The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel‘s Mary Louise Schumacher sums up her feelings about Bravo’s Work of Art (watch the short video above–it’s very good):
While 1.48 million viewers tuned in to watch Farah’s ascension to Next Great Artist, I watched with a small crowd of art world notables and a smattering of critics and bloggers who had shown keen interest in the series. The show’s cast, producer Sarah Jessica Parker and artists Will Cotton, Oka Doner, Richard Phillips and Andres Serrano were among those gathered at the Brooklyn Museum.
The last time I felt this kind of pep in a crowd I was wearing saddle shoes and pumping pompoms in school colors. […] Some chanted “Jer-ry, Jer-ry!” when art critic and judge Jerry Saltz appeared on screen, and every time the museum was referenced, always as “the world-famous Brooklyn Museum,” the institution’s venerable curators erupted like prepubescent girls.
It was desperate and beautiful and sad — this palpable and genuine desire for a connection between an increasingly marginalized art world and the mainstream. I confess, I could relate to it. […]
When I emerged from the Warhol exhibit late in the afternoon, the sounds of a screaming mob echoed in the museum. I turned a corner to find people, many of them teenagers, queued up to meet the one-and-only Farah, who had come to see his show. For those who believe the museum sold its soul by staging this show, this simple fact was hard to ignore: Fans of a TV show had poured through the doors that day. […]
The best artists on “Work of Art” were eliminated early and late in the game, and the winner is among the least likely to be a great artist anytime soon. Perhaps even more revealing was that good art and truly ridiculous, non-art art got waved through with passing grades on the show.
The art world gets caught up in reality TV (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)
