Work of Art

I have watched a couple of episodes of Bravo's new reality TV show "Work of Art". Although I am interested in art and the artists creating it, I don't know that much about the art world, and especially not much about current, contemporary artists. It is definitely an area where I would like to educate myself more, which is one reason I was interested in watching the show. Given that art has been commercialized more and more lately, with ever increasing prices being paid at art auctions, and museum shops getting bigger and bigger with more online presence, I was not so surprised to see a reality TV show, and a competition at that, about art and artists. 

It is fascinating to see the process of creating art, although I am sure that the actual process of creating art is quite different than allowed at the show due to time constraints and the forced topic or challenge. Still, it's really interesting how each artist approaches the challenge in a different way. Some are much more conservative in their thinking than others, and produce more predictable work. And some (especially Miles) seem to have a unique brain that comes up with very unexpected ideas.

So far my artist favorites are Abdi, Miles and Jaime Lynn, who are all very different and very talented.

My absolute favorite in the show is Simon De Pury who is the Tim-Gunn-like mentor to the artists. I cannot help but compare Tim and Simon. Both are very old school type gentlemen, impeccably dressed with beautiful manners and a very soothing air about them. So far Sarah Jessica Parker, who is the executive producer of the show, has put in only one short appearance (I think I've seen three episodes), and was clearly a bit taken back because of a bad joke by Miles, who pretended not to know who she is!

All in all, an interesting show and definitely a nice addition to my DVR recording schedule!