Lessons I’ve Learned (so far) From That “Work Of Art” Reality Show: Part 2
Warning: This one seems snarkier than normal so if you’re not in the mood hum a happy tune and skip it. Tomorrow (late tomorrow) hopefully I’ll have a new painting started for the demonstration I’m giving this weekend at the Side Street Gallery in Okiboji.
So I’m still watching the Work Of Art reality competition series. Sadly I think the artists themselves are becoming characatures of what most people think of as artists. They do have a couple of folks who have real talent but most of the rest are relying on a persona. It’s hard to explain but they just sorta stop being real and start becoming the tortured artist or the woman who complains about feeling violated and victimized by men’s desires and yet had a boob job (really bigguns) and gets nude for nearly every challenge.
Week 3: This week’s challenge was to create shocking art. You know like the Piss Christ by Andres Serrano. (Who BTW was also a guest judge) Not surprisingly most fell back on using sex as shocking which oddly enough is kinda one of the things most of us are really getting used to in mainstream life. I mean they use sex to sell everything from cars to brown rice. So really not so much shocking as just a little disgusting and totally pedestrian.
Lesson Learned: Apparently no matter what the challenge, taking nude photos of yourself in the bathroom IS the answer. Yeah I know it didn’t work all the other times but this time it did. So maybe the real lesson is to keep with it it until “it” succeeds.
Week 4: The challenge this week was take a drive in an Audi and use it for inspiration for your art. Um . . . really?
Lesson Learned: Big corporate sponsors get their own challenge dedicated to them. Nothing is really free in this world.
Week 5: This challenge was to create public art. The remaining 8 contestants (I hesitate to use the word artists) split into 2 teams and create a piece of work to go into a public setting. The *untrained guy pretty much got mauled by stripper girl and OCD guy (or as characterized on the show as the cool kids and the loner.) So no real surprise they tossed him out as the go home guy for this week.
Lesson Learned: Though your personality may be fierce you insecurity will make you vulnerable, especially when surrounded by wolves. Wolves always pick off the weak.
Note: I referred to him as untrained instead of self-taught because as self-taught he would have had to have developed an artistic voice. This guy was totally lost. He had an urge to create but had no real idea how to go about it. Hopefully this experience didn’t totally ruin art for him and he will still seek to express himself through art.
Tags: TV
Love your analysis. I finally got in the habit of seeing this show and after catching two reruns and watching the rest, I have only missed the first one. I have thought alot about the shocking episode, not something I enjoyed. I did like the one artist’s work with the African-American bombs from that episode. I do think a statement of this type is art. (Though from what academic art classes I have had, I remember criticism of such direct messages, sigh) The rest I felt was meaningless. I don’t have the foggiest what I would have done. I find the show entertaining and thought provoking. This last episode left me feeling the same as I have felth about alot of these reality/competition-elimination shows — that is it is all RIGGED and CHOREOGRAPHED from the begining. I won’t stop watching this one though it will be with much more skepticism and not taking anything to heart from it.
I am loving your reading your analysises. I do like some discussions I have read on the net re art. But alot of the time, in art publications, and shows like this, the “art critics/judge’s” verbage regarding art seems tediously over intellectual and grasping to me. Sometimes too much verbage/analysis regarding a piece takes something away from the visual/tactile art process experience for me.
Very well written comment Angela. I find the judges totally lacking but then as so often is the case, many judges are. It’s as if they think if they talk enough people get fooled into thinking the judges actually know their stuff. I was actually pondering if the show producers choose their contestants on a psychological profile instead of any artistic merit. Abdi (the one with the head bombs) strikes me as having real artistic genius and I’m hoping he pulls through this as the winner.
You said it the way I meant/feel it about the judges! I like Abdi’s “realness”, agree with the psychological profile stuff. I do like the Derek(?) guy — maybe more his painting, then him though, the one with the beatle haircut, I am too lazy to go look it up right now.
Sounds like I’m not missing as much as I thought I did. Thanks for writing about it. The moment of imagining what I’d be doing with these things is amusing, especially since I’d have to be doing most of the physical stuff in a power chair.
Of course I’d have done something different for shock art, probably oiled wildlife or something else environmental.
Despite the negative comments I am really finding the whole thing fascinating. I just think they could have done a better job with it. Project Runway (a show that I love) has set a high standard for creative arts competition shows.