By Katie Winters
We’ve all become accustomed to subjective matters as the focus of reality TV shows, whether this means following the lives and experiences of people or competitions that rest upon the opinions of judges. The CW’s America’s Next Top Model is of course a well-known example of the latter, but Bravo has found a real niche in this category as well, taking the existing model and diversifying the offerings.
Starting with Project Runaway and continuing with the culinary arts and interior design, Bravo has now expanded their repertoire to include visual art.
Work of Art: The Next Great Artist is a competition, pitting artists against each other to see who could “create the best art” from week to week.
Initially this seems impossible to many. What does a challenge even consist of in an art show? And of course, the conundrum of the extremely subjective nature of art comes into play. Fashion at least has guidelines in the form of current style and there is a certain amount of objectivity to the taste of food.
But art is all over the board, with many different styles, matters of aesthetic and many mediums to utilize. There isn’t even much consensus on what art is, so it is understandable that viewers could be incredulous about Work of Art.
However despite all of these possible traps, Bravo made a good show. It was engaging and entertaining. Even though everyone will have a favorite and there is always that contestant that makes pieces no one understands, the viewer doesn’t feel that those who went home were sent home without reason. So often those who were eliminated were sent home because of an idea that completely missed the mark or skills that lacked. The challenges became more of ideas to be elaborated on with small hurdles to force the artists to stretch their ideas and skills.
Most interestingly though, is the unprecedented view this show offers you. Normally in these competition shows everything between the issuing of the challenge and the presentation of the work is fighting, drama and catty behavior.
Though Bravo did not do entirely away with this winning combination, what the viewer sees in the work room is an artist’s process. For anyone interested in how pieces come to be, from inception to completion, this is groundbreaking.
The chances of seeing this in the real world are slim to none, but now it’s broadcast for all to see.
This show is worth watching. I had my reservations at first, but Bravo and the show’s creators and producers handled the subject well. This along with the unique chance to view artists at work on consecutive challenges makes the show worth all of the typical reality TV fare.
Of course if you are a big fan of the drama of having people compete with each other so intensely, this is just another field to watch it occur in and you will certainly find some interesting characters in the group, like Miles who keeps trying to persuade female competitors to create nude self-portraits. If you didn’t manage to watch the show this summer, I strongly suggest you catch up now as we all wait for the next season.

















