Bravo's Work of Art/The Next Great Artist-Not Your Paint-By-Numbers

PIC OF WEEK

He’s 42 years old, he goes by the name of Sucklord, and he’s no longer a contender on Bravo’s Work of Art/The Next Great Artist.


I don’t suppose that this Bravo reality show competition will be viewed by swarms but by me it’s quirky enough to have me look in. Not that I am any artist though I do quite like to do paint-by-numbers. As for standing in a studied concentration before a painting/sculpture that to me makes no sense , chin in hand, brows furrowed…let’s just say this shall never be me. It does often give me smiles as the contenders on this series present their creations as required by the episode’s challenge. Silly me, I choose my favorite, which almost never wins the challenge. I also enjoy hearing the interpretations as done for us by the show’s judges. With this I often laugh right out loud for I seldom discern the “true” meaning of the art.

The show, which airs on Bravo, Wednesday nights, 9p/8c, has a fairly predictable format. There’s the judges, the show’s host, the kind mentor who looks in on the contenders as they create, offering advice and encouragement. Every week a challenge is made and every week a contender is sent home. The competition started out with 14 contenders, as of this writing is now down to seven, and offers a prize of $14,000 plus a solo show for the winner at the Brooklyn Museum of Art.




This past week the challenge had the 8 contenders left at the time forming pairs and charged with creating “street art” on four big bare walls provided to them. Yes this sort of thing used to be called graffiti but in this era of political correctness we now call it art.

The losing entry, above, was created by the team of Sucklord and Sarah. It might not be obvious in the picture by the maze is 3-dimensional, Sucklord and Sarah having cut out the pieces and somehow affixed them to the brick wall. There were rats painted around the maze. The judges thought that it was too boring, too conventional. Evidently this Sucklord contender hasn’t been in good favor with the judges before as they scolded how he’d been warned for his less than stellar creations in prior episodes. The proverbial straw was this presentation that didn’t wow a single judge.

The above presentation was also in the bottom two. It was created by contenders Lola and Michelle. I frankly thought it hideous and am glad the judges saw it my way. It’s supposed to be what one might see if passing by the building and chancing to look inside as a party goes on. The two artists painted the big smoking hands, pictures of male genitalia, supposed to hint at the underlying sexual tension they suppose goes on, rather vapid scripting to explain what goes on to the viewer. The judges said is was “bland”, “silly, canned surrealism”. I thought it very ugly.

The above was one of the top two entries of the challenge. It was created by contenders Kymia and Sara. The art depicts people being uprooted by an alien. The contenders said it captures the mood that Kymia felt when her parents moved to America from Puerto Rico to escape a dread future. The judges said the work looks better when regarded from far rather than up close. I thought so too and by me this entry should have won for that challenge.

The entry that DID win the episode’s challenge is above. It was presented by contenders Young Sun and Dusty. Young Sun had recently lost his father while Dusty recently became a father and the art represents, get ready for this original concept…THE CIRCLE OF LIFE!

Not that there’s anything wrong with this.

But if you’re going to condemn unoriginal and hackneyed, it don’t get much more like that than a circle of life offering. I don’t think it was very artistic or offered any original thought. Maybe a lecture on avoiding fathering unwanted children would have added to the dimension of an artistic offering so meant to be on display for passersby on the street.

Although I do think this offering was way better than the bottom two, I thought the artistic rendering of being torn by the roots to be much more, well, artistic, and original.

Still and so I do like to watch this series when I’m busy in the kitchen as, like most competitive reality shows of this sort, it’s really the ending, when the judges regard the completed entries and make their choice, that required viewer’s complete attention.