So we open with Mark doodling in his notebook... why is a picture of Ryan in his notebook? Weird...
Only two more challenges until the finale!
Uh-oh, teams again! Teamwork did not go so well last time...
Time to pick paint tubes.
They have to make a piece that is inspired by 'opposing forces'... I thought this would be an interesting challenge just because that topic (I guess you'd call it) seems so vague, but no, they got more specific: heaven and hell, male and female, order and chaos.
Jaclyn picked 'male/female', and Mark makes a snide remark about how 'she'll probably end up in some form of undress, but once you've seen 'em, no big deal'. Fuck you, Mark. Fuck you and your fat ass. Look, maybe that's how you feel about Jaclyn - that she's little more than a pretty girl playing artist dress-up, whatever - but you're a fat ass fry cook. FRY COOK. That's what comes up under your name during your 'confessionals'. And the fact that they have now focused on you TWICE in the first three minutes of the show means that you're the most likely one to go home. So suck on it.
And as a heterosexual male, I just want to say that Jaclyn's tits are a big deal. Doesn't matter how many times you see them. I'm just standing up for her because I think she's so talented.
Really.
I don't like these pairings. It would have been cute (although maybe disgusting) if Miles had been paired with Nicole. Miles had also expressed interest in "order/chaos" when Abdi picked it first, so I hope he's as enthusiastic about working on "male/female" with Jaclyn. It's good that those two got "male/female" meaning that both genders will be represented, but I would have been more interested to see a same sex pairing struggle with that one.
I'm also going to go ahead and say that I really hate it when Mark starts mugging for the camera. I just wanted to throw in one more FUCK YOU to him.
BUT THAT'S NOT WHAT THIS SHOW IS ABOUT. This show should not be about catty fights or secret crushes, this is supposed to be a show about art. They are presenting it in a very artless fashion. But why am I surprised? As if I couldn't have predicted this kind of shit.
And just when I had expected to settle back into the couch and start furrowing my brow, thinking about Big Ideas and Art, the tension between Mark and Peregrine jumped off the charts. Miles and Jaclyn seem to have their thing going, Abdi and Nicole are hashing out ideas (even though Nicole seems more adept at this than Abdi), but Mark and Peregrine start talking and it's obvious that they have very different processes. I suddenly remembered how throughout the past few episodes, the two of them have been taking shots at each other. I'm going to side with Peregrine on this one (as if you didn't see that coming). I think her ideas are more interesting than Mark's. He seems to want to do something literal, and I can't think of anything more boring than a literal representation of heaven and hell. I have a feeling that things are going to go from ugly to horrifying...
BUT WHY WOULD I WANT TO SEE THAT? Oh, reality TV. You are evil. Get away from me, you Devil!
I just had to go back and watch their brainstorming/passive aggressive argument for a second time. Obviously, we aren't getting the full story, since this has been chopped and edited together by the wonderful folks at Bravo. But it's so interesting how Peregrine sort of shuts down when Mark says that he wants her to pose naked for his piece. She can't even say 'naked', she says 'state of undress' when responding to his request. Mark counters, saying, 'I compromise more than you think I do.' Does he know that she's talked some smack about him in the past? What does this mean? It seems more like a backhanded compliment than an actual act of compromise. And then Peregrine says something about his scar... how she knows about this scar is unclear, but the look on Mark's face is very clear: BACK OFF. He says he doesn't mind, but c'mon, I'm sure that Mark is plenty self-conscious about his looks. When you're that overweight, it must be impossible to NOT be self-conscious, especially since he's by far the fugliest artist left.
AND HERE I GO AGAIN BEING A SHALLOW, LAME, REALITY TV COMMENTER WHO IS OVERWEIGHT HIMSELF AND HAS SOME REAL SELF-CONFIDENCE ISSUES. I'm going to go crack another beer now...
Ah, that's better.
So we see our television friends shopping for art supplies, and we get an interesting confession from Miles. He says that he has been scheming, trying to come up with a reason for Jaclyn to get naked for her piece. This seems exploitative, not because it's taking advantage of a woman, but because Jaclyn has already used her own body and self-image many times before. This seems like a dangerous move for her. If she lets Miles talk her into this, I'm concerned that the judges will say that she is not showing any growth.
Abdi is having trouble. I think he's been having more and more trouble coming up with ideas as the show has raged on. Granted, participating in a show like this must be extremely demanding, but I think he's just out of his depth.
Peregrine has officially become my favorite. I can't believe she actually picked up all those discarded cigarettes off the street to use in her piece. The piece itself is looking awesome, by the way.
The guest judge is Ryan McGuiness, and from the moment they showed us a few quick glimpses of his work, I knew I would have to check out his stuff.
The judges have a lot to say, and again, I'm in agreement with much of what they said.
Mark and Jaclyn definitely deserved to win, and props to Miles for not taking all the credit, even though it really was all his idea.
And Mark is going home! So long, dude. To his credit, he seems to have taken it in stride.
Lot of crying by other people though. China seemed to have a really hard time dismissing Mark, perhaps because Peregrine looked like she was about to cry herself.
Only two more episodes! Can't wait.
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Episode 7, 7/20/10
Jaclyn cutting apples. Abdi praying. Ryan sleeping. AND WE'RE BACK!
Mark starts off talking about the 'controversy' of Erik leaving the show. I'm still bummed out about Erik's rebellion last week, mostly because it brought to light all that is ugly about reality TV. It's such a cliche at this point, one person throwing a fit and being uncooperative, resulting in their dismissal from the show. I hope it isn't going to take a toll on the remaining artists.
But then Mark throws in an interesting comment... it seems that he agrees with Erik's assessment of Miles: that Miles is playing some sort of role, or that he's faking it. What's undeniable is Miles's talent in his work, something that is not so undeniable in Mark, or in Ryan, for that matter. Not that I don't think those two guys are good; they are, but I don't think their work has been as consistently good as Miles's.
And straight to Miles! He says he woke up craving Corn Flakes, and then rejoiced in Erik's departure. Well, I would too - ultimately the blame must be put on Erik for creating such an ugly atmosphere.
The remaining artists get together to hang out, which is nice to see. We get a revealing confession from Ryan, who says that he was raised as a Jehovah's Witness, and that his separation from the church created a large divide between him and his mother. Looking back, the comments that Ryan made about his piece for the "Shock Art" challenge about making a piece that would upset his mother seem a lot more potent.
I love Simon's energy. He's like a Swiss version of Willy Wonka, so passionate about art.
And he takes them to a children's museum in Soho! We see a few quick shots of children's artwork, and I'm sure that one of the drawings was supposed to be Michael Jackson. Funny stuff.
Their challenge: create a piece of art inspired by the experiences that made them an artist.
For me, I instantly thought of my childhood car drawings. I used to draw cars all the time when I was young - they didn't look like cars, they looked like lumpy potatoes with wheels. But that was what I drew, and I must have drawn hundreds of them.
I love how excited Nicole is with this challenge. Abdi looks thrilled too. I don't think anyone else shares their enthusiasm.
So far, they've focused a lot on Ryan. That leads me to believe that he will be the one eliminated. I HATE IT when Bravo does this - they make it so obvious as to who will be cut because we see more of that person throughout the episode than anyone else.
Abdi goes back to his comfort zone: superheroes. I guess for this challenge it makes sense, since they are supposed to draw from their own past, but I think Abdi has sort of over-used the superhero thing.
I'm a bit concerned about Miles's piece, because he seems to be ignoring the challenge completely. He's re-doing a piece that he made nine months prior, obviously a time much more recent than his childhood, formative years.
Jaclyn's story about her lonely childhood is heartbreaking. I think it's a bit mean of Bravo to ask a group of artists to re-explore their childhood, because most artists did not have happy childhood - it's what made them artists in the first place, the need to express themselves in ways that they could not express themselves in their daily life.
I had to rewind and re-watch the shots of Ryan lounging in the ball pit. I wonder if he knew how silly this looked at the time.
Peregrine seems sincere, but her art is definitely moving in a creepy direction. Then again, it sounds like she had a sort of creepy childhood, so I guess that makes sense. Just more reason why it's dangerous to ask artists to look back on their childhood. Artists are not normal people; they are the kids who were picked on, who had abusive parents, who retreated to their rooms to draw in silence as a means of therapy. That being said - I really like her cigarettes being made out of chalk.
In the end, it looks like everyone had a hard time with this challenge.
There's a guest judge, Will Cotton. We see only a few quick samples of his work, and it looks very interesting - I'll have to check it out.
I don't understand how Mark and Miles weren't being considered for elimination. I thought that their pieces were the weakest. Maybe the judges felt their pieces were weak too, but that Abdi's, Jackyln's, and Ryan's pieces were simply the worst of the bunch.
I'm happy to see Peregrine pick up a win for this challenge. Her piece was inviting and interesting, and it's good that she got at least one win in.
And so Ryan was sent home, just like I predicted. I felt really bad for him, but I liked his comment about how happy he was to be able to return to doing what he does best: realistic oil paintings. So I'm sure he'll be alright.
Mark starts off talking about the 'controversy' of Erik leaving the show. I'm still bummed out about Erik's rebellion last week, mostly because it brought to light all that is ugly about reality TV. It's such a cliche at this point, one person throwing a fit and being uncooperative, resulting in their dismissal from the show. I hope it isn't going to take a toll on the remaining artists.
But then Mark throws in an interesting comment... it seems that he agrees with Erik's assessment of Miles: that Miles is playing some sort of role, or that he's faking it. What's undeniable is Miles's talent in his work, something that is not so undeniable in Mark, or in Ryan, for that matter. Not that I don't think those two guys are good; they are, but I don't think their work has been as consistently good as Miles's.
And straight to Miles! He says he woke up craving Corn Flakes, and then rejoiced in Erik's departure. Well, I would too - ultimately the blame must be put on Erik for creating such an ugly atmosphere.
The remaining artists get together to hang out, which is nice to see. We get a revealing confession from Ryan, who says that he was raised as a Jehovah's Witness, and that his separation from the church created a large divide between him and his mother. Looking back, the comments that Ryan made about his piece for the "Shock Art" challenge about making a piece that would upset his mother seem a lot more potent.
I love Simon's energy. He's like a Swiss version of Willy Wonka, so passionate about art.
And he takes them to a children's museum in Soho! We see a few quick shots of children's artwork, and I'm sure that one of the drawings was supposed to be Michael Jackson. Funny stuff.
Their challenge: create a piece of art inspired by the experiences that made them an artist.
For me, I instantly thought of my childhood car drawings. I used to draw cars all the time when I was young - they didn't look like cars, they looked like lumpy potatoes with wheels. But that was what I drew, and I must have drawn hundreds of them.
I love how excited Nicole is with this challenge. Abdi looks thrilled too. I don't think anyone else shares their enthusiasm.
So far, they've focused a lot on Ryan. That leads me to believe that he will be the one eliminated. I HATE IT when Bravo does this - they make it so obvious as to who will be cut because we see more of that person throughout the episode than anyone else.
Abdi goes back to his comfort zone: superheroes. I guess for this challenge it makes sense, since they are supposed to draw from their own past, but I think Abdi has sort of over-used the superhero thing.
I'm a bit concerned about Miles's piece, because he seems to be ignoring the challenge completely. He's re-doing a piece that he made nine months prior, obviously a time much more recent than his childhood, formative years.
Jaclyn's story about her lonely childhood is heartbreaking. I think it's a bit mean of Bravo to ask a group of artists to re-explore their childhood, because most artists did not have happy childhood - it's what made them artists in the first place, the need to express themselves in ways that they could not express themselves in their daily life.
I had to rewind and re-watch the shots of Ryan lounging in the ball pit. I wonder if he knew how silly this looked at the time.
Peregrine seems sincere, but her art is definitely moving in a creepy direction. Then again, it sounds like she had a sort of creepy childhood, so I guess that makes sense. Just more reason why it's dangerous to ask artists to look back on their childhood. Artists are not normal people; they are the kids who were picked on, who had abusive parents, who retreated to their rooms to draw in silence as a means of therapy. That being said - I really like her cigarettes being made out of chalk.
In the end, it looks like everyone had a hard time with this challenge.
There's a guest judge, Will Cotton. We see only a few quick samples of his work, and it looks very interesting - I'll have to check it out.
I don't understand how Mark and Miles weren't being considered for elimination. I thought that their pieces were the weakest. Maybe the judges felt their pieces were weak too, but that Abdi's, Jackyln's, and Ryan's pieces were simply the worst of the bunch.
I'm happy to see Peregrine pick up a win for this challenge. Her piece was inviting and interesting, and it's good that she got at least one win in.
And so Ryan was sent home, just like I predicted. I felt really bad for him, but I liked his comment about how happy he was to be able to return to doing what he does best: realistic oil paintings. So I'm sure he'll be alright.
Thursday, July 15, 2010
Episode 6, 7/14/10
Public art! The artists are brought to a public art space at Canal & 6th Avenue and told that they must create their own piece of public work, but there's a catch: they must work as a team.
The space itself sort of resembles a playground. There looks to be a loose gravel 'floor' and lots of open air. There's a chain link fence around the space, meaning there are no walls. Whoever designed the art that is currently on display apparently really, really likes step-ladders since they are the basis of the art that we see.
The teamwork thing is going to be tough. On Top Chef, the chef-testants are constantly having to work as a team. This makes sense though, because a restaurant kitchen is never just one chef; everyone must work together to get the food prepped, cooked, and out on time. In the art world, an artist may hire assistants to help with a particularly large project (such as an outdoor sculpture) but there is one clear leader who designs the piece. We are down to eight artists, and they are split into teams of four.
MILES, ERIK, JACLYN, and PEREGRINE:
I think this team is the team to beat. Miles and Jaclyn have more wins than anyone else, and Miles seems to have a good handle on sculpture. I don't think Peregrine has done any sculpture work yet, but she seems enthusiastic about the project and doesn't seem to have a big ego, so her personality is probably going to work well for the. Erik seems enthused about the project as well, but while he doesn't really have an ego problem, he has had controversy between himself and Jaclyn and himself and Miles. The opening of the show dwells on him for a few seconds more than anyone else, leading me to believe that he will be the one sent home this week. This team might not be the winning team after all.
RYAN, NICOLE, ABDI, and MARK:
Ryan is a painter without direction. Mark is a photographer. Abdi has trouble finishing his projects on time. The strongest person on this team, I believe, is Nicole, yet Nicole's work has not received much praise from the critics up until this point. She also seems very excited about the project, and we watch her commune with the space to try and harness its natural energy, and sure enough, she takes the lead of her team.
Miles takes the lead on the opposite team. Someone has to come up with the basic idea to which all other ideas are weighed against. Eric stresses that he wants to remain a vital part of the design process, so that he can defend his efforts when it comes time for the crit. Interestingly, Miles says that he expects Erik to 'flourish' in a team environment - only a few minutes later, Erik seems to disprove this. However, Peregrine still says that they have a great team.
Nicole has stolen rocks and pebbles from the space - I wonder if she plans on returning them?
Mark reveals to us that he does actually have experience with sculpture. What a relief for his teammates! We are shown a few snapshots of his metal sculpture work and they are really cool!
Watching Ryan try to break the plank of wood over his knee is hilarious.
I'm less than halfway through the show, and it's now painfully obvious that my boy Erik is going to be eliminated. We see Miles doing all sorts of fancy stuff to their wooden sculpture, and then we cut away to Erik, standing in the distance, looking lost and confused, and probably jealous of Miles since he's getting all the attention and praise from Jaclyn and Peregrine.
Something very interesting happens when Simon comes to check out the work. When he talks to Team Miles, Erik is standing on one side of the half-finished scuplture and the other three teammates are on the other. Simon asks what 'the message' of this piece is, and Erik is about to respond when Miles interupts him. Simon asks if they enjoy working as a team, and the three people who are not Erik all say 'yes'.
But what's most interesting is Erik's comment on his teammates delivering their 'typical art school crap' lines to Simon, underlining the fact that Erik is not a studied artist. Even though he might not realize it, Erik is obviously very jealous of his teammates (and probably the four artists on the competing team as well), even though he has shown plenty of talent. The fact that he has already survived five rounds of eliminations, on top of the fact that the producers of the show chose him to compete, speaks highly of his talent. If only he could believe in himself more and quit feeling inferior, he'd be a more formidable opponent.
Right after Simon leaves (or at least, that's what the editors want us to believe), Erik lashes out at Miles, saying (to Miles face!) that he thinks Miles is a fake and 'an actor', just playing the part of 'the tortured artist'. He says he is not excited about the sculpture and pretty much walks away from it. At this point, what can his teammates do? How can they talk him down when he's behaving like this? Did they treat him unfairly? It's hard to say - anything that I, the viewer, sees has been edited and molded into a linear story-line. I really liked Erik at the beginning, but there's no call for his abandonment of the project.
It's very interesting that Mark backs up Erik, saying that he feels the same way about Miles. I wonder if Mark, who is on the opposite team, will stick up for Erik when it's Erik's head on the chopping block.
Between commercials, we get a look at Ryan doing an impression of Miles. "This is how Miles makes coffee," he says, and then starts banging around the kitchen and spilling water on the floor. It's funny, but it belies Ryan's own jealousy of Miles. Not only has Miles won two challenges so far, he's getting all the attention from the remaining female artists. I'd be jealous too.
Sure enough, it is Erik that is sent home. This ruling was a little troubling to me, only because the judges seemed to like Miles/Peregrine/Jaclyn's (I purposely left Erik out) scuplture more than the other team. But the second team, Nicole/Ryan/Mark/Abdi all worked so harmoniously together, I think that the judges wouldn't have been able to figure out who to send home. I'm assuming that the rules the judges agreed to was that only a member of the 'losing' team would be eliminated. Erik had no justification for his actions, and he was the only one of the eight remaining artists who would have any cause to be sent home. What a fool he was for walking into his own elimination like that.
I hope to check out the space where the art was put up - I wonder if the two sculptures are still there?
The space itself sort of resembles a playground. There looks to be a loose gravel 'floor' and lots of open air. There's a chain link fence around the space, meaning there are no walls. Whoever designed the art that is currently on display apparently really, really likes step-ladders since they are the basis of the art that we see.
The teamwork thing is going to be tough. On Top Chef, the chef-testants are constantly having to work as a team. This makes sense though, because a restaurant kitchen is never just one chef; everyone must work together to get the food prepped, cooked, and out on time. In the art world, an artist may hire assistants to help with a particularly large project (such as an outdoor sculpture) but there is one clear leader who designs the piece. We are down to eight artists, and they are split into teams of four.
MILES, ERIK, JACLYN, and PEREGRINE:
I think this team is the team to beat. Miles and Jaclyn have more wins than anyone else, and Miles seems to have a good handle on sculpture. I don't think Peregrine has done any sculpture work yet, but she seems enthusiastic about the project and doesn't seem to have a big ego, so her personality is probably going to work well for the. Erik seems enthused about the project as well, but while he doesn't really have an ego problem, he has had controversy between himself and Jaclyn and himself and Miles. The opening of the show dwells on him for a few seconds more than anyone else, leading me to believe that he will be the one sent home this week. This team might not be the winning team after all.
RYAN, NICOLE, ABDI, and MARK:
Ryan is a painter without direction. Mark is a photographer. Abdi has trouble finishing his projects on time. The strongest person on this team, I believe, is Nicole, yet Nicole's work has not received much praise from the critics up until this point. She also seems very excited about the project, and we watch her commune with the space to try and harness its natural energy, and sure enough, she takes the lead of her team.
Miles takes the lead on the opposite team. Someone has to come up with the basic idea to which all other ideas are weighed against. Eric stresses that he wants to remain a vital part of the design process, so that he can defend his efforts when it comes time for the crit. Interestingly, Miles says that he expects Erik to 'flourish' in a team environment - only a few minutes later, Erik seems to disprove this. However, Peregrine still says that they have a great team.
Nicole has stolen rocks and pebbles from the space - I wonder if she plans on returning them?
Mark reveals to us that he does actually have experience with sculpture. What a relief for his teammates! We are shown a few snapshots of his metal sculpture work and they are really cool!
Watching Ryan try to break the plank of wood over his knee is hilarious.
I'm less than halfway through the show, and it's now painfully obvious that my boy Erik is going to be eliminated. We see Miles doing all sorts of fancy stuff to their wooden sculpture, and then we cut away to Erik, standing in the distance, looking lost and confused, and probably jealous of Miles since he's getting all the attention and praise from Jaclyn and Peregrine.
Something very interesting happens when Simon comes to check out the work. When he talks to Team Miles, Erik is standing on one side of the half-finished scuplture and the other three teammates are on the other. Simon asks what 'the message' of this piece is, and Erik is about to respond when Miles interupts him. Simon asks if they enjoy working as a team, and the three people who are not Erik all say 'yes'.
But what's most interesting is Erik's comment on his teammates delivering their 'typical art school crap' lines to Simon, underlining the fact that Erik is not a studied artist. Even though he might not realize it, Erik is obviously very jealous of his teammates (and probably the four artists on the competing team as well), even though he has shown plenty of talent. The fact that he has already survived five rounds of eliminations, on top of the fact that the producers of the show chose him to compete, speaks highly of his talent. If only he could believe in himself more and quit feeling inferior, he'd be a more formidable opponent.
Right after Simon leaves (or at least, that's what the editors want us to believe), Erik lashes out at Miles, saying (to Miles face!) that he thinks Miles is a fake and 'an actor', just playing the part of 'the tortured artist'. He says he is not excited about the sculpture and pretty much walks away from it. At this point, what can his teammates do? How can they talk him down when he's behaving like this? Did they treat him unfairly? It's hard to say - anything that I, the viewer, sees has been edited and molded into a linear story-line. I really liked Erik at the beginning, but there's no call for his abandonment of the project.
It's very interesting that Mark backs up Erik, saying that he feels the same way about Miles. I wonder if Mark, who is on the opposite team, will stick up for Erik when it's Erik's head on the chopping block.
Between commercials, we get a look at Ryan doing an impression of Miles. "This is how Miles makes coffee," he says, and then starts banging around the kitchen and spilling water on the floor. It's funny, but it belies Ryan's own jealousy of Miles. Not only has Miles won two challenges so far, he's getting all the attention from the remaining female artists. I'd be jealous too.
Sure enough, it is Erik that is sent home. This ruling was a little troubling to me, only because the judges seemed to like Miles/Peregrine/Jaclyn's (I purposely left Erik out) scuplture more than the other team. But the second team, Nicole/Ryan/Mark/Abdi all worked so harmoniously together, I think that the judges wouldn't have been able to figure out who to send home. I'm assuming that the rules the judges agreed to was that only a member of the 'losing' team would be eliminated. Erik had no justification for his actions, and he was the only one of the eight remaining artists who would have any cause to be sent home. What a fool he was for walking into his own elimination like that.
I hope to check out the space where the art was put up - I wonder if the two sculptures are still there?
Monday, July 12, 2010
Episode 5, 7/7/10
Uh-oh... it's 5:30 AM and Simon comes strutting into the dorms... perhaps the challenge is to create a work inspired by breakfast foods?
Everyone assembles outside, and Simon tells them that they will be handed the keys to an Audi SUV. What?! Is this episode sponsored by Audi, then? We're bound to see some Audi commercials during the breaks...
They pile in the cars and start driving to 47th and Park. Not clear what the purpose of the SUV's were other than to plug a sponsor.
But wait! It turns out that their final destination is a place called the Audi Forum. I'm not clear on what the Audi Forum is though - it looks like a dealership showroom. Perhaps it's a sort of museum. Maybe this is the Audi US Headquarters and the execs like to keep a couple of their products in the lobby to remind them what business they are in as they walk through the door every day.
I should be excited about this challenge, because I'm a big car buff. Audis are sleek and luxurious cars, and they are definitely high on style and automotive beauty. But what exactly is their function in this challenge? The challenge is to create a work of art based on the art-testants' morning journey to the Audi Forum... but how is crawling through early rush hour traffic in Manhattan 'a journey'? What are they going to find their inspiration? We saw them checking out the skyscrapers on the way in, maybe they'll do something with that. Are they going to incorporate the Audis themselves into the work? Perhaps something inspired by their early-morning wake-up call?
If I were one of the artists, I would wonder if 'sucking up' to Audi as a brand would guarantee my own safety. This is a bit cynical, but it's very obvious that Audi paid a lot of money to get their brand into this episode. Something tells me that the producers are hoping to get a piece of art that will make the Audi folks happy. Maybe they're hoping for something so Audi-positive that they can turn around and sell it to Audi for use in a commercial.
Quite frankly, this stinks. I have nothing against the show reaching out to sponsors, because after all, most art forms are dependent on sponsors and patrons. That's just the way it works. But to force Audi into the spotlight and give a little wink and a nudge to the artists to include that sponsor into their work is a bit slimy.
There is something seriously wrong with Miles. He's sleeping on the job, again?
Is Jaclyn really full of herself or is she just very self-aware? What a surprise, she notices men on the street watching her in the window. Hmm. Who would have thought that the thing blond girl would attract some attention?
Ryan takes a playful jab at Nicole and Miles looking like 'a match made in Urban Outfitters heaven', and the funny part is that he's right.
It's nice to hear Erik talk about his girlfriend and express his desire to make a work for her this round, instead of something dark like his usual thing. We see a picture of him and his girl, and they look very happy together, although not quite a match made in U.O. heaven. But I see him incorporating a photograph of one of the Audis in the showroom - not sure how that will translate into the 'softer' approach that he describes.
So Mark is painting! He put down the camera for this one. Will he show his skills or wish that he had snapped some more photos?
SPOILER ALERT! I had the end of this episode already ruined for me. I know that Jamie-Lynn goes home. But I feel like I would have guessed that from the first moment that we peek in on what she's working on... little pictures of herself dancing? I don't get it. It's way too cutesy (this is a show about New Yawk ah-tists, honey) and I don't see how it even fits into the challenge.
Abdi has many praises for Jaclyn's work, and it's amusing how supportive Abdi is to his fellow artists. He doesn't behave like this is a competition, he shows no signs of wishing failure on the others and he doesn't talk about his work being better than the rest. This is probably both a good thing and a bad thing. Good because it allows him to focus on simply doing the work that he needs to do without getting caught up in the drama of it all, but bad because he needs to keep pushing himself to be the best in the group if he is going to win.
I like the boldness of Abdi's piece. I like the large size and the bold, bright colors. It will definitely stand out in the gallery.
And here comes more flirting between Miles and Nicole. I'm sure that the people at Bravo are thrilled about this development. Erik makes an interesting point - he claims that Miles is simply putting on a show for the cameras and for the judges. He could be right. Whatever the case, Miles is probably the most interesting of all the artists as a person. I hope that he knows that.
Nicole's piece seems tailor-made for an Audi commercial. She describes the Audi's ride as being 'light', like she were floating almost. I'm sure that the judges are going to eat this one up if she does it right. The show's producers are probably going to step in and make sure that she makes it to the next round for giving their sponsor such a strong endorsement.
Peregrine's piece also seems like it could be used in an Audi ad campaign, maybe as a series of print ads. Her work uses the name Audi to create puns and word-driven jokes, which is always an effective technique in advertising to get the potential customers to remember the name of the product. Her piece doesn't look that complex, however, and at this stage looks a bit cheap. If she ends up on the bottom again, that's going to make for one lousy track record so far. I would have much preferred to see one of the pieces she describes making at home, using clippings from fashion magazines and porno magazines.
Simon comes in, makes some playful banter with Jamie-Lynn, gives Jacklyn a pat on the back, and wanders over to Ryan to peg him as a narcissist. Simon asks Ryan if he is aware that he has done a self-portrat for every challenge. Um, so did Jaclyn, and no one seems to mind. I don't disagree that Ryan's piece looks like a mess, but I'm just sayin...
Now that everyone is a bit more familiar with the other artists, there seems to be more trash-talking. Yikes! Erik has the nastiest comments about Miles's art, calling it 'garbage'. It's one thing for the artists to say that they don't like this piece or that piece, but to say that someone's art is garbage is going to far. I like Erik, but Miles is clearly the more talented artist here.
And special guest judge Richard Phillips! I wonder what kind of car he drives.
And so congrats to Jaclyn, and good luck to the newly departed Jamie-Lynn.
Everyone assembles outside, and Simon tells them that they will be handed the keys to an Audi SUV. What?! Is this episode sponsored by Audi, then? We're bound to see some Audi commercials during the breaks...
They pile in the cars and start driving to 47th and Park. Not clear what the purpose of the SUV's were other than to plug a sponsor.
But wait! It turns out that their final destination is a place called the Audi Forum. I'm not clear on what the Audi Forum is though - it looks like a dealership showroom. Perhaps it's a sort of museum. Maybe this is the Audi US Headquarters and the execs like to keep a couple of their products in the lobby to remind them what business they are in as they walk through the door every day.
I should be excited about this challenge, because I'm a big car buff. Audis are sleek and luxurious cars, and they are definitely high on style and automotive beauty. But what exactly is their function in this challenge? The challenge is to create a work of art based on the art-testants' morning journey to the Audi Forum... but how is crawling through early rush hour traffic in Manhattan 'a journey'? What are they going to find their inspiration? We saw them checking out the skyscrapers on the way in, maybe they'll do something with that. Are they going to incorporate the Audis themselves into the work? Perhaps something inspired by their early-morning wake-up call?
If I were one of the artists, I would wonder if 'sucking up' to Audi as a brand would guarantee my own safety. This is a bit cynical, but it's very obvious that Audi paid a lot of money to get their brand into this episode. Something tells me that the producers are hoping to get a piece of art that will make the Audi folks happy. Maybe they're hoping for something so Audi-positive that they can turn around and sell it to Audi for use in a commercial.
Quite frankly, this stinks. I have nothing against the show reaching out to sponsors, because after all, most art forms are dependent on sponsors and patrons. That's just the way it works. But to force Audi into the spotlight and give a little wink and a nudge to the artists to include that sponsor into their work is a bit slimy.
There is something seriously wrong with Miles. He's sleeping on the job, again?
Is Jaclyn really full of herself or is she just very self-aware? What a surprise, she notices men on the street watching her in the window. Hmm. Who would have thought that the thing blond girl would attract some attention?
Ryan takes a playful jab at Nicole and Miles looking like 'a match made in Urban Outfitters heaven', and the funny part is that he's right.
It's nice to hear Erik talk about his girlfriend and express his desire to make a work for her this round, instead of something dark like his usual thing. We see a picture of him and his girl, and they look very happy together, although not quite a match made in U.O. heaven. But I see him incorporating a photograph of one of the Audis in the showroom - not sure how that will translate into the 'softer' approach that he describes.
So Mark is painting! He put down the camera for this one. Will he show his skills or wish that he had snapped some more photos?
SPOILER ALERT! I had the end of this episode already ruined for me. I know that Jamie-Lynn goes home. But I feel like I would have guessed that from the first moment that we peek in on what she's working on... little pictures of herself dancing? I don't get it. It's way too cutesy (this is a show about New Yawk ah-tists, honey) and I don't see how it even fits into the challenge.
Abdi has many praises for Jaclyn's work, and it's amusing how supportive Abdi is to his fellow artists. He doesn't behave like this is a competition, he shows no signs of wishing failure on the others and he doesn't talk about his work being better than the rest. This is probably both a good thing and a bad thing. Good because it allows him to focus on simply doing the work that he needs to do without getting caught up in the drama of it all, but bad because he needs to keep pushing himself to be the best in the group if he is going to win.
I like the boldness of Abdi's piece. I like the large size and the bold, bright colors. It will definitely stand out in the gallery.
And here comes more flirting between Miles and Nicole. I'm sure that the people at Bravo are thrilled about this development. Erik makes an interesting point - he claims that Miles is simply putting on a show for the cameras and for the judges. He could be right. Whatever the case, Miles is probably the most interesting of all the artists as a person. I hope that he knows that.
Nicole's piece seems tailor-made for an Audi commercial. She describes the Audi's ride as being 'light', like she were floating almost. I'm sure that the judges are going to eat this one up if she does it right. The show's producers are probably going to step in and make sure that she makes it to the next round for giving their sponsor such a strong endorsement.
Peregrine's piece also seems like it could be used in an Audi ad campaign, maybe as a series of print ads. Her work uses the name Audi to create puns and word-driven jokes, which is always an effective technique in advertising to get the potential customers to remember the name of the product. Her piece doesn't look that complex, however, and at this stage looks a bit cheap. If she ends up on the bottom again, that's going to make for one lousy track record so far. I would have much preferred to see one of the pieces she describes making at home, using clippings from fashion magazines and porno magazines.
Simon comes in, makes some playful banter with Jamie-Lynn, gives Jacklyn a pat on the back, and wanders over to Ryan to peg him as a narcissist. Simon asks Ryan if he is aware that he has done a self-portrat for every challenge. Um, so did Jaclyn, and no one seems to mind. I don't disagree that Ryan's piece looks like a mess, but I'm just sayin...
Now that everyone is a bit more familiar with the other artists, there seems to be more trash-talking. Yikes! Erik has the nastiest comments about Miles's art, calling it 'garbage'. It's one thing for the artists to say that they don't like this piece or that piece, but to say that someone's art is garbage is going to far. I like Erik, but Miles is clearly the more talented artist here.
And special guest judge Richard Phillips! I wonder what kind of car he drives.
And so congrats to Jaclyn, and good luck to the newly departed Jamie-Lynn.
Thursday, July 8, 2010
PREDICTIONS
Five episodes have aired by this point, but I've only seen four. But I'd like to take a moment to make some PREDICTIONS...
I think Erik might be my favorite. I'm pulling for him because he's the underdog. But if he's going to win, he needs to stop telling everyone how he's untrained as an artist and suck it up and do some good work.
Miles is probably the front runner, the most obvious horse to bet on to win it all. He's done a smash-up job so far, so all he has to do is stay fresh and keep coming up with good ideas.
Ryan definitely has some fine arts skills, and I think he'll go to the finals. His instincts always seem to be dead-on, and it's all going to come down to his execution.
I think Peregrine is going to come up from behind and surprise people. I think she's just having a bit of trouble acclimating herself to the competition atmosphere, and once she does she'll do some good work.
Nicole's work has always sort of hung around the middle - not the best, not the worst. Hard to say whether she'll be able to pull it out or not.
Jaclyn will go all the way to the finals if she can keep up her ferocity - and hopefully do something other than take pictures of herself naked.
AND NOW, THE CHOPPING BLOCK:
I was going to say Jamie-Lynn is sure to be voted out soon, and I accidentally had the ending of Episode 5 spoiled for me, and so I know that she goes home. I'm sad to see her go because she seemed so open and friendly and confident and sure of herself, but I was never impressed by her art. Her sculpture with the vacuum cleaner was uninspired, and I did not care for her white trash Last Supper rendering in the 'shocking' episode. Sad to see her go, but not surprised.
Next up is Mark. I like the stuff he's done, but I think he's limited in this competition since his focus is on photography. I think that the judges will end up siding with one of the painters in the bunch over his photography.
And then there's Abdi... I like Abdi a lot, and I think he is probably the most deserving of the grand prize because he's so full of ideas and energy, but I worry about how he is always rushing to finish at the last possible minute. We saw him build his Frankenstein sculpture and then abandon it with only a few hours left. He was unable to fully complete his sculptures in episodes 2 and 4. He might be out of his depth in this competition. I hope he keeps going though.
I think Erik might be my favorite. I'm pulling for him because he's the underdog. But if he's going to win, he needs to stop telling everyone how he's untrained as an artist and suck it up and do some good work.
Miles is probably the front runner, the most obvious horse to bet on to win it all. He's done a smash-up job so far, so all he has to do is stay fresh and keep coming up with good ideas.
Ryan definitely has some fine arts skills, and I think he'll go to the finals. His instincts always seem to be dead-on, and it's all going to come down to his execution.
I think Peregrine is going to come up from behind and surprise people. I think she's just having a bit of trouble acclimating herself to the competition atmosphere, and once she does she'll do some good work.
Nicole's work has always sort of hung around the middle - not the best, not the worst. Hard to say whether she'll be able to pull it out or not.
Jaclyn will go all the way to the finals if she can keep up her ferocity - and hopefully do something other than take pictures of herself naked.
AND NOW, THE CHOPPING BLOCK:
I was going to say Jamie-Lynn is sure to be voted out soon, and I accidentally had the ending of Episode 5 spoiled for me, and so I know that she goes home. I'm sad to see her go because she seemed so open and friendly and confident and sure of herself, but I was never impressed by her art. Her sculpture with the vacuum cleaner was uninspired, and I did not care for her white trash Last Supper rendering in the 'shocking' episode. Sad to see her go, but not surprised.
Next up is Mark. I like the stuff he's done, but I think he's limited in this competition since his focus is on photography. I think that the judges will end up siding with one of the painters in the bunch over his photography.
And then there's Abdi... I like Abdi a lot, and I think he is probably the most deserving of the grand prize because he's so full of ideas and energy, but I worry about how he is always rushing to finish at the last possible minute. We saw him build his Frankenstein sculpture and then abandon it with only a few hours left. He was unable to fully complete his sculptures in episodes 2 and 4. He might be out of his depth in this competition. I hope he keeps going though.
Thursday, July 1, 2010
Episode 4, 6/30/10
I caught up on most of the behind-the-scenes videos on Bravo's website. This week I'll try to get caught up on all the show's participants' blogs.
I didn't see anything on Bravo's website about how I can see one of the gallery shows at the end of each episode. They look open to the public, but it also looks like they only let a small number of people in. Who are the people lucky enough to see the gallery? Are they people in New York's art community, such as students or museum interns? Are they family and friends of Bravo employees there to score some free drinks? Are they random people pulled in off the street? I'd like to go see one of the galleries, but then I'd have the future of the show spoiled for me because I'd notice that so many artists were absent.
As with Top Chef, I also wonder how far in advance these episodes are filmed, and how far apart they are. Are the challenges all back to back, one day after another, with no time to rest inbetween? That seems exhausting.
This is the episode that is all about creating a 'shocking' piece of art. I'm very interested in this one, since it seems to me that telling an artist to create something 'shocking' is going to result in a lot of forced-feeling pieces. I think the idea would have to come from the artists themselves for it to be truly shocking, since most of what makes an artwork shocking is that the intent of the artist was never to be shocking in the first place!
It's nice to see the show start off with the artists exploring Simon's gallery. The photography is amazing - it's hard to deny the impact of those large photographs with such bright colors.
Abdi and Mark stand in front of the Piss Christ, a photograph of a crucifix that Mark reveals to be set inside a jar full of urine. I think I've heard of this photograph before. Abdi wonders aloud if this work was provocative for the sake of being provocative, and without seeing the photo for myself, I might have been inclined to agree, but seeing the photo itself, I have to admit that whatever the artist's intent was, it's a powerful image that could likely be interpreted in a number of ways, both positive and negative. That artist, by the way, is named Andres Serrano.
I'm a bit concerned that these young artists are going to go overboard trying to create something 'shocking'.
Also, I'm a bit concerned about Peregrine's rabbit ear hat.
$100 in hand, off they go to Utrecht. If it were me, I'd want to take a long couple moments to clear my head and come up with a clear idea before starting my piece.
And they're off!
We meet up with Abdi first... I'm not so sure about his idea: young black mens' heads with sticks of dynamite in them. It seems juvenile, somehow.
John's idea of a guy sucking himself off is definitely shocking, but it seems more like bad porn than art.
Erik is taking things to a political place, making art inspired by the molestation scandals in the Catholic church. Here I'm worried about his piece being just one note - too simple, too easy to tie up in a bow and say, 'ah-ha! So that's what this is about'. Good art is more ambiguous.
And what a surprise, Jaclyn gets naked! I think this is a bad idea (I know, I know, why would I possibly object to the hot girl taking her clothes off?!) because it seems to pigeonhole her. It brings us back to her self-portrait and the nude image of herself she used last week in her Jane Austin [sic] book cover. I don't think anyone will take her seriously as an artist if she keeps exploiting herself.
Mark seems to be going in the right direction, even though it's in a similar vein as Erik's. He says that he himself is horrified by child abuse, and so that's what he's going to be representing in his art. It looks like his photos will be bright and simple, but I'm worried that Andres might feel that Mark is copping his style.
It's interesting that Ryan seems to be also resorting to self-portraiture, but making himself look like a cheap whore (hey, that's what he said he was going for!). If this were not a time-restricted competition, I wonder if he would have used someone else to model for the piece or if he still would have used himself.
I'm interested in Nicole's piece. Her fake thumb molds look repulsive. Equally repulsive was Peregrine's description of them: "little kid dicks". Eww.
Props to Miles for telling his story about getting a boner to The Little Mermaid movie on national TV. That one took balls, dude. It's creepy that Miles is yet again going to incorporate anuses into his work. Paging Dr. Freud...
But wait! There's more!
Miles jizzes on his own piece. Shoots a load on it. Now THAT is disgusting.
This week there is a twist - two people are being eliminated. Almost half of the group are asked to stay behind and risk being sent home.
Jaclyn and Abdi ended up being the judges favorites. It didn't bother me that Jaclyn's piece was heavily influenced by Erik - like the judges said, it doesn't matter whose idea it was, only the artist who is credited with the piece will get recognition for it. This was the motivation behind Marcel Duchamp's dada piece titled "fountain", which was a urinal that he wrote his signature on without doing anything else to it, thereby turning it into 'art'. After all, he was an artist, and that was his signature on it, and it was put in an art gallery, so if that's not 'art', then what is? Duchamp (and the rest of the dada crew) were making fun of art, and in a way, Jaclyn's piece was sort of referencing this, even if she (or Erik) were not aware of it.
I wasn't a big fan of Abdi's piece, but whatever. We didn't get to see the smoke coming out of the heads like the judges described, so maybe it looked a lot cooler in real life than it did on TV.
Then the poor 'losers' of this round had to come out to risk being sent home. I was happy to see Erik stay, and happy to see Nao go home. I liked how Andres stood up for Nao, saying that he was interested in her piece, but that it just wasn't good enough for him to save her from elimination. I liked his comment about artists not being understood. It also makes me wonder how established artists like him feel about this reality TV show art competition. They probably aren't behind it.
I didn't see anything on Bravo's website about how I can see one of the gallery shows at the end of each episode. They look open to the public, but it also looks like they only let a small number of people in. Who are the people lucky enough to see the gallery? Are they people in New York's art community, such as students or museum interns? Are they family and friends of Bravo employees there to score some free drinks? Are they random people pulled in off the street? I'd like to go see one of the galleries, but then I'd have the future of the show spoiled for me because I'd notice that so many artists were absent.
As with Top Chef, I also wonder how far in advance these episodes are filmed, and how far apart they are. Are the challenges all back to back, one day after another, with no time to rest inbetween? That seems exhausting.
This is the episode that is all about creating a 'shocking' piece of art. I'm very interested in this one, since it seems to me that telling an artist to create something 'shocking' is going to result in a lot of forced-feeling pieces. I think the idea would have to come from the artists themselves for it to be truly shocking, since most of what makes an artwork shocking is that the intent of the artist was never to be shocking in the first place!
It's nice to see the show start off with the artists exploring Simon's gallery. The photography is amazing - it's hard to deny the impact of those large photographs with such bright colors.
Abdi and Mark stand in front of the Piss Christ, a photograph of a crucifix that Mark reveals to be set inside a jar full of urine. I think I've heard of this photograph before. Abdi wonders aloud if this work was provocative for the sake of being provocative, and without seeing the photo for myself, I might have been inclined to agree, but seeing the photo itself, I have to admit that whatever the artist's intent was, it's a powerful image that could likely be interpreted in a number of ways, both positive and negative. That artist, by the way, is named Andres Serrano.
I'm a bit concerned that these young artists are going to go overboard trying to create something 'shocking'.
Also, I'm a bit concerned about Peregrine's rabbit ear hat.
$100 in hand, off they go to Utrecht. If it were me, I'd want to take a long couple moments to clear my head and come up with a clear idea before starting my piece.
And they're off!
We meet up with Abdi first... I'm not so sure about his idea: young black mens' heads with sticks of dynamite in them. It seems juvenile, somehow.
John's idea of a guy sucking himself off is definitely shocking, but it seems more like bad porn than art.
Erik is taking things to a political place, making art inspired by the molestation scandals in the Catholic church. Here I'm worried about his piece being just one note - too simple, too easy to tie up in a bow and say, 'ah-ha! So that's what this is about'. Good art is more ambiguous.
And what a surprise, Jaclyn gets naked! I think this is a bad idea (I know, I know, why would I possibly object to the hot girl taking her clothes off?!) because it seems to pigeonhole her. It brings us back to her self-portrait and the nude image of herself she used last week in her Jane Austin [sic] book cover. I don't think anyone will take her seriously as an artist if she keeps exploiting herself.
Mark seems to be going in the right direction, even though it's in a similar vein as Erik's. He says that he himself is horrified by child abuse, and so that's what he's going to be representing in his art. It looks like his photos will be bright and simple, but I'm worried that Andres might feel that Mark is copping his style.
It's interesting that Ryan seems to be also resorting to self-portraiture, but making himself look like a cheap whore (hey, that's what he said he was going for!). If this were not a time-restricted competition, I wonder if he would have used someone else to model for the piece or if he still would have used himself.
I'm interested in Nicole's piece. Her fake thumb molds look repulsive. Equally repulsive was Peregrine's description of them: "little kid dicks". Eww.
Props to Miles for telling his story about getting a boner to The Little Mermaid movie on national TV. That one took balls, dude. It's creepy that Miles is yet again going to incorporate anuses into his work. Paging Dr. Freud...
But wait! There's more!
Miles jizzes on his own piece. Shoots a load on it. Now THAT is disgusting.
This week there is a twist - two people are being eliminated. Almost half of the group are asked to stay behind and risk being sent home.
Jaclyn and Abdi ended up being the judges favorites. It didn't bother me that Jaclyn's piece was heavily influenced by Erik - like the judges said, it doesn't matter whose idea it was, only the artist who is credited with the piece will get recognition for it. This was the motivation behind Marcel Duchamp's dada piece titled "fountain", which was a urinal that he wrote his signature on without doing anything else to it, thereby turning it into 'art'. After all, he was an artist, and that was his signature on it, and it was put in an art gallery, so if that's not 'art', then what is? Duchamp (and the rest of the dada crew) were making fun of art, and in a way, Jaclyn's piece was sort of referencing this, even if she (or Erik) were not aware of it.
I wasn't a big fan of Abdi's piece, but whatever. We didn't get to see the smoke coming out of the heads like the judges described, so maybe it looked a lot cooler in real life than it did on TV.
Then the poor 'losers' of this round had to come out to risk being sent home. I was happy to see Erik stay, and happy to see Nao go home. I liked how Andres stood up for Nao, saying that he was interested in her piece, but that it just wasn't good enough for him to save her from elimination. I liked his comment about artists not being understood. It also makes me wonder how established artists like him feel about this reality TV show art competition. They probably aren't behind it.
Friday, June 25, 2010
Episode 3, 6/23/10
??? ???
Thia is how the episode kicks off, with six Helvetica question marks (props to Miles for calling out the Helvetica type-set).
The goal is to create a cover for one of six famous literary works. This is an interesting challenge because it's very practical... a working artist needs to know how to market their abilities to get side jobs to pay for all those art supplies and their loft and parties and all that other good stuff. But I wonder if it isn't a bit too commercial. This challenge falls more in the territory of art design than it does art.
I would imagine that publishers want a book cover that is as eye-catching as possible. I wonder if the artists will be judged on how true their design is to the book moreso than their ability to create a bold image. The book cover that will always stand out in my mind is the cover to Dean Koontz's "Intensity", which was nothing but neon yellow and orange diagonal lines. It was certainly eye-catching, but was bold enough to give you a headache.
Ryan points out that visibility is important for an artist, which means that he is embracing the opportunity to bring more awareness to his work by creating this book cover. I agree that it is a good move for an artist to make, but I question this challenge as being good for this competition.
John makes a strange comment. He says that he makes art based on his own reality, which he describes as, 'gay culture, or what I would want to drink in a bar'. I think every artist has to create using their own personal experiences, but the 'drink in a bar' thing sounds sort of flaky to me. However, his design is shaping up to be the most commercially viable one - strong, bright colors that contrast each other. I can easily imagine customers in Borders spotting that book on display from across the store and walking over to see what it is.
And Jaclyn decides to get naked... for her cover of Pride & Prejudice... I've never read P&P, so I'll have to take the show at their word when they describe the book as a love story. What I do know is that the book is at least 150 years old, from a time when seeing a naked woman on the cover of a book was unimaginable. This seems like a really bad idea, but I would be a fool to complain about Jaclyn getting naked.
I'm surprised that Judith is the only one who feels that this challenge is a bit to commercial, but I'm not surprised that she's being grumpy about it.
I have to say I really enjoy Simon. His comments to the artists are spot-on. It's amazing how artists (not only on this show, but in the art world in general) can get so caught up in their Big Ideas that they sort of lose focus. I hope that artists outside of this show are able to turn to Simon for guidance.
In the middle of Simon's critique, Jamie Lynn mentions that she is attempting to do the opposite of what Mark, who is also making a cover for Dracula, is doing. I think it's a mistake on Jamie Lynn's part to compare herself with Mark. She should not let Mark's work or Simon's comments have any effect on what she is doing.
Peregrine also compares her work to John's, saying that John's cover is superior to hers. Again, I think it's very risky to compare your work to someone else's. But then why did Bravo have the artists double up on books like this? Were they afraid that having 12 books would be too many? I doubt that many of the artists have read more than a few of the six books presented for this challenge anyway.
I don't like seeing people get eliminated, but I'm happy to see Judith leave. Her book cover was ugly, and having the title spelled out packwards was just stupid. And she's just a crazy bitch anyway - she didn't have to slam Jaclyn on her way out either.
Thia is how the episode kicks off, with six Helvetica question marks (props to Miles for calling out the Helvetica type-set).
The goal is to create a cover for one of six famous literary works. This is an interesting challenge because it's very practical... a working artist needs to know how to market their abilities to get side jobs to pay for all those art supplies and their loft and parties and all that other good stuff. But I wonder if it isn't a bit too commercial. This challenge falls more in the territory of art design than it does art.
I would imagine that publishers want a book cover that is as eye-catching as possible. I wonder if the artists will be judged on how true their design is to the book moreso than their ability to create a bold image. The book cover that will always stand out in my mind is the cover to Dean Koontz's "Intensity", which was nothing but neon yellow and orange diagonal lines. It was certainly eye-catching, but was bold enough to give you a headache.
Ryan points out that visibility is important for an artist, which means that he is embracing the opportunity to bring more awareness to his work by creating this book cover. I agree that it is a good move for an artist to make, but I question this challenge as being good for this competition.
John makes a strange comment. He says that he makes art based on his own reality, which he describes as, 'gay culture, or what I would want to drink in a bar'. I think every artist has to create using their own personal experiences, but the 'drink in a bar' thing sounds sort of flaky to me. However, his design is shaping up to be the most commercially viable one - strong, bright colors that contrast each other. I can easily imagine customers in Borders spotting that book on display from across the store and walking over to see what it is.
And Jaclyn decides to get naked... for her cover of Pride & Prejudice... I've never read P&P, so I'll have to take the show at their word when they describe the book as a love story. What I do know is that the book is at least 150 years old, from a time when seeing a naked woman on the cover of a book was unimaginable. This seems like a really bad idea, but I would be a fool to complain about Jaclyn getting naked.
I'm surprised that Judith is the only one who feels that this challenge is a bit to commercial, but I'm not surprised that she's being grumpy about it.
I have to say I really enjoy Simon. His comments to the artists are spot-on. It's amazing how artists (not only on this show, but in the art world in general) can get so caught up in their Big Ideas that they sort of lose focus. I hope that artists outside of this show are able to turn to Simon for guidance.
In the middle of Simon's critique, Jamie Lynn mentions that she is attempting to do the opposite of what Mark, who is also making a cover for Dracula, is doing. I think it's a mistake on Jamie Lynn's part to compare herself with Mark. She should not let Mark's work or Simon's comments have any effect on what she is doing.
Peregrine also compares her work to John's, saying that John's cover is superior to hers. Again, I think it's very risky to compare your work to someone else's. But then why did Bravo have the artists double up on books like this? Were they afraid that having 12 books would be too many? I doubt that many of the artists have read more than a few of the six books presented for this challenge anyway.
I don't like seeing people get eliminated, but I'm happy to see Judith leave. Her book cover was ugly, and having the title spelled out packwards was just stupid. And she's just a crazy bitch anyway - she didn't have to slam Jaclyn on her way out either.
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Episode 2, 6/16/10
The challenge for the second episode: create a three-dimensional sculpture using a found piece of discarded electronics.
The gang was taken by Simon (who, by the way, has to be the perfect host for a show like this) to the garage of artist Jon Kessler, where he has stock-piled a mountain of trashed televisions, computers, and video game consoles.
It was an inspiring pile of materials - I couldn't help but already start brainstorming my own ideas for how to turn these interesting objects into sculptures. (The best thing that I could come up with was probably taking the guts out of an old cathode-ray tube TV and then placing a smaller TV inside of it - not the most intersting thing out there, but hey, that's why I'm sitting here on my couch and not competing on the show... or wait, what about painting a picture onto the TV screen? Is that interesting? Too obvious? Will anyone else follow the same train of thought?)
Let's take a moment to check in with our art-testants. Miles is feeling groggy and complaining of sleep deprevation. We see him yawning in the studio. He also remarks that he is concerned about his obsessive compulsive behavior coming back to the surface. When he's shown the trash pile, he starts freaking out. I hope he can get it together and create as good a piece as he did last week. This is a good reminder, however, that most artists are not stable, well-adjusted people. Those types work for insurance companies; it's the unstable ones who usually become artists.
Erik is moping a bit over his near-elimination last episode. I hope he turns himself around. He does something very strange, though: he says that he wants to 'get his butt into gear' and then says he wants to 'really bust ass'. Why wouldn't he use either 'butt' or 'ass' both times?
Jamie-Lynn remarks that this challenge concerns her because it concerns sculpture, while she is trained as a painter. I didn't expect this problem to appear so early in the series - making the artists compete in a medium that is not their specialty. It had to happen sooner or later, and will probably happen in every episode going forward, since it would be impossible to judge the merits of different works created in different mediums. In a way, the art-testants should be happy that the critiques will focus on the piece itself and not the medium. I would be concerned about the judges having a bias towards one medium while holding a grudge against another, e.g. favoring oil painting over photography.
I'm curious to see how this format will play out, making each artist create a work that must incorporate certain elements. I took an elective writing class in high school, hoping to strengthen my writing chops and develop some original compositions, but instead every week we were given a specific genre to write in or had to write a story with common details. It might have been a good exercise, but it didn't teach me how to write, just how to craft a story around someone else's ideas. It didn't help that the only feedback I ever got from the teacher was, "good job! You can really write." I wanted to know what areas I needed to focus on to become a better fiction writer. Oh well.
I can't beleive how much time the artists are getting - a full day and a half. In a way, I think this puts even more pressure on them to come up with a piece that justifies some twelve or more hours of work. It can't be a clever idea that's quickly slapped together. All that time means that it has to be well planned out and executed to perfection.
Advice from Jon Kessler? "Don't play it safe, be courageous, don't get electricuted." Words to live by.
And then Miles went to sleep?! What?! Remember what I said about artists being a bit nuts?
I'm already picking favorites among the artists. I like some of them because I can already see their talent, but a few of the artists I like simply because they seem like the kind of people that I'd want as my friends.
I'm concerned over Ryan's aimlessness... you need to start out with a strong concept.
Abdi seems to have his head in the right place, and I bet he ends up in the top picks for this challenge.
Mark's idea of TV as an altar seems a bit obvious. I think he's going down the wrong path.
Peregrine is one of the artists who I immediately took a liking to. When I saw her bring her tiny TV back to life, I rejoiced along with her.
Erik talks about the brain damage he suffered from a motorcycle accident... scary stuff.
Nicole's cement-int-the-TV project looks awesome. Must have been fun to make.
I'm very turned off by Mile's 'cement assholes'. Gross.
The art-testants seem to talk a lot of smack about each other.
It looks like a day and a half wasn't quite enough time after all. Some of them are rushing to finish. I would hate having to show a piece of art that is unfinished.
Now that the pieces are finished, I have to say that I'm a bit disappointed in Abdi's work. It wasn't as impressive as the original idea he described. I like Nao's piece, and it's strange that we didn't get a glimpse of it until the gallery show. I guess there was just too much footage to squeeze into one hour of television programming to include everything. Jaclyn's piece is sure to be on the bottom of the judges' picks. Jamie-Lynn's was a bit of a let down too. When I saw her grab the vaccuum cleaner, I thought that she would do something much more interesting with it. I liked the painting that she did for the background and how it bled onto the lamp, but it seemed like she was resisting the challenge to make a sculpture and clinging to her identity as a painter. Erik's piece was creepy buy cool, and I really dig his style. Ryan's turned out to be not the major disaster I thought it was going to be, considering his lack of direction, but it just looked like one big tangled up mess.
So the judges started doing their thing, and their comments seemed to be spot-on. Things were playing out in a predictably fashion, and the judges gave Miles some much-deserved praise for his piece. Then they got to Trong's critique, and I noticed that the camera kept cutting back to Miles, who looked fidgety and uncomfortable. Then Miles raised his hand... and informed the artists and the judges that he found Trong's sculpture to be 'distractingly boring'. Whoa! Not cool, dude. No one asked for your opinion. Let the judges do their thing and let the other artists do their thing. I lost a lot of respect for Miles when he did that, embarrsing Trong like that. I agree with Miles's assessment, but it was uncalled for, and the fact that Miles had just received a load of praise from the judges, so much praise that it made his piece look like the favorite, made it a mean gesture.
So Miles won for the second time! It's a shame that I can't feel happy for him because of his nasty comment to Trong in front of the judges. I hope it was just due to a lack of sleep.
I was not surprised to see Judith in the bottom three again, even though I thought her sculpture was better than the other low-scorers, Trong and Jamie-Lynn. I like Jamie-Lynn and didn't want her to get sent home, but I was surprised to see Trong get sent home. He seemed to know a lot about art and have a clear idea of what he was after, but in the end, an artist is only as good as their last work.
The gang was taken by Simon (who, by the way, has to be the perfect host for a show like this) to the garage of artist Jon Kessler, where he has stock-piled a mountain of trashed televisions, computers, and video game consoles.
It was an inspiring pile of materials - I couldn't help but already start brainstorming my own ideas for how to turn these interesting objects into sculptures. (The best thing that I could come up with was probably taking the guts out of an old cathode-ray tube TV and then placing a smaller TV inside of it - not the most intersting thing out there, but hey, that's why I'm sitting here on my couch and not competing on the show... or wait, what about painting a picture onto the TV screen? Is that interesting? Too obvious? Will anyone else follow the same train of thought?)
Let's take a moment to check in with our art-testants. Miles is feeling groggy and complaining of sleep deprevation. We see him yawning in the studio. He also remarks that he is concerned about his obsessive compulsive behavior coming back to the surface. When he's shown the trash pile, he starts freaking out. I hope he can get it together and create as good a piece as he did last week. This is a good reminder, however, that most artists are not stable, well-adjusted people. Those types work for insurance companies; it's the unstable ones who usually become artists.
Erik is moping a bit over his near-elimination last episode. I hope he turns himself around. He does something very strange, though: he says that he wants to 'get his butt into gear' and then says he wants to 'really bust ass'. Why wouldn't he use either 'butt' or 'ass' both times?
Jamie-Lynn remarks that this challenge concerns her because it concerns sculpture, while she is trained as a painter. I didn't expect this problem to appear so early in the series - making the artists compete in a medium that is not their specialty. It had to happen sooner or later, and will probably happen in every episode going forward, since it would be impossible to judge the merits of different works created in different mediums. In a way, the art-testants should be happy that the critiques will focus on the piece itself and not the medium. I would be concerned about the judges having a bias towards one medium while holding a grudge against another, e.g. favoring oil painting over photography.
I'm curious to see how this format will play out, making each artist create a work that must incorporate certain elements. I took an elective writing class in high school, hoping to strengthen my writing chops and develop some original compositions, but instead every week we were given a specific genre to write in or had to write a story with common details. It might have been a good exercise, but it didn't teach me how to write, just how to craft a story around someone else's ideas. It didn't help that the only feedback I ever got from the teacher was, "good job! You can really write." I wanted to know what areas I needed to focus on to become a better fiction writer. Oh well.
I can't beleive how much time the artists are getting - a full day and a half. In a way, I think this puts even more pressure on them to come up with a piece that justifies some twelve or more hours of work. It can't be a clever idea that's quickly slapped together. All that time means that it has to be well planned out and executed to perfection.
Advice from Jon Kessler? "Don't play it safe, be courageous, don't get electricuted." Words to live by.
And then Miles went to sleep?! What?! Remember what I said about artists being a bit nuts?
I'm already picking favorites among the artists. I like some of them because I can already see their talent, but a few of the artists I like simply because they seem like the kind of people that I'd want as my friends.
I'm concerned over Ryan's aimlessness... you need to start out with a strong concept.
Abdi seems to have his head in the right place, and I bet he ends up in the top picks for this challenge.
Mark's idea of TV as an altar seems a bit obvious. I think he's going down the wrong path.
Peregrine is one of the artists who I immediately took a liking to. When I saw her bring her tiny TV back to life, I rejoiced along with her.
Erik talks about the brain damage he suffered from a motorcycle accident... scary stuff.
Nicole's cement-int-the-TV project looks awesome. Must have been fun to make.
I'm very turned off by Mile's 'cement assholes'. Gross.
The art-testants seem to talk a lot of smack about each other.
It looks like a day and a half wasn't quite enough time after all. Some of them are rushing to finish. I would hate having to show a piece of art that is unfinished.
Now that the pieces are finished, I have to say that I'm a bit disappointed in Abdi's work. It wasn't as impressive as the original idea he described. I like Nao's piece, and it's strange that we didn't get a glimpse of it until the gallery show. I guess there was just too much footage to squeeze into one hour of television programming to include everything. Jaclyn's piece is sure to be on the bottom of the judges' picks. Jamie-Lynn's was a bit of a let down too. When I saw her grab the vaccuum cleaner, I thought that she would do something much more interesting with it. I liked the painting that she did for the background and how it bled onto the lamp, but it seemed like she was resisting the challenge to make a sculpture and clinging to her identity as a painter. Erik's piece was creepy buy cool, and I really dig his style. Ryan's turned out to be not the major disaster I thought it was going to be, considering his lack of direction, but it just looked like one big tangled up mess.
So the judges started doing their thing, and their comments seemed to be spot-on. Things were playing out in a predictably fashion, and the judges gave Miles some much-deserved praise for his piece. Then they got to Trong's critique, and I noticed that the camera kept cutting back to Miles, who looked fidgety and uncomfortable. Then Miles raised his hand... and informed the artists and the judges that he found Trong's sculpture to be 'distractingly boring'. Whoa! Not cool, dude. No one asked for your opinion. Let the judges do their thing and let the other artists do their thing. I lost a lot of respect for Miles when he did that, embarrsing Trong like that. I agree with Miles's assessment, but it was uncalled for, and the fact that Miles had just received a load of praise from the judges, so much praise that it made his piece look like the favorite, made it a mean gesture.
So Miles won for the second time! It's a shame that I can't feel happy for him because of his nasty comment to Trong in front of the judges. I hope it was just due to a lack of sleep.
I was not surprised to see Judith in the bottom three again, even though I thought her sculpture was better than the other low-scorers, Trong and Jamie-Lynn. I like Jamie-Lynn and didn't want her to get sent home, but I was surprised to see Trong get sent home. He seemed to know a lot about art and have a clear idea of what he was after, but in the end, an artist is only as good as their last work.
Thursday, June 10, 2010
Legal Stuff
The appearance of Sarah Jessica Parker gave me pause - we have never seen the executive producers of any other Bravo network shows make an appearance. Maybe that's because they are not famous in their own right, as SJP is. But why does Bravo even need SJP's Sex and the City fortunes anyway? At first, this seems like a simple show to produce. All they need is a studio and some art supplies - and the grand prize of $100,000 is a lot of money for someone to receive but not a lot for a cable network to give away. Then I started to wonder about the show's rules concerning property, mainly the property of the artist.
Does the show take possession of the artworks produced specifically for the show? In a way, it's like Bravo is commissioning the pieces. I hope they worked out some sort of arrangement with the artists that allows them to keep their own work without having to give any profits to a sold piece (if they even choose to sell them) back to Bravo. Maybe that's where Ms. Bueller-Parker comes in - maybe she's making up for the lost revenue. With Top Chef, they can market cook books and have even started featuring Top Chef contenders in pay-per-view cooking lessons on bravotv.com. They can't really do the same with their Works of Art contestants.
Then again, they couldn't market their Project Runway contestants like that either, so I wonder what the story is here.
No matter what, I just hope the artists aren't getting screwed.
Does the show take possession of the artworks produced specifically for the show? In a way, it's like Bravo is commissioning the pieces. I hope they worked out some sort of arrangement with the artists that allows them to keep their own work without having to give any profits to a sold piece (if they even choose to sell them) back to Bravo. Maybe that's where Ms. Bueller-Parker comes in - maybe she's making up for the lost revenue. With Top Chef, they can market cook books and have even started featuring Top Chef contenders in pay-per-view cooking lessons on bravotv.com. They can't really do the same with their Works of Art contestants.
Then again, they couldn't market their Project Runway contestants like that either, so I wonder what the story is here.
No matter what, I just hope the artists aren't getting screwed.
Episode 1, 6/10/10
At the beginning of the very first episode of this show, I had doubts. We get a brief introduction to the show from the host, China Chow (who I suppose is like WA:TNGA's answer to Padma Lakishi) and then bright, bubbly electronic-pop-rock music plays, and we meet the happy, smiling artists.
Um, I thought artists were supposed to frown a lot... scribble in notepads in empty coffee shops... sit in their unheated West Village studio with a winter coat and thick gloves on to prevent death by exposure while smoking a cigarette and contemplating suicide. I did not expect them to dance around like they do here on Bravo (much less don a red clown nose like Mark does).
The prize is $100,000... and the chance to get the attention of the New York art world. The question is, does the New York Art World really care about the winner of a TV art contest? Does the NYAW even watch TV?
We meet Abdi first. I like his style right away - his self-potrait featuring himself and Barack Obama running around a space ship with a ray gun and lightsaber (respectively) is cooler than cool.
Then we meet Nao... who we will soon learn is the Puck of this show. Every 'reality' show has a Puck, and it looks like Nao is it. I like her self-confidence and I like her take-it-or-leave it attitude though. I think this is how I expected all of the artists to behave. But she loses major points when she enters the gallery of self-portraits and dismisses them as inferior. She might have been joking, but it was not cool. (Spoiler alert: she gets hers.)
Ryan: definitely the laid-back, soft-spoken hipster that I was expecting. But he still seems a bit more well-adjusted and cheery than all the artists I met in art school...
Then there's Jaclyn! Not expecting someone like her... and by that, I mean someone who looks like they could be a fashion model. Usually the artist is on the other side of the canvas for a reason. But it's easy to dismiss the thin blond girl as someone who is silly or ditzy, and she seems to take herself seriously enough. But then again, her self-portrait is a riff on Brittney Spears and implies that she too is a paparazzi-worthy celebrity... she seems to be playing into the joke rather than attacking it head-on. When she asks how Judith gets the inspiration to work the word 'pussy' into her portrait of Jaclyn, it's not clear if Jaclyn is being sarcastic when she tells us that she has no idea where Judith got that idea from. Kudos to the editors at Bravo, who immediately cut to Jaclyn's self portrait, with a close-up on the neon pink star that cover's Jaclyn's crotch. She's also the first one to name drop Jeff Koons.
Miles seems uncomfortable with being on camera, and that makes me think that he's going to be one of the finalists. It seems obvious that he's here to do his thing, as opposed to participating in a reality show in the hopes of becoming famous.
(SPOILER ALERT!) I'm not going to waste any time talking about Amanda because she gets voted off. Seriously, her potrait looked like fancy wallpaper.
Nicole... I don't know what to think about Nicole. She doesn't really get featured in this episode, so we'll probably have to wait until later to form an opinion of her. We are, however, treated to Nao's opinion of Nicole: that she looks like Angelina Jolie. Nicole does not. This was either an attempt on Nao's part to come up with something positive to say about Nicole's self-portrait because she couldn't think of anything else nice to say, or Nao was hitting on her. It was unclear. Nicole's lips could maybe be compared to Angelina Jolie, but I just don't see the resemblance. Props to Nicole for calling out Nao and calling her rude.
Erik: I like Erik because he seems like a normal guy. I get the impression that rooting for him is like rooting for the underdog: he explains that he is untrained, and that eliminates any chance of pretension coming from him. He's the guy I'd like to go out for beers with, even if his pieces are a little creepy and dark...
I'm interested in what made Judith want to participate in the show. It's not that I don't think she can't hang with the younger kids, but at age 61, she's got to have her doubts. Most of the artists are less than half her age! I wonder if she's going to act as a surrogate mother to the younger competitors, or if she'll make them treat her like any of the other artists.
Trong has some cool hair. I'm interested in his background, since it is revealed that he's not only an artist but a curator, meaning that me probably has a better critical eye than the other artists and has a better idea of what to shoot for. I liked Trong's statement that the material he used for his self-portrait would intentionally fade away - a humble and interesting approach. When his portrait was being painted, I really wanted John to paint him with a shaved head, taking focus away from his angular haircut and putting it on his face. Usually when people do crazy stuff with their hair it's to distract others from seeing the real person, and it would have been nice to step around that.
We don't get to see much of Peregrine this episode, but again, I'm sure we'll get to know her more later (there's only so much they can pack in to one episode, I guess). She definitely fits the bill as the stereotypical quirky artist chick - and I like that. I bet she drives a funky old car and owns a cat. Or three. The antlers coming out of her head in her self-portrait creep me out. In a good way. Peregrine: "I'm really into lillies right now... and hermaphrodites."
Jamie Lynn is another one who we don't get to spend much time with, and I'm interested in her by her sense of style. She looks like she's going to a 1960's cocktail party. From what we see of her work, everything is sort of dreamy and cartoon-like.
Mark seems the most out of place... not that he isn't talented, his portrait of Erik was awesome. But his personality and his demeanor was just so much sunnier than everyone else's... I'm sure he'll become a favorite due to his likability. I think it was a little mean of Bravo to have "Fry Cook" appear under his name at the bottom of the screen though... no one is defined by their job.
John's pieces are so striking and bold, and yet he seems like such a quiet guy. Just to prove how bitchy she is, Nao trashes his triangle-shaped portrait.
Simon is the new Tim Gunn, complete with suit and everything. I like his German accent, and more importantly, his true enthusiasm. I don't get the feeling that he took this gig for some easy money at all, which is good. He's the second person to name-drop Jeff Koons.
The grand prize is a solo show at the Brooklyn Museum, which is only a few subway stops away from my house. It's exciting to know that I will be able to see some of the art that is created during this show at the museum after it wraps.
THE FIRST CHALLENGE!
Paint someone else's portrait. Beautiful. I really like this challenge because it seems simple but it's challenging - a portrait is 50% subject and 50% artist. I was worried about what type of challenges could possibly be given to a group of competeing artists while maintaining a sense of objectivity, but this challenge seems easy to understand and easy to compare one portrait to another. A portrait is either successful, or it isn't.
I'm interested in how the artists arrived at their different 'thesis' so to speak for their portrait since they met the portrait subject only a short time before. They have to balance the vibe they get from that person with how that person presents themselves, and find a way to make it interesting. As we see, some of them do very well, and some fail.
So then Sarah Jessica Parker shows up. I actually saw her name in the opening credits - she's an executive producer. I can't say anything bad about her, but I will tell you what my girlfriend said when the camera went in for Ms. Parker's close-up: "Wow. They will not be making a Sex and the City 3". What she was referring to was the wrinkles in Ms. Parker's face. But hey, who can blame her? She's done her service. No one stays young forever, and how long ago did Sex and the City begin airing? I think I was still in high school. Lots of people love that show, including my girlfriend, but I can't stand it. I also think that a show with the word 'sex' in the title should have a lot more female nudity in it. But hey, that's just me.
Abdi's portrait of Ryan looks great right off the bat.
Jaclyn, to Judith, as Judith is posing for her portrait: "I just need one minute."
Judith: "That's all I'm going to give you."
Whatever, Judith, your 'Proud Pussy' portrait of Jaclyn was pretty lame. It was one-dimensional, and I'm assuming that you did it because you thought it was shocking... it wasn't. Was it painted on velvet? It looked like something a stoner with a blacklight would hang in his basement. Jaclyn is a pretty girl, and you didn't want her pretty face in the portrait? Give me a break.
But I'm sad that Judith is being difficult, because I'm afraid that if anyone gives her grief for her poor attitude then she will accuse them of being ageist. She trash talks Jamie Lynn and Erik's portraits, so there's already tension. We'll have to wait and see what happens.
I'm impressed with Miles for building his own dark-room. Rock on, dude.
I was really disappointed by Ryan's portrait of Abdi because it was so straight-forward and plain. Abdi seems like such an engaging person, I thought that his portrait needed more than a simple representation. The colorful background wasn't even Ryan's - it was painted on the wall of the studio.
The three finalists (Miles, Abdi, and Mark) all deserved the recognition, and hats off to Miles for his death portrait of Nao. (Part of me hopes that this is the closest that Nao will come to winning any of the challenges.)
In the end, I found myself hooked on WA:TNGA, though it still remains to be seen how well the show's producers will be able to pull this off. It got me thinking about art - about what inspires us, turns us on, what makes us want to create and what makes us want to see other's creations. It took me back to discussions we had in art school. I'm excited to see how this series progresses, and looking forward to tuning in next week.
Um, I thought artists were supposed to frown a lot... scribble in notepads in empty coffee shops... sit in their unheated West Village studio with a winter coat and thick gloves on to prevent death by exposure while smoking a cigarette and contemplating suicide. I did not expect them to dance around like they do here on Bravo (much less don a red clown nose like Mark does).
The prize is $100,000... and the chance to get the attention of the New York art world. The question is, does the New York Art World really care about the winner of a TV art contest? Does the NYAW even watch TV?
We meet Abdi first. I like his style right away - his self-potrait featuring himself and Barack Obama running around a space ship with a ray gun and lightsaber (respectively) is cooler than cool.
Then we meet Nao... who we will soon learn is the Puck of this show. Every 'reality' show has a Puck, and it looks like Nao is it. I like her self-confidence and I like her take-it-or-leave it attitude though. I think this is how I expected all of the artists to behave. But she loses major points when she enters the gallery of self-portraits and dismisses them as inferior. She might have been joking, but it was not cool. (Spoiler alert: she gets hers.)
Ryan: definitely the laid-back, soft-spoken hipster that I was expecting. But he still seems a bit more well-adjusted and cheery than all the artists I met in art school...
Then there's Jaclyn! Not expecting someone like her... and by that, I mean someone who looks like they could be a fashion model. Usually the artist is on the other side of the canvas for a reason. But it's easy to dismiss the thin blond girl as someone who is silly or ditzy, and she seems to take herself seriously enough. But then again, her self-portrait is a riff on Brittney Spears and implies that she too is a paparazzi-worthy celebrity... she seems to be playing into the joke rather than attacking it head-on. When she asks how Judith gets the inspiration to work the word 'pussy' into her portrait of Jaclyn, it's not clear if Jaclyn is being sarcastic when she tells us that she has no idea where Judith got that idea from. Kudos to the editors at Bravo, who immediately cut to Jaclyn's self portrait, with a close-up on the neon pink star that cover's Jaclyn's crotch. She's also the first one to name drop Jeff Koons.
Miles seems uncomfortable with being on camera, and that makes me think that he's going to be one of the finalists. It seems obvious that he's here to do his thing, as opposed to participating in a reality show in the hopes of becoming famous.
(SPOILER ALERT!) I'm not going to waste any time talking about Amanda because she gets voted off. Seriously, her potrait looked like fancy wallpaper.
Nicole... I don't know what to think about Nicole. She doesn't really get featured in this episode, so we'll probably have to wait until later to form an opinion of her. We are, however, treated to Nao's opinion of Nicole: that she looks like Angelina Jolie. Nicole does not. This was either an attempt on Nao's part to come up with something positive to say about Nicole's self-portrait because she couldn't think of anything else nice to say, or Nao was hitting on her. It was unclear. Nicole's lips could maybe be compared to Angelina Jolie, but I just don't see the resemblance. Props to Nicole for calling out Nao and calling her rude.
Erik: I like Erik because he seems like a normal guy. I get the impression that rooting for him is like rooting for the underdog: he explains that he is untrained, and that eliminates any chance of pretension coming from him. He's the guy I'd like to go out for beers with, even if his pieces are a little creepy and dark...
I'm interested in what made Judith want to participate in the show. It's not that I don't think she can't hang with the younger kids, but at age 61, she's got to have her doubts. Most of the artists are less than half her age! I wonder if she's going to act as a surrogate mother to the younger competitors, or if she'll make them treat her like any of the other artists.
Trong has some cool hair. I'm interested in his background, since it is revealed that he's not only an artist but a curator, meaning that me probably has a better critical eye than the other artists and has a better idea of what to shoot for. I liked Trong's statement that the material he used for his self-portrait would intentionally fade away - a humble and interesting approach. When his portrait was being painted, I really wanted John to paint him with a shaved head, taking focus away from his angular haircut and putting it on his face. Usually when people do crazy stuff with their hair it's to distract others from seeing the real person, and it would have been nice to step around that.
We don't get to see much of Peregrine this episode, but again, I'm sure we'll get to know her more later (there's only so much they can pack in to one episode, I guess). She definitely fits the bill as the stereotypical quirky artist chick - and I like that. I bet she drives a funky old car and owns a cat. Or three. The antlers coming out of her head in her self-portrait creep me out. In a good way. Peregrine: "I'm really into lillies right now... and hermaphrodites."
Jamie Lynn is another one who we don't get to spend much time with, and I'm interested in her by her sense of style. She looks like she's going to a 1960's cocktail party. From what we see of her work, everything is sort of dreamy and cartoon-like.
Mark seems the most out of place... not that he isn't talented, his portrait of Erik was awesome. But his personality and his demeanor was just so much sunnier than everyone else's... I'm sure he'll become a favorite due to his likability. I think it was a little mean of Bravo to have "Fry Cook" appear under his name at the bottom of the screen though... no one is defined by their job.
John's pieces are so striking and bold, and yet he seems like such a quiet guy. Just to prove how bitchy she is, Nao trashes his triangle-shaped portrait.
Simon is the new Tim Gunn, complete with suit and everything. I like his German accent, and more importantly, his true enthusiasm. I don't get the feeling that he took this gig for some easy money at all, which is good. He's the second person to name-drop Jeff Koons.
The grand prize is a solo show at the Brooklyn Museum, which is only a few subway stops away from my house. It's exciting to know that I will be able to see some of the art that is created during this show at the museum after it wraps.
THE FIRST CHALLENGE!
Paint someone else's portrait. Beautiful. I really like this challenge because it seems simple but it's challenging - a portrait is 50% subject and 50% artist. I was worried about what type of challenges could possibly be given to a group of competeing artists while maintaining a sense of objectivity, but this challenge seems easy to understand and easy to compare one portrait to another. A portrait is either successful, or it isn't.
I'm interested in how the artists arrived at their different 'thesis' so to speak for their portrait since they met the portrait subject only a short time before. They have to balance the vibe they get from that person with how that person presents themselves, and find a way to make it interesting. As we see, some of them do very well, and some fail.
So then Sarah Jessica Parker shows up. I actually saw her name in the opening credits - she's an executive producer. I can't say anything bad about her, but I will tell you what my girlfriend said when the camera went in for Ms. Parker's close-up: "Wow. They will not be making a Sex and the City 3". What she was referring to was the wrinkles in Ms. Parker's face. But hey, who can blame her? She's done her service. No one stays young forever, and how long ago did Sex and the City begin airing? I think I was still in high school. Lots of people love that show, including my girlfriend, but I can't stand it. I also think that a show with the word 'sex' in the title should have a lot more female nudity in it. But hey, that's just me.
Abdi's portrait of Ryan looks great right off the bat.
Jaclyn, to Judith, as Judith is posing for her portrait: "I just need one minute."
Judith: "That's all I'm going to give you."
Whatever, Judith, your 'Proud Pussy' portrait of Jaclyn was pretty lame. It was one-dimensional, and I'm assuming that you did it because you thought it was shocking... it wasn't. Was it painted on velvet? It looked like something a stoner with a blacklight would hang in his basement. Jaclyn is a pretty girl, and you didn't want her pretty face in the portrait? Give me a break.
But I'm sad that Judith is being difficult, because I'm afraid that if anyone gives her grief for her poor attitude then she will accuse them of being ageist. She trash talks Jamie Lynn and Erik's portraits, so there's already tension. We'll have to wait and see what happens.
I'm impressed with Miles for building his own dark-room. Rock on, dude.
I was really disappointed by Ryan's portrait of Abdi because it was so straight-forward and plain. Abdi seems like such an engaging person, I thought that his portrait needed more than a simple representation. The colorful background wasn't even Ryan's - it was painted on the wall of the studio.
The three finalists (Miles, Abdi, and Mark) all deserved the recognition, and hats off to Miles for his death portrait of Nao. (Part of me hopes that this is the closest that Nao will come to winning any of the challenges.)
In the end, I found myself hooked on WA:TNGA, though it still remains to be seen how well the show's producers will be able to pull this off. It got me thinking about art - about what inspires us, turns us on, what makes us want to create and what makes us want to see other's creations. It took me back to discussions we had in art school. I'm excited to see how this series progresses, and looking forward to tuning in next week.
How do you make a show about art?
I was born in 1982. I've seen a lot of television programming. The only show that I can remember focusing on art in some twenty plus years of watching is that instructional show with that guy with the beard who talked about 'happy trees'. That is, up until I heard about Bravo Network's "Work of Art: The Next Great Artist".
I went to art school. I attended the University of Philadelphia, where I majored in acting. I did not take any visual arts classes; in fact, I rarely left the performing arts building. There were a few mandatory art history classes that seemed to cover the whole range - painting, photography, architecture, film, theater - from about the Renaissance period to maybe the 1940's. Needless to say, it was cursory at best.
My girlfriend and I watch Top Chef regularly. Why do we watch it? She likes to cook but hardly has any time to indulge - and I just like to eat. But watching a show about cooking without following the recipes at home seems a little silly, doesn't it? Top Chef is a classy show (although they have their missteps, i.e. the Josea and Leah hook-up) and it's fun to watch - but why? I guess it's just enjoyable to watch people who are good at their craft compete with each other. Since we aren't participating in the food prep or eating, we're just along for the thrill of competition.
She also watched Project Runway, and even went so far as to watch the Canadian version of that show (if you haven't seen it, it's great).
We skipped Shear Genius, a show that was about hairdressers... and I suppose it was for hair dressers, since I can't imagine anyone who isn't a hair pro being into. Although I must admit that my girlfriend did make me watch a few episodes of Tabitha's Salon Takeover, and I have to say it was better than okay.
But a show about art?
How could that even be made into a watchable show?
Art has no rules, no boundaries. In Top Chef, the idea is that a good chef has to have a variety of skills and creativity to produce an enticing, flavorful dish. They should be able to come up with a concept and execute it on a professional level.
An artist (and in this case, a visual artist) does the same thing, but how can you possibly create a challenge that is structured enough to be judged but not so structured that it interferes with the artists' tastes and creativity. For example, if someone told Salvador Dali to paint a realistic landscape, would he do it to humor them? Or would he say, "I'm sorry, I'm not the right guy for this job. I'm the guy that paints melting clocks. You want so-and-so down the street." So then you go to Jackson Pollock and you ask him to paint some melting clocks to compare to Dali's melting clocks and Jackson says, "no way pal. You got me confused with Sal. I'm the splatter guy." What if you had a Picasso and a Renoir and a Warhol in the same room, and someone asks you to pick the Greatest one of the bunch? It would be impossible to compare the paintings (although something tells me that Warhol would be eliminated first).
Most importantly of all, it has to make good television. That means it has to have drama. It can't be an hour of people hunched over their canvases. There has to be conflict.
We saw the commecials for Work of Art: The Next Great Artist during Top Chef. There are the questions I posed to my girlfriend, who merely shrugged and said, "if you don't think you want to see it, then don't watch it." But I did want to watch it, because I was obsessed with finding out how one makes a show about painters.
I went to art school. I attended the University of Philadelphia, where I majored in acting. I did not take any visual arts classes; in fact, I rarely left the performing arts building. There were a few mandatory art history classes that seemed to cover the whole range - painting, photography, architecture, film, theater - from about the Renaissance period to maybe the 1940's. Needless to say, it was cursory at best.
My girlfriend and I watch Top Chef regularly. Why do we watch it? She likes to cook but hardly has any time to indulge - and I just like to eat. But watching a show about cooking without following the recipes at home seems a little silly, doesn't it? Top Chef is a classy show (although they have their missteps, i.e. the Josea and Leah hook-up) and it's fun to watch - but why? I guess it's just enjoyable to watch people who are good at their craft compete with each other. Since we aren't participating in the food prep or eating, we're just along for the thrill of competition.
She also watched Project Runway, and even went so far as to watch the Canadian version of that show (if you haven't seen it, it's great).
We skipped Shear Genius, a show that was about hairdressers... and I suppose it was for hair dressers, since I can't imagine anyone who isn't a hair pro being into. Although I must admit that my girlfriend did make me watch a few episodes of Tabitha's Salon Takeover, and I have to say it was better than okay.
But a show about art?
How could that even be made into a watchable show?
Art has no rules, no boundaries. In Top Chef, the idea is that a good chef has to have a variety of skills and creativity to produce an enticing, flavorful dish. They should be able to come up with a concept and execute it on a professional level.
An artist (and in this case, a visual artist) does the same thing, but how can you possibly create a challenge that is structured enough to be judged but not so structured that it interferes with the artists' tastes and creativity. For example, if someone told Salvador Dali to paint a realistic landscape, would he do it to humor them? Or would he say, "I'm sorry, I'm not the right guy for this job. I'm the guy that paints melting clocks. You want so-and-so down the street." So then you go to Jackson Pollock and you ask him to paint some melting clocks to compare to Dali's melting clocks and Jackson says, "no way pal. You got me confused with Sal. I'm the splatter guy." What if you had a Picasso and a Renoir and a Warhol in the same room, and someone asks you to pick the Greatest one of the bunch? It would be impossible to compare the paintings (although something tells me that Warhol would be eliminated first).
Most importantly of all, it has to make good television. That means it has to have drama. It can't be an hour of people hunched over their canvases. There has to be conflict.
We saw the commecials for Work of Art: The Next Great Artist during Top Chef. There are the questions I posed to my girlfriend, who merely shrugged and said, "if you don't think you want to see it, then don't watch it." But I did want to watch it, because I was obsessed with finding out how one makes a show about painters.
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