I’m sure a lot of you saw (or at least heard of) the Bravo art-based reality show, Work of Art: The Next Great Artist, that aired its first season over this past summer. Not that I’ll ever admit to being a Bravo fan, but let’s just say I may or may have had Work of Art on my TiVo list.
Being that this is an arts blog, it seems like a good idea to take a little time to consider what a popular show like this might mean for the traditionally “snobby” and insular world of so-called “fine art.’
I think that, in an important way, the show serves the same sort of function as our own blog and others like it: it’s a convenient way exposing a wide audience to art that they may not have otherwise heard of, without requiring much effort on their part to find it. But there’s a reason why our class hasn’t been entirely about blogging, or reading the blog posts of our fellow classmates. The museum and concert field trips we’ve gone on have been more than enough proof that there’s a definite difference between seeing (or hearing) something in person and experiencing it through the mediation of a microphone or camera lens.
A TV show like this is nice, and serves an important function in breaking down the walls of the fine art world, but there has been much talk of it representing “the end of art snobbism” that I think is essentially unfounded. Seeing art first hand is essential to really experiencing it, and until that kind of first-hand experience becomes as easy and accessible as turning on a television, I think it’s safe to say that art snobs won’t be going anywhere.
What do you guys think?
HERE‘s a link to the New Yorker blog post that got me thinking about this.
