History Main / AccidentalArt

* One commercial shows someone getting caught in the rain while carrying a painting. The paint starts running, and so the painting is later mistaken for an abstract piece.

Sometimes related to TrueArtIsIncomprehensible.

* In ''Fudge-A-Mania'' by JudyBlume, baby Tootsie accidentally walks through spilled paint and makes little footprints across one of Jimmy's father's canvases. He decides to make a series of "Baby Feet" paintings with her as a result. It's even referenced in ''Double Fudge,'' where Peter's family gets invited to a showing of Mr. Fargo's work, including the now wildly popular Baby Feet paintings.

** The "mistaken for art" thing should have a trope in its own right if it doesn't already.

* ''Series/{{Doctor Who}}:'' John Cleese cameos as an art appreciator who mistakes the TARDIS for a sculpture - understandably, as it's sitting in an art gallery. He's particularly impressed when the Fourth Doctor & Romana run inside, and it dematerialises.
** Possibly referenced in the Tenth Doctor story ''The Fires of Pompeii'', when the Tardis is sold as an example of 'modern art'.

* ''TheSimpsons'' mixes this with EurekaMoment. A cartoon version of RealLife architect Frank Gehry casually crumples up a letter and throws it onto the ground, gives it a look, and says to himself “[[http://travel.spotcoolstuff.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/simpsons-gehry.jpg Frank, you genius! You did it again!]]” He then scales up this "design" and makes it a concert hall. [[http://blog.miragestudio7.com/frank-gehry-and-the-simpsons/113/]]

* in The Simpsons in which a cartoon rendering of architect Frank Gehry casually tosses a piece of paper onto the ground, gives it a look and then says to himself “Frank, you genius! You did it again!” ''[[http://travel.spotcoolstuff.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/simpsons-gehry.jpg]]'' ''[[http://blog.miragestudio7.com/frank-gehry-and-the-simpsons/113/]]''

* One of the live-action bookends of TheSuperMarioBrothersSuperShow had Vincent van Gogh declare Mario's dropped plate of spaghetti as "pure genius!" and then promises Mario a lucrative career as an artist. Luigi eventually discovers that the guy is a scam artist posing as van Gogh, though they really should have been [[DeaderThanDead tipped off that he was a fake much earlier on]].

* ''{{Doctor Who}}:'' John Cleese cameos as an art appreciator who mistakes the TARDIS for a sculpture - understandably, as it's sitting in an art gallery. He's particularly impressed when the Fourth Doctor & Romana run inside, and it dematerialises.

* This is the subject of the satirical essay film ''[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I064sA-5xFU The Subconscious Art of Graffiti Removal]]''.

* in The Simpsons in which a cartoon rendering of architect Frank Gehry casually tosses a piece of paper onto the ground, gives it a look and then says to himself “Frank, you genius! You did it again!” ''[[http://travel.spotcoolstuff.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/simpsons-gehry.jpg]]''.

* ''TheSimpsons:'' Homer's attempt at a barbecue grill:
-->'''Art Critic:''' It's called "Outsider Art". It could be by a hillbilly, a mental patient, or a chimpanzee.

** This is one of the supposed origins of the chimichanga.

* In ''Fudge-A-Mania'' by JudyBlume, baby Tootsie accidentally walks through spilled paint and makes little footprints across one of Jimmy's father's canvases. He decides to make a series of "Baby Feet" paintings with her as a result.

* Inverted in ''RedDwarf''. Rimmer mistakes a lightswitch for an artistic masterpiece.

* ''SpongeBobSquarePants'':
** This is how the eponymous hero ends up creating the statue of David (with [[HandOrObjectUnderwear a sea shell covering the naughty bits]]).
** Squidward ends up creating the statue-he goes on a rampage and destroys the studio, but ends up accidentally creating a beautiful sculpture. Sponge Bob himself does it on purpose, just effortlessly.

* In "Fudge-A-Mania", baby Tootsie accidentally walks through spilled paint and makes little footprints across one of Jimmy's father's canvases. He decides to make a series of "Baby Feet" paintings with her as a result.

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* This is the subject of the satirical essay film [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I064sA-5xFU The Subconscious Art of Graffiti Removal]].

* Inverted in RedDwarf. Rimmer mistakes a lightswitch for an artistic masterpiece.

[[AC:{{VideoGames}}]]

* In ''Tapeheads'', the main characters run an unsuccessful music video company. When a DeathMetal band that they taped [[DeathFromAbove is crushed by a piece of falling satellite]], they're asked for a copy of the unpremiered video. Being low on funds, they put it on a video that previously held a videotaped funeral, accidentally copying only the audio. Fortunately, the song just happened to fit the funeral visuals very well, and it is lauded as a masterful work of art, even winning an award.

* In ''Tapeheads'', the main characters run an unsuccessful music video company. When one of the bands that they taped [[DeathFromAbove is crushed by a falling piece of satellite]], they're asked for a copy of the unpremiered video, and they put it on a video that previously held a videotaped funeral. The tape ends up with only the audio from the music video, which just happens to fit the funeral very well (as it was a DeathMetal band), and suddenly they are high-profile.