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I didn't expect there to be any really great pieces done during this episode. Artists that do "shocking" work tend to do that in many of their pieces, not just one single isolated piece. The artist who came to mind when I watched this episode is Paul McCarthy. If you are open-minded and not easily offended, check out some of his stuff. Its not everyone's cup of tea, but pretty interesting.
thanks E E, I did check out his work and it's not my cup of tea. But I can definitely see the shock factor. Guess there is a fine line betwen shock and disgust.
Well, I was glad to see Abdi finally win a challenge. His work did have a real presence to it and I think it was the best art piece in this round, but it wasn't really shocking.
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a lot of the images in peregrine's cover actually did reference the book. the judges even mockingly pointed to one - a crab. the time traveller in the book visits one time period where there is nothing but giant crabs! it makes me wonder whether the *judges* had read the book! i think it's pretty clear that peregrine did. or at the very least she leafed through it and picked out images for her cover.
I was going to mention that as well but I wasn't sure if all the images really tied in or only some of them. At any rate the final product really didn't match The Time Machine if you ask me. No covers don't have to have anything to do with the book, but the good ones generally do. They are the first thing that draws someone to a book and they can turn you off from a book, too. Peregrine's cover made me expect some story set in a parlor with crumpets and tea, but the Time Machine is actually a very dark tale. If she flipped through it to include elements in her wallpaper, I could believe that, but I have a hard time thinking that someone who had actually read the book would have designed a cover like that. Of course the people who had actually read their books were really just lucky. Miles was the only one to actually read his book as part of his prep, and for those who haven't read Frankenstein - it really is a fantastic book, much better than one would expect from considering Frankenstein in popular culture.
Of course, I wasn't fond of the cover that won, either. It seems a little unfair that he didn't get immunity since the book cover was such a great "reward", and of course he was eliminated in the next round. Although I thought that his work this time around was just awful so I can't say that he didn't deserve elimination. I have sort of mixed feelings about seeing Nao going, I have to admit that she sort of grew on me, but I was thoroughly unimpressed with her work.
Well, I was glad to see Abdi finally win a challenge. His work did have a real presence to it and I think it was the best art piece in this round, but it wasn't really shocking.
I was going to mention that as well but I wasn't sure if all the images really tied in or only some of them. At any rate the final product really didn't match The Time Machine if you ask me. No covers don't have to have anything to do with the book, but the good ones generally do. They are the first thing that draws someone to a book and they can turn you off from a book, too. Peregrine's cover made me expect some story set in a parlor with crumpets and tea, but the Time Machine is actually a very dark tale. If she flipped through it to include elements in her wallpaper, I could believe that, but I have a hard time thinking that someone who had actually read the book would have designed a cover like that. Of course the people who had actually read their books were really just lucky. Miles was the only one to actually read his book as part of his prep, and for those who haven't read Frankenstein - it really is a fantastic book, much better than one would expect from considering Frankenstein in popular culture.
Of course, I wasn't fond of the cover that won, either. It seems a little unfair that he didn't get immunity since the book cover was such a great "reward", and of course he was eliminated in the next round. Although I thought that his work this time around was just awful so I can't say that he didn't deserve elimination. I have sort of mixed feelings about seeing Nao going, I have to admit that she sort of grew on me, but I was thoroughly unimpressed with her work.
Sorry to go off topic, but I have to say, I love the book "Frankenstein", it's such a beautiful sad story that's really about the pain of being rejected, not fitting in, and being unloved. Everyone should read that book. I hate the "monster" Frankenstein in popular culture. It's more about how human cruelty can create a monster.
yeah, frankenstein is definitely a great book that has been cheapened a lot by different pop culture interpretations.
i actually thought miles' cover was really nice looking and appropriate, but i also love the daniel clowes cover that they were already using for the penguin classics deluxe edition, so i'm sort of glad it didn't get replaced, haha.
this episode was much more interesting than i initially thought it would be based on the over the top product placement. i think miles and abdi are the clear front-runners - both of them do art that is attractive and marketable but also has some substance. i like miles over abdi, but i could see it going either way. i liked abdi's painting and i'm surprised it wasn't in the top (what's with having a top 2 and a bottom 3 all the time?), but it is something he's done before. i do like how it was a comment on commercialism and advertising though. and really, having a distinctive style is no crime. miles does as well. jaclyn kind of surprised me - her focus on the male gaze is honestly kind of repetitive and tiresome but i do think the piece she made was interesting.
and hey, the judges finally noticed that mark is completely dull and has no imagination! i wonder if they'll keep noticing it when he goes back to his boring, trite photography. seriously, if you look at his portfolio off the show, it's like the lamest possible excuse to take pictures of scantily clad women and make it vaguely "edgy". erik's work is incredibly lame too, although i did like his nod to bob ross this episode! jerry saltz said in his blog that erik seems to be getting the villain edit but was actually a totally sweet guy.
it feels silly to avoid spoilers when the show has already aired but oh well - i totally agree with the person eliminated this episode. in fact they should have gone over either of the people last episode.
i'll say one thing - i am definitely a fan of this show. i have some issues with the way it's judged (i think there should be at least one actual artist on the permanent panel), the way it defines art, and the way contestants are expected to be proficient in different mediums, but it is definitely entertaining and often thought-provoking.
also, i can't believe they got the brooklyn museum to offer a solo show as a prize. one of their trustees quit over that. i don't blame them, really; it's a pretty tacky thing for a museum to do.
I'm over Jacklyn and the male gaze. She's an exhibitionist and I really think it's just one note. Barbara Kruger did work on the male gaze decades ago. I should know, I had to study her work for three different classes in college.
I love Frankenstein. It's my favorite book of all time! I try to get other people to read it, but it's a pain to get people to read these days.
I'm over Jacklyn and the male gaze. She's an exhibitionist and I really think it's just one note. Barbara Kruger did work on the male gaze decades ago. I should know, I had to study her work for three different classes in college.
I love Frankenstein. It's my favorite book of all time! I try to get other people to read it, but it's a pain to get people to read these days.
I dislike Jacklyn's work. I can't take her seriously as a feminist minded artist, everything about her conforms to the popular idea about what's attractive, and she clearly enjoys male attention. I feel like she just wanted to take sexy pictures of herself and show off her body in one of the challenges, she just got lucky someone recommend she let people write their comments on it.
I dislike Jacklyn's work. I can't take her seriously as a feminist minded artist, everything about her conforms to the popular idea about what's attractive, and she clearly enjoys male attention. I feel like she just wanted to take sexy pictures of herself and show off her body in one of the challenges, she just got lucky someone recommend she let people write their comments on it.
I can't stand her as a person, but I have to admit her last piece was the best one there. Most of the pieces really sucked b*lls.
I finally got caught up and watched the latest episode. For once I pretty much agreed with the judges. I was sad to see Jaime eliminated because she seemed really sweet, but the truth of the matter is that she should either stick to illustrating books for teenage girls or she should take a couple of years to develop her style into something that works as fine art, which I do think is possible but would require her to step out of her cutesy comfort zone which she never did on the show.
I could tell that Miles' piece was one of those that is probably very powerful if you can stand there and experience it, but it really wasn't much to look at on TV. If I was a judge, I would have complained about the unfinished "barricade" things, again they were just bare wood.
I was a little disappointed with Abdi's painting since it seemed very similar to the superhero self-portrait thing they always show as his previous work. Yes, it was good, it was successful, but it was soooo safe.
Peregrin's was sort of cute but seemed like a magazine spread for Audi instead of a real statement about anything. It was very playful and didn't take itself seriously which was its saving grace.
I agree that Ryan's piece was very literal but I disagree that it's necessarily a bad thing. I was pretty impressed with how much he managed to improve the image which was very flat and amateurish at first. I think they came down on him a little hard, but I would like to see something that's not a self-portrait from him.
Mark's piece was pretty unsuccessful and boring, like it was a backdrop for a foreground that was never added. I am impressed that he tried to stretch and do something different. When an artist does that, it isn't always successful, but I think it's important to try, so I'm glad that they didn't eliminate him for it.
Jaclyn. I don't like her either. For someone who is so concerned about men looking at her she sure dresses like a hoochie. On the other hand I thought her piece really did turn out great this time. I do agree that it's been done before and that this sort of quasi feminist obsession with the male gaze has become almost trite and I'm tired of it. At least this time her work didn't feature herself naked again.
Erik is lucky that they didn't decide to eliminate him. I think he made a protest piece because he expected to be eliminated and he wanted a good excuse (oh, I made this for my girlfriend, blah blah blah). He didn't even really try to convey what was asked of him. He makes me a little sad because I wanted him to do better and prove that even those who aren't formally trained can have a natural talent. In his case, however, he really needs some formal training because although he has good native draftsmanship and sense of color, he has no natural eye for composition and that is really important. It would also help him to learn about art cliches and try to avoid them, as that's what usually turns the judges off about his pieces. Either that or he has to learn how to really own the cliche, but I don't think he's sophisticated enough (as an artist) to manage that. At least not yet.
Lastly, Nicole. I loved the shots of her and Miles flirting, it was the first time I saw him as likeable instead of annoying and completely self-centered and I think that was really a reflection of her bringing out the best in him. The piece itself again I think would be very interesting if I was there in person and could lie down under the suspension and check it out like they were doing in the gallery. Her piece was also at least somewhat interesting from my TV view. I think she did convey both that feeling of suspension and what I imagine it must be like to be down in the valley of NYC's skyscraper canyons.
Personalities aside. . . .This is interesting in some ways, but puts demands on the participants that seem to me to go against the nature of creative work. . . .lack of choice in subject matter, lack of full choice in materials, time constraints, etc. I suspect that each and every participant is accomplished, in one degree or another, in their own right, but the constraints placed by the program format favor those who tend toward "commercial" sucess. . . .not a particularly good thing in my opinion.
Personalities aside. . . .This is interesting in some ways, but puts demands on the participants that seem to me to go against the nature of creative work. . . .lack of choice in subject matter, lack of full choice in materials, time constraints, etc. I suspect that each and every participant is accomplished, in one degree or another, in their own right, but the constraints placed by the program format favor those who tend toward "commercial" sucess. . . .not a particularly good thing in my opinion.
I understand your comments. An article I read a couple weeks ago mirrored the same complaints about the dancers on SYTYCD. A contemporary dancer is expected to excel at hip hop and vice versa. By promoting the "all around", we never see the very best performances by each dancer.
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