| Work of Art: The Next Great Artist | |
|---|---|
| Title card | |
| Starring | China Chow Jerry Saltz Jeanne Greenberg Rohatyn Bill Powers Simon de Pury |
| Country of origin | United States |
| No. of seasons | 2 |
| No. of episodes | 20 |
| Production | |
| Executive producers | Sarah Jessica Parker Eli Holzman |
| Running time | 60 minutes |
| Original release | |
| Network | Bravo |
| Release | June 9, 2010 – December 21, 2011 |
Work of Art: The Next Great Artist is an American reality competition show that aired on the cable television network Bravo, in which up-and-coming artists compete for a solo exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum and a cash prize of $100,000. The show was produced by Pretty Matches Productions and Magical Elves Productions, the same company that created Project Runway and Top Chef . The series premiered on June 9, 2010. Work of Art was renewed for a second season in September 2010 which began on October 12, 2011.
| Season | Premiere date | Finale date | No. of Artists | Winner | Runners-up | Mentors |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | June 9, 2010 | August 11, 2010 | 14 | Abdi Farah | Peregrine Honig Miles Mendenhall | China Chow (Host/Judge) Jerry Saltz (Judge) Bill Powers (Judge) Simon de Pury (Mentor) |
| 2 | October 12, 2011 | December 21, 2011 | 14 | Kymia Nawabi | Young Sun Han Sara Jimenez | |
| Artist | Age 1 | Artistic specialty | Occupation | Resides in 2 | Finish |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Amanda Williams | 34 | Abstract Painter | Architecture Professor | Chicago, Illinois | 14th |
| Trong Nguyen | 38 | Installation Artist | Museum Curator | Brooklyn, New York | 13th |
| Judith Braun | 61 | Mixed Media | Landlord | New York City | 12th |
| Nao Bustamante | 46 | Performance Artist | Professor | Troy, New York | 11th/ 10th |
| John Parot | 39 | Painter | Art Studio Manager | Los Angeles | |
| Jaime Lynn Henderson | 24 | Painter/Illustrator | Freelance Artist | Lawton, Oklahoma | 9th |
| Erik Johnson | 30 | Painter | Unemployed | Homer Glen, Illinois | 8th |
| Ryan Shultz | 26 | Realist Painter | Private Art Teacher | Chicago, Illinois | 7th |
| Mark Velasquez | 32 | Photographer | Fry Cook | Santa Maria, California | 6th |
| Jaclyn Santos | 25 | Realist Painter | Studio Assistant | Manhattan, New York | 5th |
| Nicole Nadeau | 25 | Industrial Designer/Sculptor | Waitress | New York, New York | 4th |
| Miles Mendenhall | 23 | Installation Artist | Studio Assistant | Minneapolis, Minnesota | 3rd/ 2nd |
| Peregrine Honig | 32 | Painter/Sculptor | Boutique Owner | Kansas City, Missouri | |
| Abdi Farah | 22 | Figurative Painter/Sculptor | Art Teacher | Dover, Pennsylvania | 1st |
^Note 1 : Age at the time of filming.
^Note 2 : City of residence at the time of filming.
| Artists | Progress by episode | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 1 | 4 | 5 | 6 2 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | |
| Abdi | HIGH | HIGH | IN | WIN | IN | HIGH | LOW | LOW | WIN | WINNER |
| Peregrine | IN | IN | LOW | IN | IN | IN | WIN | IN | LOW | RUNNER-UP |
| Miles | WIN | WIN | IN | IN | HIGH | LOW | IN | WIN | HIGH | RUNNER-UP |
| Nicole | IN | HIGH | IN | IN | IN | WIN | HIGH | IN | OUT | |
| Jaclyn | IN | IN | LOW | HIGH | WIN | IN | LOW | WIN | OUT | |
| Mark | HIGH | IN | HIGH | IN | LOW | HIGH | IN | OUT | ||
| Ryan | IN | IN | IN | IN | LOW | HIGH | OUT | |||
| Erik | LOW | IN | IN | LOW | IN | OUT | ||||
| Jamie Lynn | IN | LOW | IN | LOW | OUT | |||||
| John | IN | IN | WIN | OUT | ||||||
| Nao | LOW | IN | IN | OUT | ||||||
| Judith | IN | LOW | OUT | |||||||
| Trong | IN | OUT | ||||||||
| Amanda | OUT | |||||||||
^Note 1 : John had his book cover published by Penguin Books; he did not receive immunity.
^Note 2 : Beginning with this episode, the winners no longer received immunity.
| No. overall | No. in season | Title | Guest Judge | Original release date | Prod. code | US viewers (millions) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | "Self-Reflexive" | N/A | June 9, 2010 | TBA | N/A |
Challenge: Create a portrait of one of your fellow artists. Challenge winner: Miles Bottom three: Amanda, Erik, Nao Eliminated: Amanda | ||||||
| 2 | 2 | "The Shape of Things to Come" | Jon Kessler | June 16, 2010 | TBA | N/A |
Challenge: Create a sculptural piece from items selected from an electronics graveyard. Challenge winner: Miles Bottom three: Jaime Lynn, Judith, Trong Eliminated: Trong | ||||||
| 3 | 3 | "Judging a Book By Its Cover" | Jonathan Santlofer | June 23, 2010 | TBA | N/A |
Challenge: Design a book cover for one of six classic novels, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland , Dracula , Frankenstein , Pride and Prejudice , Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde and The Time Machine . Challenge winner: John Bottom three: Jaclyn, Judith, Peregrine Eliminated: Judith | ||||||
| 4 | 4 | "A Shock to the System" | Andres Serrano | June 30, 2010 | TBA | N/A |
Challenge: Create a shocking piece. Challenge winner: Abdi Bottom four: Erik, Jaime Lynn, John, Nao Eliminated: John, Nao | ||||||
| 5 | 5 | "Art That Moves You" | Richard Phillips | July 7, 2010 | TBA | 1.2 [1] |
Challenge: Create a work of art based on your Audi experience. Challenge winner: Jaclyn Bottom three: Jaime Lynn, Mark, Ryan Eliminated: Jaime Lynn | ||||||
| 6 | 6 | "Open to the Public" | Yvonne Force Villareal | July 14, 2010 | TBA | N/A |
Challenge: Create a piece of public art. Red Team: Abdi, Mark, Nicole, Ryan Challenge winner: Red Team Individual winner: Nicole Bottom two: Erik, Miles Eliminated: Erik | ||||||
| 7 | 7 | "Child's Play" | Will Cotton | July 21, 2010 | TBA | N/A |
Challenge: Create a piece based on what ignited your artistic expression, using only supplies found at the Children's Museum of the Arts. Challenge winner: Peregrine Bottom three: Abdi, Jaclyn, Ryan Eliminated: Ryan | ||||||
| 8 | 8 | "Opposites Attract" | Ryan McGinness | July 28, 2010 | TBA | N/A |
Challenge: Create an artwork about opposing forces: Heaven and Hell (Mark/Peregrine); Male and Female (Miles/Jaclyn); Order and Chaos (Abdi/Nicole). Challenge winners: Miles, Jaclyn Bottom two: Abdi, Mark Eliminated: Mark | ||||||
| 9 | 9 | "Natural Talents" | Michele Oka Doner | August 4, 2010 | TBA | N/A |
Challenge: Create a piece inspired from nature and landscape incorporating materials gathered from a Connecticut nature preserve. Challenge winner: Abdi Bottom three: Jaclyn, Nicole, Peregrine Eliminated: Jaclyn, Nicole | ||||||
| 10 | 10 | "The Big Show" | David LaChapelle | August 11, 2010 | TBA | 1.48 [2] |
Challenge: The remaining artists return home, where they have three months to develop a final exhibition using themes of their own choosing. Winner: Abdi Runners-up: Miles, Peregrine | ||||||
| Artist | Age 1 | Artistic specialty | Occupation | Resides in 2 | Finish |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ugo Nonis | 33 | Line Artist [3] | Art Director/Designer | Paris, France | 14th |
| Kathryn Parker Almanas | 29 [4] | Photographer [5] | Photographer | Brooklyn, New York | 13th |
| Jazz-Minh Moore [6] | 32 | Figurative Painter [7] | Freelance Artist | New York City | 12th/ 11th |
| Leon Lim | 31 | Installation Artist [8] | Graphic Designer | Kedah, Malaysia | |
| Michael "Tewz" Chlebowski [9] [10] | 30 | Street Artist [11] | Arts Educator | Chicago, Illinois | 10th |
| Bayeté Ross Smith | 35 | Video Artist [12] | Arts Educator | New York City | 9th |
| Morgan "Sucklord" Phillips [13] | 42 | Toy Art Designer [14] | CEO, Suckadelic Inc | New York City | 8th |
| Michelle Matson | 29 | Sculptor [15] | Artist Assistant | Bridgewater, New Jersey | 7th |
| Sarah Kabot [16] | 34 | Installation Artist/Sculptor [17] | Assistant Art Professor | Cleveland, Ohio | 6th |
| Dusty Mitchell | 32 | Installation Artist/Sculptor [18] | Elementary School Art Teacher | Mountain View, Arkansas | 5th/ 4th |
| Lola Thompson | 24 | Sculptor [19] | Barista | Los Angeles | |
| Sara Jimenez | 26 | Figurative Painter [20] | Gallery Intern | New York City | 3rd/ 2nd |
| Young Sun Han | 28 | Performance Artist/Photographer [21] | Exhibiting Artist | Skokie, IL | |
| Kymia Nawabi | 30 | Drawer/Painter [22] | Waitress | New York City | 1st |
^Note 1 : Age at the time of filming.
^Note 2 : City of residence at the time of filming.
| Artists | Progress by episode | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 1 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | |
| Kymia | IN | IN (+) | HIGH | WIN | IN | HIGH | LOW | IN | WIN | WINNER |
| Young | IN | IN (-) | WIN | IN | WIN | WIN | IN | WIN | IN | RUNNER-UP |
| Sara | HIGH | IN (+) | IN | LOW | IN | HIGH | WIN | WIN | LOW | RUNNER-UP |
| Lola | HIGH | LOW | IN | IN | HIGH | LOW | LOW | IN | OUT | |
| Dusty | IN | IN (+) | LOW | HIGH | HIGH | WIN | IN | LOW | OUT | |
| Sarah | IN | IN (+) | IN | IN | LOW | LOW | HIGH | OUT | ||
| Michelle | WIN | HIGH | LOW | IN | IN | LOW | OUT | |||
| The Sucklord | LOW | IN (+) | IN | LOW | LOW | OUT | ||||
| Bayeté | LOW | WIN | IN | IN | OUT | |||||
| Tewz | IN | LOW | IN | OUT | ||||||
| Leon | IN | IN (-) | OUT | |||||||
| Jazz-Minh | IN | IN (-) | OUT | |||||||
| Kathryn | IN | OUT | ||||||||
| Ugo | OUT | |||||||||
^Note 1 : Young had a two-page spread published in Entertainment Weekly; he did not receive immunity.
| No. overall | No. in season | Title | Guest Judge | Original release date | Prod. code | US viewers (millions) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 11 | 1 | "Kitsch Me If You Can" | Mary Ellen Mark | October 12, 2011 | TBA | N/A |
Challenge: The artists must use pieces of "bad" art, such as a painting of dogs playing checkers, a velvet cowboy, and a sculptural golden peacock as their canvas. Challenge winner: Michelle Bottom three: Bayeté, The Sucklord, Ugo Eliminated: Ugo | ||||||
| 12 | 2 | "Art Movement" | Jeanne Greenberg Rohatyn | October 19, 2011 | TBA | N/A |
Challenge: The artists must use parkour, a discipline where participants overcome obstacles using only their bodies to move from point A to point B in the most creative and inventive way possible, as their inspiration. Team Loop: Jazz-Minh, Kathryn, Leon, Lola, Tewz, Young Challenge winner: Team Play With Me Individual winner: Bayeté Bottom three: Kathryn, Lola, Tewz Eliminated: Kathryn | ||||||
| 13 | 3 | "Make It Pop" | Rob Pruitt | October 26, 2011 | TBA | 0.62 [23] |
Challenge: The contestants must create a piece of pop art that captures the popular culture of their time. Challenge winner: Young Bottom four: Leon, Dusty, Michelle, Jazz-Minh Eliminated: Jazz-Minh, Leon | ||||||
| 14 | 4 | "Back to School" | Sarah Jessica Parker | November 2, 2011 | TBA | N/A |
Challenge: The artists are challenged to create a piece of art inspired by the original artwork of the child they are paired with. Challenge winner: Kymia Bottom three: Sara, The Sucklord, Tewz Eliminated: Tewz | ||||||
| 15 | 5 | "Ripped from the Headlines" | Adam McEwen | November 9, 2011 | TBA | N/A |
Challenge: The artists must create a piece of art that illustrates a headline which strikes a chord with them. Challenge winner: Young Bottom three: Bayeté, Sarah K., The Sucklord Eliminated: Bayeté | ||||||
| 16 | 6 | "Street Dealers" | N/A | November 16, 2011 | TBA | N/A |
Challenge: The artists are challenged to leave their mark on New York with a work that embodies the subversion of street art. Challenge winners: Dusty and Young Bottom four: Lola, Michelle, The Sucklord, Sarah Eliminated: The Sucklord | ||||||
| 17 | 7 | "La Dolce Arte" | Liz Cohen | November 30, 2011 | TBA | N/A |
Challenge: The artists must utilize one automobile component from a Fiat 500 and transform it into a piece of art. Challenge winner: Sara Bottom three: Kymia, Lola, Michelle Eliminated: Michelle | ||||||
| 18 | 8 | "Sell Out" | Jeanne Greenberg Rohatyn | December 7, 2011 | TBA | N/A |
Challenge: The artists work in teams to create a minimum of one piece of art to sell to the public, but that is also worthy of presenting in a gallery show. Challenge winners: Sara and Young Bottom two: Sarah, Dusty Eliminated: Sarah | ||||||
| 19 | 9 | "Exile on Main Street" | Richard Phillips | December 14, 2011 | TBA | N/A |
Challenge: The artists travel to Cold Springs and choose locals to portrait. Challenge winner: Kymia Bottom three: Sara, Dusty and Lola Eliminated: Dusty and Lola | ||||||
| 20 | 10 | "Elimination" | KAWS | December 21, 2011 | TBA | 0.781 [24] |
Challenge: The finalists present their collections to the judging panel to determine who will be "The Next Great Artist." Winner: Kymia Runners-up: Young, Sara | ||||||
Work of Art's renewal status was unclear as the second season concluded: In late December 2011, Judge Bill Powers wrote that "We will have to see if our work of art worked for Bravo." [25] Jerry Saltz, another Work of Art judge, announced via his Vulture blog that he would not return for a third season of the show. [26] The uncertainty as to Work of Art's fate on Bravo was somewhat resolved when the Gallerist reported the show's cancellation in August 2012. [27] [28] The LA Times reported that while Bravo would not officially confirm the cancellation, "a source close to the channel said it was "unlikely" that the show would return for a third season on Bravo." [29] Work of Art's producers as of August 2012 were approaching other television networks in the hopes of continuing the show's run elsewhere. [27]