“Work of Art: The Next Great Artist”, an hour long creative competition series among contemporary artists, debuted on cable channel Bravo on Wednesday, June 9, 2010 pits 14 very different artists against each other in weekly challenges and awards the winner a $100,000 prize and a solo exhibition at the prestigious Brooklyn Museum.
“The whole point of the show is that there is no right opinion. Everyone has their own subjective view. But it is amazing every week that there is a consensus about the quality of the work, and what’s good and what’s not,” said Dan Cutforth, one of the executive producers.
“Good art really moves people and inspires a reaction. You know it when you see it. The old chestnut ‘I don’t know much about art, but I know what I like’ is true,” he told Reuters.
More than 2,000 people from oil painters to conceptual artists and silk-screen experimenters applied to take part, reflecting the hunger for a larger public canvas for an often misunderstood form of expression. In future episodes, the contestants must create unique pieces in mediums such as sculpture, photography, collage and industrial design.
In the first challenge, contestants ranging from 23 to 62 years-old are randomly paired off and asked to produce a visual work that captures the essence of their partner. A three-person panel of judges decides who has responded best to the challenge, and who will go home.
In each episode, contestants are faced with the challenge of creating unique pieces in a variety of mediums such as painting, sculpture, photography, collage and industrial design. The weekly assignments are exciting, original and will challenge the artists’ to push the limits of their technical skills and creative boundaries. Completed works of art will be appraised by our panel of top art world figures alongside a new celebrated guest judge every week. Through a gallery showing at the end of each challenge, these industry select dictate which artists have successfully mastered the subject matter and creation of their piece, as well as whose concept leaves the greatest impact.
World-renowned art auctioneer Simon de Pury, a New York Gallery owner and literary art contributor, Jerry Saltz, current art critic for New York Magazine, and Jeanne Greenberg Rohatyn, esteemed curator and owner of Salon94 gallery and Sarah Jessica Parker, Pretty Matches, Eli Holzman, China Chow, Bill Powers are together to give a life to this TV show.
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