Friday, August 13, 2010

TV! Work of Art finale

Yay! Abdi took the title, and I couldn't be happier. I picked him as my fave from the first episode. I should have put money on it then, right? This sculpture and its brother were absolutely amazing, even on television. They were huge, emotive and installed on the floor. He had some trouble with them, but, in the end, they were the most arresting and effective pieces in the entire show.

Abdi focused mostly on self-portraits and social commentary paintings--sort of the body in relation to the world--and every piece had emotional weight. Congratulations to him for being rewarded for his talent, sincerity and hard work. A well-deserved win.

Peregrine's overriding theme was "A Day at the Fair." I enjoyed her show immensely, but it didn't seem cohesive. This was my favorite piece of hers, a wax cast sculpture. It looks like butter, doesn't it? It has a sweet, innocent grace that's touching.

I also liked her horse sculptures. She did a larger installation featuring more of these horses and other stuff, but this is just so lovely on its own. She deserved her second place showing, even if some of her work seemed to be coming from left field.

And Miles, Faux OCD Guy. Oh, Miles. His story was that he took pictures with his cell phone of security camera images at White Castle. One picture was of a homeless fellow who froze to death two days after he took the picture. I don't even know that I believe the story, but it could be true. This photo had great emotional impact on him.

So, his show was a series of screenprints taken from zooming in on this initial photo closer and closer and closer, until all you could see was pixelated patterns. Look, I can appreciate obsession as much as the next person, trust me. And I can also appreciate an emotional reaction to a tragic event. I don't get this. It seems to strip all of the impact out of the image by breaking it down to a molecular level. I can't cry over pixels. What do you all think?
I would watch another season of this show. It got me thinking about art and the creative process, and that's certainly more than I'm going to get from Jersey Shore, right? Plus, after all of the critical blahblahblah, the artist I liked the most won. Vindication! Yay!
I'll be away all weekend at an outdoor show in 90+ degree humid weather. Should I survive, I'll catch up with you next week. Now, you all have fun, and don't get into anything, okay?

3 comments:

  1. Certainly looks like the right person won. Good luck at your show, bring lots of water and wasp spray!

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  2. What??? You don't cry over pixels? What's wrong with you?!?!? EVERYONE cries over pixels!
    Wait - maybe I'm getting "pixels" confused with something more important . . . .like pickles . . .

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  3. OH how did I miss this post, I am sure my blog roll is confused a lot of the time. Yep, a BIG "YAY!" for Abdi, he truly was the best. I think they did try and mess with us half way thru when they kept giving him a hard time about things just to throw us off but I am soooo happy Miles didn't win he definitely was not the best. Has a lot of growing up to do and Abdi, an old wise soul in a young mans body, awesome! T. :)

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