August 13th, 2010 | General, visual arts
It’s over and done with and Abdi, as the “Next Great Artist,” will exhibit his work at the Brooklyn Museum of Art. The check for $100,000.00, he says, will go to his mother. In ten years, however, or ten months or ten days, will anyone remember? Will anyone care? Just...
July 30th, 2010 | General, visual arts
I found a certain irony in Challenge 8. Last week I railed about the triviality of the challenges. I even weighed in on the subject on Jerry Saltz’s New York magazine blog where some of the more interesting discussions about the show take place. This week the Great...
July 18th, 2010 | General, Popular Culture, visual arts
In episode 6, a collaborative challenge was custom-designed for drama, an art school equivalent of shirts and skins in gym class. BRAVO producers determined that interpersonal tensions are entertaining in a way that the creation of art is not. In the first five...
July 9th, 2010 | General, Popular Culture, visual arts
I predict that Miles will take home the prize. I thought this might be the case as early as the first challenge and was moderately certain by the second. I will be genuinely surprised at this point if he loses. Miles will win, not because of Simon de Pury’s...
June 25th, 2010 | General, Popular Culture, visual arts
“I am a fine artist” said Judith. The idea of designing a book cover, even one for a classic novel, seemed to her to be a task beneath contempt. Mark, a contestant who makes a reasonably steady living as a commercial artist, was insulted by Judith’s comments. Did I...