Work of Art: The Next Great Artist

Last night a few friends recommended to me Work of Art: The Next Great Artist, a new reality series on Bravo. I had heard about it, but wasn't too optimistic. Although I admittedly love the Bravo reality format, I was expecting "create a 'work of art' in two hours. k, go" situation... and as a designer/artist, that format wasn't going to sit with me very well.

Obviously I hulu-ed the show this morning, was pleasantly surprised!

As soon as contestant Miles set up a make-shift dark room for silk screening (and called it his fort), I decided he was a favorite. However, everyone thought his process was really bizarre - which I thought was a little weird since silk screening is not out of the ordinary - but I guess when everyone else in the room is painting the guy spraying down his screen with a hose does kind of stand out.

For the first task the contestants were paired up and needed to create a portrait of their partner.

Although I disliked Nao as a contestant (based on her intro), I LOVED her portrait of Miles... but the judges hated it! (And I didn't just like it because Miles is one of my favorites, I promise). Miles has an obsessive compulsive personality, making for a specifically mapped out process. Instead of painting or photographing his face for a literal portrait, Nao mapped out his process on a giant canvas, which was great! It was an interesting graphic made up of lines and circles, and begged the viewer to ponder how it represented the subject. I was extremely surprised when none of the judges appreciated her angle.

Anyway - my point is Work of Art is actually a fun show, and the 1st episode resulted in some pretty cool pieces - so we'll see what the rest of the season brings!

I'm curious to hear what other people think of the show!