??? ???
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.
Friday, June 25, 2010
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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