorite online hangout. The works featured on MOBA, many of which are listed as “acquired from trash,” are accompanied by mock serious interpretations. Here’s the one that accompanies Mama and Babe, right:

The flesh tones bring to mind the top shelf liqueurs of a border bistro. With an astonishing emphasis on facial bone structure, the artist flirts with caricature and captures features of Mamma’s face which remind us of a Presidential candidate. The upright marionettish pose of the babe hints that the early bond between mother and child is as formal as it is familiar. Good old fashioned parental respect is at the center of this celebration of color and contour.

If you think you can top that, you can enter MOBA’s “Guest Interpretator’s Challenge“!

They also sell t-shirts. What more could we ask for?