Work of Art – Season 2 / Episode

Work of Art – Season 2 / Episode 1

What a difference a day makes—not to mention an entire year!

Work of Art is back and, if I’m being honest, I’m not disappointed. Actually, I’m rather pleased and optimistic…mostly…although it’s still early.

The Challenge…

Good God, I hated the idea of that challenge. Kitsch? Really? Kitsch? Kitsch is horrible enough all by itself, and then the contestants had to use it as source material? Who comes up with these challenges, anyway? It failed miserably, but maybe that’s just because it was Kitsch. (Have I said I dislike Kitsch? I do!) I thought the challenge was to make “gallery-worthy” art out of kitsch, not kitschy-crap out kitsch. Thankfully there was one successful exception, in my opinion. But for that one exception, however, I thought the rest of it looked really awful. Crap. Just crap. And, save that one exception, the judges chose the best of the worst and a worst of the worst. Truthfully, in this challenge all but one contestant deserved to be sent home. But what fun would that be, right?

The Judges…

Did Bravo send the judges to art school? Did they have a criticism coach this season? Whatever happened, they were MUCH IMPROVED!!! Even the sound bite quips weren’t annoying. Most improved? (…Oh, my eyes are rolling, rolling, rolling as I write this)…China Chow! Eh, for the most part…thus far. Her comment at the crit in conjunction with Ugo’s piece as he removed the background was off-base—it was still crap—bad art—no matter the background. I made a point of watching the extended clips of the judges’ comments. Last season I have to think that really bad editing coupled with really bad cliché sound bite quips and regurgitated slogans made for even worse televised criticism. But, given the first episode of Season 2, maybe the first season’s criticism blunders were akin to labor pains. Now birthed, it’s going much better? Well, one can hope. One last thing… Jerry, well done!


The Artists…

Sarah, as I’ve said, save one example, I disliked every other piece of art made. Yours was the only piece I thought worthy. To me it did appear a bit more like an odd children’s book illustration, but it certainly was done well. Yes, good skill, craft, execution, balance and harmony. Well done!

Ugo, your piece was “art,” but—at least on TV—it left me feeling absolutely nothing—no aesthetic experience, no desire, nothing. Ugo, of all the contestants who deserved to go home, you deserved it the most. So, I guess the judges got that one right.

The Sucklord, I didn’t dislike your piece more than certain others, so I wouldn’t have put you in the bottom three. Nevertheless, your piece looked like a cheap, smarmy, suck-ey version of a KB Toys display with no edge to it at all. And this from a guy who’s all about edge? It was boring. What happened? Never mind. I don’t really want to know.

As for the rest of you, collectively, none of your efforts even registered as a blip on the aesthetic radar screen, so there’s nothing worth writing about or mentioning. Hopefully, the next challenge will have been a better task from which to judge your talent and skill.

Wrapping up…

I’m really excited by the first episode, despite the awful, worthless, crappy art made by everyone but Sarah. It’s fantastic the series is back. The judges nailed the critique! China’s outfits weren’t ridiculous, her criticism was—with one minor exception—spot on (← Geez, did I say that?), as was Jerry Saltz. Simon and Bill, well they always did anchor the show’s professionalism, which was a welcome, familiar and reassuring component.

Can’t wait for Episode 2!

Best, Bruce Mackh, Ph.D. (aka L’Art)