Let's Agree to Disagree: WANGA 8

Opposites don't necessarily attract. Neither do random pairings of artists via paint tubes. The only reason why artists collaborate in the first place is because they decide for themselves that their work informs each other's vision. It is hard to force that, or base an elimination off of it.

Let’s get it out, loud and proud: I AM SO GLAD THAT MARK IS GONEZO. As I have stated in previous posts, I have no idea how he got this gig. Mark’s been overwhelmingly negative throughout the entire show about everyone else’s work and process, even their state of being. (I think that’s a job solely reserved for the spectators of the show) But I’ll be fair and give his work a final critique.

HEAVEN AND HELL: (or hell and more hell)

Mark and Peregrine’s work essentially became a photographic diptych, It was interesting to me that Peregrine chose to allow Mark to have such a heavy hand in this work, when she also has stated in the past that she doesn’t trust his vision. It was obviously anything but her naked body that was up for grabs. What Mark should have known was that if Peregrine was going to just draw and barf all over the photograph that he should have suggested a medium other than photography. His photographs aren’t fine art in the whatsoever. Work of his nature is good for things other than this.

I like Peregrine as a personality, but her work in this show never struck me as any better than standing in the shadows of the best and worst artists. Now that there are less artists to go around, Peregrine is becoming revealed—I’m not sure this falcon ever lifts off the ground.

Btw- I love the ‘art gab’ segment during the commercial break. Total hoot for people who now will look back and say ‘does it really sound that pretentious when I say those things?’ Well I mean yeah, sometimes it’s necessary.

ORDER AND CHAOS: (or kudos for trying)

Nicole let her hair down for us at the critique and it was hair for days and days. (probably 5 days.) Unfortunately, Nicole, this was not your challenge, but I do think that you make work that is extremely personal and beautiful—even though I’ve seen this concept done before by my friend who crated an interactive changeable gear-art piece establishing a more permeable order. She always manages to make these challenges about her life, and she often seems to use text directly in the work, which is bold. I do, however, have one criticism about her effectiveness in this duo; If Abdi was having such a hard time with ‘chaos’ she should have switched with him. We already know Abdi is obviously a right-brained artist if anything, so I am suggesting that this would have been great for the two of them.

Abdi obviously has no idea what the allegory of “The Cave” is about. He created a green blob of nothing in sculpey clay. I asked my friend Sarah where she thought he gets that from and she suggested that it’s because he went to Carver Center for Arts and Technology in Towson, Maryland. She says everyone that goes to that school uses sculpey non-stop for no reason at all, and paints figurative paintings… it’s apparently the only thing they teach at that school. I suggest a curriculum change to prevent reoccurring mistakes like this one.

MALE AND FEMALE: (or male and YOWZA WOWZA!)

I have to say that I bit the bullet and not only asked Jackie a few questions before I blogged about her, but I also read her blog before writing this segment of this post, which is against my rules of blogging. I have to say that her blogs are written mostly in defense of her representation on the show, whether forced or implied, is extremely interesting to me given my recent obsession with Bravo reality television and their casts infiltrations in platforms like facebook and twitter. Her blog can be taken as an extension of her art—a constant need to expose the truth about herself while being unfairly portrayed as this huge bimbo dimwit.

In her blog, she states that she was extremely upset with Miles because she had no idea he was back-handedly making comments on-camera about how this work was his manipulative idea. I have to say, I believe you, Jackie, because you obviously would have taken this opportunity to do something like that anyway.

And here’s some proof:

Last week when I went to Jackie’s opening at DFN Gallery, Jackie and our friends posed in front of this painting she placed in the corner of the room. The painting, as shown here, seems extremely reminiscent of the ideas proposed in this week’s piece, both aesthetically and otherwise. I asked her last night if this piece was created before her adventures on Work of Art and she replied ‘yes’ in more than one word. I wonder who had the truer influence in this piece given this tidbit of back history

I would also beg to differ that Miles created this piece to be a literal ‘reflection’ of what he assumed Jackie would create given her past experience with the ‘feminine mystique’. If Miles did get his way, and was paired with Nicole, I would have to argue that I don’t think that the piece would have been as effective as it was—and he probably wouldn’t have acted nearly as masculine with her.

Given Jackie’s piece at DFN Gallery, and her blog post, I have to say that I wonder who really lead who in this project… I think if Bravo reversed the story, it might have been much more interesting to see Miles being overcome by Jackie’s sense of femininity. I am going to get hate mail for this, but I’ll deal with it.

I think I should stop being so harsh on Miles, however. His work is very contemplative and poetic, often using a uniform method of communication with the materials he chooses. His work is better than I give his personality credit for.

Between Jackie and China Chow:

It’s a sexual act. So you were masturbating?

Yeah! (as excited as she could possibly sound)

Between Jackie and Ryan McGuiness:

Jackie, have you masturbated standing up?

(Long pause) Yeah, I have. (Shoulder shrug)

On a side note: My friend Kate Burnley sent me a text message after the show had ended. It read: And the Oscar goes to… … … China Chow.

For my piece this week I have decided to combine all three pairings as the title for my two diptychs. When in doubt, its better to make simple poetic statements with the least amount of fuss, and dirty used cigarettes.