The first challenge for the 14 artist-contestants on “Work of Art,” Bravo’s new reality TV show that airs tonight at 11, is to paint make a portrait of one of the other contestants…in 13 hours. I’ll definitely tune in–sorry Chelsea Lately— to see what they come up with. In the Boston Globe, Sebastian Smee reports that the show poses questions that most people are afraid to ask. “It starts with the obvious ones: How do we judge art? Are artists like you and me, or are they different? Is success in the art world about vision and skill, is it about knowing how to sell yourself, or is it just a lottery? Even within the first episode, the questions get more nuanced. For instance: How on earth do you go about capturing someone�s ‘essence’ (as opposed to their appearance) visually, in a portrait? Is it enough to be told that an artwork is underpinned by various ideas, or does the work itself need to express those ideas? And can the process of creating a work of art be as important as the finished product?”
Painter-contestants include:
Amanda Williams
Abdi Farrah
Peregrine Honig
Erik Johnson
Miles Mendenhall
Judith Ann Braun
Ryan Schultz
John Parot
Jaclyn Santos
Other contestants:
Nao Bustamante
Mark Velasquez
Jaime Lynn Henderson
Trong Nguyen
Nicole Nadeau
Links courtesy of the excellent The Art Fag City Work of Art Supplementary Program Guide
Related posts:
Art Reality: An Art21 post I wrote last year during the audition phase about the reality of being an artist.
Great preview to tonight's show. I have been curious about the show since I had heard about the call to artists many months ago, but honestly I'm a skeptic about the concept. I do hope that it will shed some light on the creative process for the person who is not aware of the challenges. I'll be watching the first episode for sure!
FYI — John Parot is a contestant too!
http://westernexhibitions.com/parot/index.html
Thanks Scott. Sorry for the oversight.
–Sharon
HAHAH!! I CAN'T BELIEVE THATBLOGS ANRT ART SITES ARE COMMENTING ABOUT THIS TV SHOW !!
and NO . real artists never paint portraits , only self-portraits using other visual references .
http://www.meinwelt-22.blogspot.com
thank you for this post , it is fun .