"Work of Art": Cringeworthy

Playing catch-up here on Bravo's "Work of Art" as the contestants reveal more of themselves, and make you wish they hadn't. This week the artists are supposed to create works about movement, inspired by a group of Parkour performers.

All stills courtesy Bravo

The team art projects are always good for a Clash of the Titanic Egos, especially when the team is obviously flailing. Even Inspector Clouseau has to call BS on both teams' uninspired ideas.

So they all start over. And things do improve somewhat; one team decides to go conceptual with "let's each do something that has a circular aspect to it." The other goes for works that express the uninhibited motion of the playground. Guess who wins.

And Scary Radical, who almost got booted on the first episode for an incoherent piece about race relations, comes out on top this time.

He made a simple yet hypnotizing video of himself spinning around and around, like kids do on the playground just for the fun of getting dizzy. Diametric opposite of Gutbucket's piece, a video loop about... innards.

Which was bad enough, but then she bawled in front of the judges -- twice -- as if apologizing for committing a massacre. I can't even think about it without cringing in sympathy. Which ones made you cringe, or cheer? Tell me in the comments or on Facebook.

Work of Art 2: The Players

At last month's gallery opening, gallery co-owner Tracy Fraker and I got to talking about Bravo's "Work of Art" (now back for a second season).

All stills courtesy Bravo

Tracy asked me if I'd want to be on that reality show, and I said Nooooo no no. (Reasonably) Sane people don't make good TV; crazy makes good TV. Speaking of... let's meet this season's contestants.
"The Sucklord" whose self-bestowed title cannot stand, and therefore we will call him by his real name, MORGAN...

Tortured (what you'd get if you crammed Tortured Miles and Body Issues Jaclyn from Season One into one person)... Le Hotness (he's French)...

and the girl who obsesses about her bowel issues, so we'll call her (and her art) Gutbucket. We'll give the others nicknames as they earn them. As in Season One, all the artists will be condescended to mentored by Inspector Clouseau and host/judge Switzerland (icy and allegedly neutral).

For their first challenge, the contestants had to make a decent piece of art out of kitsch.

A few obvious winners, and an obvious loser too.

If we hadn't seen Le Hotness painting his piece, I would've thought he'd snuck in a Keith Haring that he tried to pass off as his own. Au revoir, darling.

Are you watching "Work of Art"? Tell me what you think of the season so far, in the comments or on Facebook. If we can't laugh at the forced drama and the pretensions, it's just not the same...

Destination: Creativity -- Winner winner chicken dinner!

Okay, I stole that from Jen Cushman 'cause it's funny and because I hear it all the time on "Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives." Onward.

And the winner of the book and mini-album, who commented here and on my Facebook page, is....

Linda of ColorPlay Fibers!

Linda, email your mailing address to yolisalisa at gmail dot com by Tuesday, October 18th at 5pm(PST)! If not, the book and mini-album go to my back-up winner.

Thank you, all 40+ of you, for hanging out with me here and on Facebook! Stay tuned for snarky commentary this weekend on Bravo's second season of "Work of Art."