It became clear this summer, that Bravo was looking for something to replace Project Runway after it moved to Lifetime. A number of the same producers with the addition of Sarah Jessica Parker, came together to create a new competition reality series called Work of Art: The Next Great Artist. Right off the bat, the show is taking itself way to seriously. The fact that they think any artist that wins a competition reality show is going to be considered “great” is so laughable it’s sad.
Being an artist myself and since one of the contestants (Nao Bustamente) is a professor from my college, I decided to give it a watch. It was immediately shocking to me how this was pretty much a carbon copy of Project Runway, only instead of clothes, the competitors were making works of art. There was even a Tim Gunn-esque mentor that came around and critiqued the works-in-progress. I guess they just decided to stick with what they knew would work.
The inherent problem with the show’s architecture was immediately clear when competitors were introduced. They all used different mediums. And then I realized that the creators of the show, in picking this group, was trying to establish a solid definition of art. How else did they expect to pick a winner? Putting together a show called “Work of Art: The Next Great Artist” and picking said artist from a group of people working in different mediums is akin to creating a show called “The Next Great Designer” and picking someone from a group made up of fashion designers, interior designers, graphic designers, etc. It’s too diverse to be relevant. Art is such a subjective thing that trying to objectify it is bound to fail.
Even the judges look like they have no idea what the show is.
I consider fashion to be a form of art, and it got it’s own show. I think the concept would’ve been about 120% more successful if they have just stayed within different branches of the art realm. I think they could’ve done something clever, and made each season of the show a different art form. For example “Work of Art: The Next Great Sculptor” or “Work of Art: The Next Great Performance Artist”. That way, when you place the artists’ works up against each other, there actually is a comparison that can be made and is more accessible to the public audience.
As it stands right now, the show is a joke to the art world. There are very talented people on the show, but they have their own mediums. A painter got sent home because they didn’t make a good enough sculpture. I mean really, it’s painfully obvious how flawed the concept is. It’s never quite clear what the judges are using as a frame of reference. On Project Runway it’s always the same: who met the challenge with the best contruction, execution, and design. When you apply those same criteria to Work of Art, how do you take a piece of performance art and compare it to a painting? It just doesn’t make sense, and even the guest judges have been wary.
I guess “Work of Art” just doesn’t “work” for me. And yes, they actually used that horrible play on words in the show.