I think the purpose of art is not really for perfection but rather connection. Basically, art is a form of expression; it's about emotions, communication, and an interpretation that an artist gives the artwork. This is why, in my opinion, it's difficult to tag an artwork as "bad art."
From a viewer's perception, it might look meaningless; the artwork might not meet your expectations or criteria for the context it is representing, but that doesn't make it bad art. It's even tricky to tag it as bad because art is simply subjective. I will give you a practical example to prove my point on this subject.
Some time last year, my son's school invited parents to come and witness the art exhibition event. I attended because my son was part of the young artists exhibiting their art skills. I was very much involved in the process, buying all the paintings and other materials he used for the project, so my presence over there was for me to watch how he can boldly express his artwork to the audience, and good enough, he made me proud. So while I was there with other parents, we saw a messy painting by one of my sons' classmates. Different colors were all over his work and not structured nor organized at all, and we were like, "Oh, this pupil just made a mess of the whole art project.Funny enough, we laughed over it on a low key, lol.
Surprisingly, the teacher came and called the guy by name, Akorede. Can you please explain your paintings? The young boy said that he expresses his feelings when his mom is in transit and he is missing her. Wow, I took a closer look at his paintings again, and it started making more sense to me. Initially, we concluded that the young boy made a mess of his own artwork, but it was obvious that he truly expressed his imaginations and told his life stories through art. I was forced to dash the young artist a little cash for such bold expression even when we tagged it a messy artwork initially.
That particular experience changed my perspective about art. It's not really about my shallow understanding of the artwork but the effort the artist has put in, which I believe only he can fully understand because he must have thought of something before expressing it through art. Even a little sketch could mean something deep for the artist, while viewers could tag it as meaningless until they understand it.
Even if there is an art contest targeted to draw a particular object, and I come across one that isn't looking great, it is still not enough to label it bad; it simply didn't meet the judges' expectations.
You see? Can we really say that there is a thing like bad art? If we agree that art is a form of expression, then I don't think anyone can be bad for expressing himself through art.
This is my response to the #Hive Learners prompt on the title, "Bad Art."
All images are art work projects by my son