Work of Art on BRAVO

there's a show coming to bravo called top art

http://www.bravotv.com/work-of-art/season-1/bios

what is art

Love this show.

Is this available on Hulu or anywhere else? I looked through the portfolios on the site. A lot of the work is strong, but predictably there's nothing that really suggests next-big-thing. I like John Parot, Ryan Schultz, Abdi Farah and Nicole Nadeau. Nadeau is probably the least cliched.

it's actually called Work of Art, could someone change the thread title to "Work of Art on Bravo" or something?

I'm liking this show. At first I tuned in because I thought it was gonna be lol ridiculous (like pointing at someone and saying - "you! make art! starting ... now!") but it's actually pretty good. Abdi's painting of Ryan from week 1 was great. Miles seems talented / weird / interesting but the judges are already way too up his ass, his thing he made for week 2 wasn't THAT good (he should have been docked some points for barely using anything from the scrap heap, for one thing).

here's the pieces from episode 1
http://www.bravotv.com/work-of-art/photos/episode-1-self-reflexive

episode 2
http://www.bravotv.com/work-of-art/photos/episode-2-rate-the-work

I thought they should've sent home the gal who painted a few flowers on a vacuum.

or the older woman (Judith?). she was lucky to skate through in week 1 with the purple Proud Pussy banner (wtf) and her thing this week wasn't so good either. Trong's white-TV thing was pretty corny, though.

Miles is talented, but he's an asshole (obviously), probably playing it all up for entertainment value. His intrusion regarding Trong's sculpture was bullshit. There is so much wrong about this show. Art critic from New York saying "what does this say about you?", like all art is about personal expression? I'm not saying it was brilliant or anything, but funny art-world insider joke conceptual art whatever is fine, it doesn't have to give you insight into his inner being. Critique it for being boring or not saying anything or having any impact, but to specifically say that is should say something about the artist?

They loved Abdi, who I think I like, but that sculpture was pretty cliche. And they hated Jamie (I think her name is?) the 80s girl who didn't do a "sculpture", they said it wasn't art, just stuff there. Well it was more an installation then sculpture if you want to get all anal about it, but it was one of my favorite pieces. Totaly 80s suburban housewife new wave kitsch semiotics of the kitchen kind of thing going on.

(like pointing at someone and saying - "you! make art! starting ... now!")

same reason i haven't givin it a try yet. maybe now i'll check it out

Miles is talented, but he's an asshole (obviously), probably playing it all up for entertainment value. His intrusion regarding Trong's sculpture was bullshit.

totally agree. at least he's a more entertaining asshole than Nao in week 1, thankfully it seems like she chilled out a little

that sculpture was pretty cliche

also otm, I couldn't believe the judges thought that sculpture said something interesting about "video gaming culture."

xpost - they've been pretty forgiving on the time frames to do the first two challenges so it doesn't seem as crazy as Project Runway. this latest one they had 12 hours, then the whole next day, then 3 more hours

More than anything I just think the show is entertaining. Having people make a piece of art in less than two days isn't reasonable. But it's fun to watch artists make stuff in the same way it's fun to watch fashion designers make stuff. They're talented, creative, and a little insane.

yeah it's a little like those writing workshop "exercises" - use x word in a poem, write a story in class starting with this line, etc. Good work almost never comes out of those.

Nao was/is a total bitch, but I hate to say that I totally agree with a lot of the bitchy comments she made, "I'm not responsible for your response to my work" or whatever. I thought her "portrait" of Miles was pretty cool and even if it's so conceptual that you wouldn't recognize it as a portrait without knowing that background necessarily, well that's a good deal of art.

top art vs. top ramen

Edirp
and
Ecidujerp

cant believe the judges thought that tv head sculpture thing was smart

(love this show)

liking this show a lot, but like Top Chef there is only a small amount of outstanding artists and some peoples' art has been really variable in quality - but that makes somewhat sense with people working in different mediums

it is surprising how people can totally miss the point of the projects. a book cover should look like a book cover. know what the book is about. a 3-D art project should be more 3-D then 2-D

sort of surprised that Ryan's 'Dr. Jekyll' didn't make it to the top 3 and they only had a top 2

hated that Dracula cover that the judges loved. so boring. "it's commercial" -- well yeah, it looked like a well done totally normal book cover. could have slapped that on one of the Twilight books or any vampire anything. "ooh, the blood drip is forming part of the D." did not get the love

the winner's was good though. Miles' was good. fucking lol at him spending four hours to read the book when they only had what, six hours to do the project? he must think he's running laps around everyone.

Enjoyed the one guy cracking on OCD kid's performance art.

That was total bullshit.

Andres Serrano! <3

This was the first ep I've seen, I kind of enjoy watching them work, makes me wanna paint again.

Seemed like lots of people conflate gross/shocking. ..that dude wacking off onto his picture was pretty wtf.

The performance artist annoyed the shit out of me...like a cliche of the worst kind of artistic process..."I don't know what it is"="organic"...ugh.

Liked the winner, liked that he dug deep and kept it simple, serious...something small that makes a big statement.

watched three episodes of this thing at my gf's house this past weekend. loved it, agree with so, so many of the comments above:

1) miles is a dick dick dick dick dick dick dick
2) abdi's week 1 painting was BRILLIANT, but his sculptures are boring (very well executed tho)
3) nao's portrait of miles was awesome in concept (but kinda half-assed)
4) no way should trong have gone home! WWTFD was kinda meh, but funny and offhand cute enough to justify it
5) judith's sci-fi city was really pretty cool
6) so was jamie lynn's vacuum sculpture installation
7) that motherfucking dracula book cover was the worst kind of ass ever

could not BELIEVE what the judges singled out for condemnation in week 2! ryan's "serpentine" pile of drizzled bullshit should have gone home. same with mark's sad television shrine and erik's zombie corpse. no excuse for that, SO much less interesting & personal that what they chose to beat up on. actually, the fact that erik has survived this long is astounding to me. mark's at least a talented commercial photographer/photo manipulator.

from what they showed briefly, mark is pretty good at metal monster doodle art, but he's not bringing any of that to his work on the show. send him home. and jaclyn, too. she's awful and moronic and her pride and prejudice cover was one of the worst things i've ever seen. far worse than poor old judith, who's nuts, but at least has some guts and vision.

[/rant]

oops, meant that erik can apparently draw the monster stuff. not that it matters.

GREAT show.

actually, the fact that erik has survived this long is astounding to me.

can't believe he made it through last night's too. "motley Crue album cover" was otm. just terrible.

and jaclyn, too. she's awful and moronic and her pride and prejudice cover was one of the worst things i've ever seen.

can't stand her. I was feeling hopeful when she was like "if I end up on the chopping block I might have to question where I'm going with my art." and I thought, "yes! yes, you should question it if your go-to mode is to have your tits out in every piece and your self-portrait is a Paris Hilton crotch shot." then they put her in the top two for something that was all Erik's idea but that she decided to deny him ANY credit for. which was like, why?

I don't think Nao would have been sent home if she had talked a better game instead of essentially saying "I made it up as I went along, don't know what it means." (Although it's a little unfair, IRL most artists I think would tell you to fuck off if you came at them all the time with "but what does it meeeaaaaannnnn.") Serrano actually seemed to like her piece. I thought Erik and Jamie-Lynn's stuff was worse than the ones that got people sent home. But no one really did well. It was a pretty lame challenge. Really was just designed to make "sensational" TV, it seemed almost impossible to make something good out of it.

such bullshit! So according to these judges all art has to tell a specific story and express specific political viewpoints and communicate them clearly.

some good reading here:

http://nymag.com/daily/entertainment/2010/06/jerry_saltzs_work_of_art_recap_1.html

even though he annoys me probably the most of the judges. And in the comments section the naked artist defends herself, buried deep in the comments:

Regarding Erik: He would have never even said that idea had he not overheard the conversation taking place between me, Nicole and Peregrine, in which I was literally asking them for their opinion on how I should allow people to write on the piece, AN IDEA I ALREADY CAME UP WITH!!!!! The only thing I had not decided was how the pens would be displayed. He suggested I should stick them in a jar. I was UTTERLY SHOCKED when he tried to take credit for my piece, and it was clear that he was just bitter that I was in the top and he was in the bottom. The producers jumped on this because they love drama. Even the fact that China Chow confronted me about it in the critique was bizarre. We all helped each other, offered suggestions, and bounced ideas back and forth... that's what artists do!!!

And saltz makes the point that the other judge made. It doesn't matter where the idea came from, but the fact that it was done at all.

It's also mentioned that Serrano told Nao he tried to save her. It's bullshit to ask her to explain it.

Anyway, Erik is terrible and he should've listened, when two of the other contestants, don't even remember which but who at least have been to art school probably, were like "don't put text on it"!

He would have never even said that idea had he not overheard the conversation taking place between me, Nicole and Peregrine, in which I was literally asking them for their opinion on how I should allow people to write on the piece

haha. well that's interesting. guess she got screwed by the editing, it def. didn't look that way in the show. I agree it doesn't matter where the idea came from

yeah, it was definitely edited to make it seem like Erik came up with that idea.

Shocking episode was the worst Ugh

unconvinced that passersby were staring at girl w/ big boobs rather than the $125k Audi supercar she was standing next to.

totally. or maybe staring at the 20-man film crew inside the dealership.

lol at the judges for saying she exhibited growth as her art moved from "my tits" to "people looking at my tits". exploring the burden of being hott in America.

second really lame challenge in a row. drive an Audi and then build off that "inspiration." bleagh.

How did painting a picture of his girlfriend fit in with this challenge? They didn't even really show it.

amazing that he wasn't in the bottom.

But Jamie, and I know I've defended her before, but that piece was really not so good!

Peregrine's piece was corny too. SAudi! AudiO! Innie and Audi! Haven't liked anything of hers yet.

When she was putting that together I thought she'd be bottom 3 for sure.

Nicole is cuet and looks like an actress I can't place.

She and the nerdy OCD kid would have the worst sex ever.

phrases I never ever needed to hear while watching reality TV with my parents: "guy trying to suck himself off," "buttholes and titties," "cum"

Shocking episode was the worst Ugh

― a cross between lily allen and fetal alcohol syndrome (milo z), Thursday, July 8, 2010 11:42 PM (3 days ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

is there some reason this does not seem to be scheduled 2 b rerun at all?

http://realitytvfan.org/2010/07/09/work-of-art-episode-5/

Love this show.
― no turkey unless it's a club sandwich (polyphonic), Thursday, June 17, 2010 6:36 AM (3 weeks ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

co-sign. when miles stepped to trong it was hilare; OK trong's TV sculpture was very played but dude show some class

well if Eric didn't shoot himself in the foot (too bad though - I liked having him around for conflict and because he doesn't know when to shut it, but that led to his downfall)

both pieces gave art a bad name in my opinion. one was too simplistic. the pebble pieces would be kicked around. I like geometric art but they must not of had enough time to make a shape with more sides

the other looked nice on paper and it when it was partially done it, but became a hodgepodge when the shingles and metal patchwork were added. it didn't look super comfortable either

thought it was bullshit that the two big issues they had with the losing piece were Miles' fault, but Eric went home

OTOH, Eric's "let's put some, like, dragon scales on the back maaaaaan" ideas weren't that great.

team challenges in all these shows are terrible

yea if eric was just not an ass he coulda stayed a little longer

I would feel bad about Erik going home if he had, I dunno, made even one thing that I liked at all.

oh I missed the first episode? dang

I'll be cheering on the Malaysian dude for the rest of the season. I don't feel like the sucklord is a strong representative for vinyl art

cosigning you there lorax.
there are about six really strong artists and deaf malaysian guy is definitely one of them. The hick dude with the crayons is pretty interesting. Papercraft girl.
Sucklord sucks and that's his schtick but they're co-opting his steez and this does not bode well.

omg i just remembered the "on this season.." clips
the 1 of the innards/viscera w/e girl crying where is the .gif

My roommate was making fun of her, but I thought her photograph (and the sculpture that went into it) was at least interesting to look at. I'm not sure where you can go with "look, I'm sculpting intestines!" though

Sucklord totally reminds me of Mike Damone from Fast Times.

http://www.redstaplerchronicles.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/mike%20damone.jpg

lol otm

http://www.bravotv.com/media/images/persons/sucklord.png

"Now, the lady will have the linguini and white clam sauce, and a Coke with no ice."

lol! Even their mannerisms are similar. It's kind of unsettling.

through-line is something like this, i reckon:

"When it comes down to making out, whenever possible, put on side one of Led Zeppelin IV." ---->

"the Battle of Evermore" ---->

http://wpc.4d27.edgecastcdn.net/004D27/WorkofArt/WOAS2E1+27.jpg

i like the woman who does the ralph steadman type stuff. a lot of these ppl remind me of ppl from my grad school program

Kinda tempted to change the title of this thread to "Work of Art: Women Cry, Men are Assholes"

This was a particularly ridiculous episode.

Deaf Korean dude is a lock, right?

Why the fuck did they even cast innards/Crohn's girl - she apparently hadn't done anything but diorama/sculpture plus photography for years and had no desire to do anything else?

Liked Bayate's video a lot, I could see that being entrancing if displayed correctly. Pedobear sculpture was cool but it's hard to get a feel for stuff like that on TV.

i really hope the talentless video guy wins it

It seems like a lot less interesting bunch artistically than last year, and apparently less talented, but I think they stand a better chance of bringing the lols. I'm glad the Sucklord guy isn't a dick, he actually seems quite funny and more tuned in, especially compared with the innards/chrons girl, what a baby.

Yeah, I imagine anyone who cries that much didn't go to art school? I'm glad the first two to go were the two who went. Like their work or not, it was immediately obvious that they have their one particular style/schtick and were not going to be able to stretch that out to tackle all the wonderful and idiotic challenges. There's people who are generally "artists" who may not have a specific technique/style and can work in various mediums, but best of all of those who do have a clear vision but the flexibility to work within the demands of the show. Personally, I have high hopes for Dusty, he seems talented in various technologies/mediums and has a playful sense of humor, even though I didn't really like his first piece. I think Michelle is the clear front-runner, even if "poop" was a questionable choice. She's clearly experienced and talented.

Yeah, I imagine anyone who cries that much didn't go to art school?

She has an MFA from Yale, for what it's worth.

They must be coddling them these days! I figure most art school students have to face much more critical crits in their first year than what she got. I guess she had the additional frustration of terrible pain.

Yale MFAs are generally a big deal, but I've seen some pretty crappy art come through there. I guess you can say that about anywhere.

I DJ'd an after-party for a thesis show there for some friends. For the first part of the party my friends played synthesizers and electronic tablas in a faux indian cult type performance. A girl walked on stage and asked if they could play some Outkast. After that I DJ'd for while. At the end the friend playing music exclaimed "New Haven's never SEEN such a party!". It was pretty funny.

Some of the work in the show was totally amazing though.

Um, holy shit. Didn't see the deaf guy losing so quickly.

All the work this week was terrible. Bottle of water + boobs was as close to passable as it got.

yeah axing him over dusty is p crazy imo

interpreter was too expensive?

i have never watched this show but lola lived just down the hall from me in the dorms my freshman year so i feel like maybe i should give it a shot?

jeez the taste of the judges on this show is fucking horrible

Killing me that I have to wait for somebody to torrent this, also gotta stop checking this thread before I've seen the episode :)

Killing me that I have to wait for somebody to torrent this, also gotta stop checking this thread before I've seen the episode :)

Killing me that I have to wait for somebody to torrent this, also gotta stop checking this thread before I've seen the episode :)

Killing me that I have to wait for somebody to torrent this, also gotta stop checking this thread before I've seen the episode :)

wow, apologies, how did that happen?

just a slight razzing, let's be cool

lol @ "have you ever heard of the exquisite corpse?"

There were two kids' pieces that I thought were better than anything the contestants did - the large print of happy words and one of the girls's black and white drawing.

I was surprised they were so down on the adult version of happy words - I thought it was visually connected and taking it to a dark, personal place seemed rather appropriate.

I thought her choice (?) to spell divorce wrong was incredibly distracting.

I thought her choice (?) to spell divorce wrong was incredibly distracting. And I agreed that she should have worked at a larger scale.

sucklord before he was sucklord

http://www.spike.com/video-clips/5vhr4k/cant-get-a-date-morgan-and-his-mother

Lola is terrible.

i kinda gave up on this show

I have not-that-guilty crushes on Lola and car accident girl.

this season's talent not looking nearly as good as last season's

Shut this thing down and just give Simon de Pury his own show.

Lola and the other girl seemed to have the idea that their mural was a lot more EDGY and PERVERSE than it really was. "omg the tiger has a penis + there is champagne"

that said it might have been good if they had done more of the pasted-up figures and less of the boring window cut-outs

the issue for me is that the judges taste is definitively BAD and RONG 98.5% of the time

BE BOLD BE SHITTY and PRETEND YOUR WORK IS MUCH MORE COMPLEX THAN THE PROCESS WE JUST SAW YOU GO THROUGH SUGGESTS THAT IT IS

lola is the worst kind of person as conveyed by her saying her mom taught her to just cut lines and her saying she used 2 just chuck glitter @ ppl on the subway

yah i like yung & his short shorts but idgaf abt these lame "personal" msgs

Young just trying to win jury votes I think. I kind of like that those two awful girls said "fuck a message, I just want to have enjoyable art". But week after week the majority of the art from any of these people is weak sauce. Maybe the constraints have made things more difficult on them, particularly having to be teamed up, but if you can't come up with cool looking street art then you are wasting everyone's time. I wish the producers selected some better artists rather than randomly drawing names from a pool of art school graduates.

And yeah, those two girls are awful. One of them with her poop fetish, the other with her spunky lame ass self, and both of them with their childish "penises are hilarious" personality. (And neither of them are as good looking as another ILXor made them out to be). The whole Lola + Sucklord thing is what I imagine watching Degrassi must be like.

It's been super-interesting to watch this show having hung out with Young on a few occasions. I don't know him well enough to say what he is "really like," but he showed up in the AVClub comments section this week to say that he isn't bothered by people's criticism of him on the show, because it's directed at a TV character.

So far I haven't had any problems with Young. He is one person that genuinely deserves to be on the show. I think the deaf guy would be kicking ass if he was still around

Jumping bird pose was kind of hilarious

Well, it seems like the main criticism of him is that he makes banal art that is superficially "meaningful" enough to appeal to the judges.

I guess one way to respond to that is: "Don't hate the player, hate the game."

I agree with that response but I don't think he's been so banal. The more plain stuff has some nice minimalistic qualities and he actually is good at brainstorming and putting "meaningfulness" in his art. Artists oughta be flexible enough to

The others discuss stuff like "if the mouse and cheese are really small than there might be some sort of subtle meaningfulness that the judges will like". Or they have a meanigful idea that gets lost in translation.

Good enough looking art has been in the bottom because the judges are focusing too much on meaningfulness plus whether or not something is merely representing an art movement versus taking it to a new level.