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Give your Bad Art new life at this unique Burnaby show and sale

Do you have artwork stored somewhere that no longer brings you joy? Maybe you painted it and now you’re less than proud of it. Or maybe it was passed on from Grandma’s attic.
iStock, paintings in frames
Do you have artwork hiding in storage that no longer brings you joy? This one's for you.

Do you have artwork stored somewhere that no longer brings you joy?

Maybe you painted it and now you’re less than proud of it. Or maybe it was passed on from Grandma’s attic. Or maybe you found it at a thrift store once and thought it was cool for five minutes before you realized it was just plain ugly.

Whatever the reason, the Burnaby Arts Council has the solution: Marie Kondo your art collection and bring your rejects to the Bad Art Sale.

The arts council is accepting donations of “bad art” for an upcoming exhibition and sale that will coincide with its ReVision: the art of recycling exhibition from Sept. 21 to Oct. 26. While the ReVision exhibition in the main gallery will feature a variety of artwork created from upcycled waste, the downstairs will be turned over to the Bad Art exhibition.

The Bad Art exhibition will be available for viewing until Oct. 26; you can buy pieces at any time during the exhibition and then pick it up at the closing night event, Oct. 26 from 7 to 9 p.m.

And what, may you ask, is bad art?

“Art that is too bad to be ignored!” the arts council explains in a write-up about the show. “Let’s celebrate bad art in all its forms. Sometimes an artist takes two or three attempts that ends up being gorgeous, but it is the artwork created in between that we want. We are looking for a range of work from talented and maybe not so talented artists that may have gone awry.”

The gallery is accepting original paintings only (no three-dimensional art or prints). Work can be dropped off during gallery hours – Tuesday to Saturday, noon to 4 p.m. – at 6584 Deer Lake Ave. Donations will now be accepted up to the end of September. (The originally announced cut-off date was Sept. 20, but it's been extended.)

If possible, the gallery would love you to provide a descriptive narrative about the artwork you’re donating – since, as the gallery write-up points out, it makes it more interesting for viewers at the exhibition to read a bit of history on the piece. There’s an artwork drop-off and donation form you can fill out at https://www.burnabyartscouncil.org/call-for-bad-art/; take the hard copy to the gallery with your painting.