In a 2013 co-authored paper, (“Mere Exposure to Bad Art“), my co-authors and I present experimental results which suggest that mere exposure to bad art (e.g., the paintings of Thomas Kinkade) may decrease liking for it.

We discuss the research in two blog posts:

http://philosophycommons.typepad.com/xphi/2011/10/mere-exposure-to-bad-art-experiment-results.html

http://blog.oup.com/2013/07/what-makes-art-bad-exposure-effect/

Our work received some additional online attention. Here’s a selection of blogs which discuss it:

http://dish.andrewsullivan.com/2013/07/22/does-bad-art-grow-on-you/

http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/ideas/brainiac/2013/07/a_test_for_iden.html

http://www.economist.com/blogs/freeexchange/2013/08/behavioural-economics

http://www.theatlanticcities.com/arts-and-lifestyle/2013/08/even-though-hes-dead-people-are-still-ripping-painter-light-thomas-kinkade/6710/

http://glasstire.com/2013/09/02/researchers-discover-that-exposure-to-bad-art-just-makes-things-worse/

http://www.artmarketmonitor.com/2013/08/07/nature-versus-nurture-in-artists-reputations/

http://www.partiallyexaminedlife.com/2013/06/19/good-x-phi-and-bad-art/

http://phys.org/news/2013-03-exposure-piece-art.html