Work of Art: The Next Great Artist/Season 2

Last season on Work of Art….

In 2010 Sarah Jessica Parker and Bravo TV teamed up to create a competitive reality game show called, Work of Art: The Next Great Artist. Fourteen contemporary artists competed against one another, weekly, in a quasi academy-like environment for the eventual award of a museum exhibition and a one hundred thousand dollar cash prize. I think it only fair to say at the outset that despite my many criticisms written during the show, I absolutely loved it. I could not stop watching, I waited anxiously for each episode, purchased the episodes via iTunes so that I could watch them again and again and I loved writing about it. In essence, Sarah Jessica Parker and Bravo took my favorite subject, Art, and raised it to the level of a viewable popular competitive contemporary phenomenon. Additionally, and in retrospect, the entire series was a tele-viewable aesthetic experience—creating and imparting excitement and desire. Even the things I didn’t like, I loved not liking. Genius!

Speaking of likes and dislikes…

I applaud the inaugural winner, Abdi Farah. His artistic contributions were creative, conceptual and visually stunning, especially the large drawing, which I believe was the finest example of art by the contestants during the entire show. It created an aesthetic experience for me that was unmatched by the work of the other artists. Abdi deserved to win.

If I’m being honest, I think China Chow was a poor choice for host and judge. I found her artistic knowledge, grasp of the subject and proficiency in her role to be disappointing. Was she beautiful and well dressed? Sure. But if we contrast Ms. Chow with Padma Lakshmi of Top Chef, another Bravo production, the difference in accomplishment, knowledge and proficiency with the feature subject is staggering. Padma has written two cookbooks—a directly relevant accomplishment. Ms. Chow? Not so much… Being a Harper’s Bazaar “It Girl,” earning a spot on “The Next Best-Dressed List” and appearing in Maxim are all worthy accomplishments. But what does any of it have to do with art or judging the art of the next great artist? Is Kara Walker busy?

I criticized New York Magazine’s Chief Art Critic, Jerry Saltz, for his sound bite clichéd-criticism and I stand by my remarks. They were shallow too-oft repeated slogans I would like to have seen him avoid. And the constant needling “Why? Why? Why?” could so easily be made apropos with the addition of ten seconds more literate analysis. For instance, when Nao announced, “I’m not responsible for your experience of my work,” Jerry could have quipped, “You are if you care for your work to be judged successful.” How long would that take? And, perhaps Mr. Saltz did say that and Bravo edited it out. (We’ll never know). Either way, the addition of this type of piquant criticism would make Mr. Saltz sound more like Simon Cowell not less—a worthy goal. That said, I’m a huge fan of Jerry’s writing, criticism and blog, where I think his work excels, far surpassing his contemporaries.

The glitz and glamour of the show was curious and troublesome for me. Very few artists live in luxury apartments, feed themselves so well, or tour New York City in an Audi. And I wholeheartedly respect the expressions of a very familiar artist who told me she would have a hard time creating Fine Art in conjunction with an Audi.

I applaud the return of Bill Powers and Simon de Pury who, for me, added depth and market perspective—in my opinion a vital an element for the show. Do I understand correctly that Jeanne Greenberg Rohatyn is not returning to the show? Her bio is missing among the judges.

Overall the first season of Work of Art was a success. I think artists and other viewers can take away many important lessons. Art is serious business. Artists do compete in the real world for shows, sales, gallery representation and the sort of notoriety appropriately won by Abdi. The Art World and its business is vastly different from that, say, of finance, but those who are eventually successful have put forth no less effort than lawyers or doctors who live for their craft, as well. I have no experience in competitive reality TV, to be certain. But I have to imagine that such an undertaking with Art must be more difficult than similar programs centered on cooking and food. So I salute and celebrate Sarah Jessica Parker and Bravo for presenting something so subjective as art as a competitive reality-TV pleasure—it’s far more interesting than simple ol’ Survivor!