Thursday, August 12, 2010

Bravo's Work of Art Finale

Tonight was the finale for Bravo TV's "Work of Art".

The three finalists all had very distinctive styles:

Miles had his conceptual, "let's get deep inside my head and see what sorts of black and white images, shapes, and pixels are inside there" exhibition.

Peregrine took us to a country fair, with lots of color (no black and white here) wax heads, melting frames, little horses, pictures of vomiting kids, cotton candy, and a picture of taxidermied unborn fawns. Whew, that's some country fair.

Abdi showed striking large sculptures of figures lying on the ground, and paintings of figures, and body bags.

Simon DePury made the rounds to the artists' homes (a la Tim Gunn on Project Runway) in the months prior to the finale, to check up on their progress. It's always interesting to see where people live and do their work. It looks like Peregrine has a fabulous loft space, which very few people can afford any more in New York City... and may be one good reason to move to Kansas City, MO.

The winner of the show, $100,000, and an exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum, was Abdi. I liked this outcome, as I enjoyed watching him grow throughout the series. His positive spirit and attitude counter-balanced some of the other contestants, who appeared more cynical or manipulative about the playing the game. Of course that's all part of a reality show, to be willing to do anything to win. And a variety of personalities is needed to make a good TV show, so Work of Art did a good job there, with a pretty good variety of creative types. But Abdi seemed to just enjoy doing the art, with humor and charm. That was fun to watch.

The judging of art and any other creative endeavor is completely subjective. There is no one right or wrong answer. Everybody has an opinion about art they like or dislike. And they're all right. There may be some consensus regarding whether someone has good technical skills, although that can be debatable too. Everyone will never agree ... No one will always agree. Well, however you look at it, everyone is entitled to their opinion. This is clear on various blogs, recaps, and comments sections that have followed this show.

Work of Art allowed us to see how art critics, gallery owners, and other artists, look at and talk about art. The art world is a mysterious place. If you're not in New York City, or London or some other large city, then it can be a mystery what makes something a good piece of art. In Work of Art, a TV show exposed that process to millions of American television viewers, who could see and listen to people making art and discussing art. So even if you live in the so-called fly-over states (everywhere that's not NYC or LA), you could watch, listen in, and even share in the conversations about the creation of a Work of Art. And what can be wrong with that?

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