Okay, I watched the first episode of “Work or Art.” It was actually worse than I thought, and my expectations were VERY low. Such a staged event and then calling it creating art is just a strange exercise. It has the potential to ruin a artist’s career. I find it odd that the artists selected were who they were. By that I mean the selected artists seemed such an odd bunch taken together. However, I guess that’s how they decided to get us all to watch it.
Performing Arts: The “Work of Art” Exit Interview: Trong Nguyen:
“‘A conversation with the second contestant cut from Bravo’s new arts reality show and he’s not just kissing Simon de Pury’s shiny shoes.
Did you feel like any of the judges’ criticisms were helpful? Will any of their comments affect how you make work going forward?
For some reason I feel like the judges are so defensive that they end up ignoring what you have to say, which I feel is so unconstructive…. A lot of these people, they probably are public speakers. I mean, someone like Jerry Saltz has been a lecturer and visiting professor, and his behavior on the show would not be tolerated. It just didn’t feel true, and I feel like my critique in this particular episode was early on, so after I had my critique I kind of just blocked everything else out. I think they actually dote on certain works and certain people on the show for whatever reason, and it hasn’t felt constructive to me.”
(Via ARTINFO: News.)
Jerry Saltz, in his NY Magazine column says this, “To me, none of this criticism is “over-the-top.” It can’t begin to compete with the terrible things we tell ourselves about our work all the time, anyway. To me, being critical of art is not mean; being critical is a way of showing art respect. The most annoying work this week? Trong’s six TVs painted with silly quips like “I hate reality TV.” I called his work “self-referentiality up the wing-wong,” and I stick by that. I generally find this kind of work insular, smug, or self-satisfied in the regular art world. I feel this way about it on a TV show, too. At one point, I lurched at Trong and snapped, “I don’t think you’re an artist! You’re a curator or a writer!” But that ended up on the cutting-room floor, as well. I’m glad. It was a little “over-the-top harsh.” Sorry, Trong.”
http://nymag.com/daily/entertainment/2010/06/work_of_art_recap_harsh_realit.html
In some ways one would hope there is some realistic exposure about how art is made, but I don’t think this format lends itself to that kind of realism. The realism of this show keeps getting folded in on top of itself, like kneading dough, but maybe at the end of the thing it might be more that it certainly looks like now. I’m not holding my breath in expectation.