Beauty?

In one of my painting classes I was once given the assignment, make a good painting and a bad painting, when we all came to the next class our definition of painting was changed forever. Some of us tried to make a bad painting by breaking every rule, the subject was in the center, using contrasting colors, etc. and some of us chose to depict something bad, a gas mask and fire. Those who made "ugly" paintings made quite good painting for all the reasons that they should have been bad. It was then that I realized painting, art for that matter rarely is bad or "ugly."

"1st Wire Bridge," 1971
Florist wire, nails, 37 1/2 x 38 1/2 overall
The Rachofsky Collection, Dallas 
The works of Richard Tuttle can be seen by some as bad or "ugly," yes they can be difficult to understand at first glance but then you realize the subtly in them and they are no longer what you first encountered.  Some are as simple as a pencil line drawn on the shadow of a wire or a length of rope nailed to the wall. 

"3rd Rope Piece," 1974
Cotton and nails, 1/2 x 3 x 1/2 inches
Collection Dorothy and Herbert Vogel, New York

Beauty can be found in most anything, therefore art cannot be ugly but it is also not always beautiful.