Artsy, but not fartsy.
Our peeps at Bravo sent us a screener and with some trepidation, we sat down to watch it. See, there's something a little crass about basing a reality competition around the world of art and we feared that it would either be very lowest-common-denominator or trying too hard to be weird for the sake of weird.
Let's get this out of the way first: if you're going to watch this show, you're going to have to make peace with the idea of an art-based game show. The good news is that (for us, at least) it only took a couple of minutes to get into the head space. Part of that is because it's a very slickly produced hour of television done in the patented Bravo reality competition style. Structurally, it's exactly the same as Top Chef, Project Runway, Top Design and Shear Genius: contestants, mentor, judges, challenges.
Even better news: it's really, really well cast. A likable, talented, and colorful group of people with a range of personality types. There are a couple of potential "villains" but really, they just came off a little pompous and self-important, like a LOT of artists.
Also good news: they're all really talented artists. The pieces they produced in this episode were all worthy of discussion and dissection. Most of them were gallery-worthy. At least one we wanted to own ourselves.
Best news of all: there is someone in the world named China Chow and that pleases us immensely. We hope she has cousins named Italia Pasta, or Erin Potato or Germania Bratwurst, because that would be too perfect for words.
It premieres tonight at 11/10c. Give it a shot. It's more fun than we expected it to be.
[Photo Credit: Barbara Nitke/BravoTV.com - Video Credit: BravoTV.com]
Post a Comment
Labels: Work of Art, Work of Art Season 1, Work of Art Season 1 Episode 1
