Loved this episode! I do agree with "The Time Machine" win, but was "Dracula" too commercial for your taste? Too straight forward?

Obsessed with this show – cannot tell you how many people I have recruited to watch so we can discuss the art & critique. Definitely not for the faint of heart but most entertaining. I am drawn to the studio work/inspiration + critique.

I thought Nao at first was a production plant, sad to see her go - yet they could bring her back ‘Reality TV Style” think Melissa on last season’s Biggest Loser. I am a successful muralist/decorative painter that dabbles in the other fields – this show has inspired me to keep painting – pushing myself to create on alternate levels.

Judith deserved to go home. In this case, at least, it was not a case of stereotypes and sexism (and I am female, thank you). While it is true that real artists know how and when to break the rules, the fact of the matter is that the assignment was to create a commercial image to be used as a book cover, and her resulting work simply would not sell. In response to what many are saying about Jaclyn's cover for Pride and Prejudice, I think that the painting had the potential to be very good, but it simply wasn't striking enough. Also, the title is so small, it's barely legible. While she IS an artist, she needs to keep in mind that she's selling words, not just a pretty picture on the front.

Cannot believe that I already look up The Time Machine on Amazon and see John's Cover already!!!! This challenge was spot-on for both his and Mark's style. Bu there is no doubt that Mark's work was sooo close.

i disagree with actualartist completely. i am a 50 year old woman and i would have voted judith off-hands down. no publisher would accept a backwards title for a jane austen work... period. it was not special, not distictive, and as with other episodes, judith showed no focus to her thought process. it amazes me how often people accept shortcomings as the artist being true to themselves. that is a childish excuse. i know that i sound harsh, but i am sincere. someone who truly appreciates art would want to improve right? still no focus after all these years? not cool.

when are the 2nd and 3rd episodes going to be shown on the web site. i don't have a tv and this show is really exciting. of course, i'm also not at all surprised that the senior female was kicked off. i'm very surprised that there are two overweight people still left

Hey! How come no one made a big deal out of the fact that Nicole spelled her author's name wrong, too?! She should've been in the bottom 3. It's "Lewis Carroll," not "Lewis Carrol."

Actual Artist, I am also a woman and an artist. I would be the oldest contestant on this show (well, younger than Judith). Regardless of one's age, (as an older woman) they are creating art that is thought provoking or not! I thought that Judith should have been sent home on the second episode.

Lily, Peeing -- Shame.... I realize that I'm taking this out of context, but It made me smile to know that the last thing that I would do is project to my granddaughter that she should feel shame for peeing.... I desire to instill in my granddaughter that she can be exactly who she is -- Light.... Art, music, life is present to enrich one's life and in turn one can give back to others through the beauty of love, oneness, and acceptance.

Concerned, I look forward to the next episode. Unfortunately, people feel compelled to project their beliefs onto others. If you don't think that you can handle watching the next episode then don't! This is an ART reality show! Really, what do you expect?

Art may not create world peace, but it makes a difference in the world. Art work can make one stop, think, and feel. Years ago, when I saw an exhibit of Cezanne's work, I remember looking at a painting and how one simple brush mark took my breath away. The bumper sticker on my car says, Art saves lives....

I don't remember their names, but I remember their art work.

I Loved Loved the mannequin with the TV set holding the game part.

I don't know if fellow artists agree with me or not, but the boy that did the screen work on a computer for Dracular....it's a machine doing the work and not the talent of an artist.

I am an older woman, but too bad I didn't know they were casting this show. I have studied in each medium for many years. I'm probably too shy for this show though. Too bad :(

I’ll watch the show, I like to see the process of how each person creates.

What I think is awesome is the previous post by Jasmaine on 6-24-10; She is 16, inspired and acted on it.

A seed planted to grow and continue to be inspired.

I don't think the judges read The Time Machine because if they had they would have understood that it was a story of anthropology and 'primitive' man as well as 'futuristic' science and would have understood how appropriate the book cover conveying that idea was to the story.

Well, I'm not shocked that you sent the oldest woman home. There are no older women allowed on television. Old women break the illusion that you can stay young forever if you just buy the right products. It's a pity an "art" show couldn't get edgy enough to challenge that particular stereotype.

I'll go out on a limb and predict the winner will be an anorexic white man. There is the slight possibility the winner could be an anorexic white woman, but only if she is willing to drop her clothes or have sex every other episode. "Watch what happens next" on Bravo as all non-anorexic people, older people, and female people are eliminated. It's almost too much to expect that Bravo and the art judges could fight there own prejudices about what an artist looks like. In fact, it is probably impossible - the stereotype is just too strong.

Oh Concerned.

*sigh*. How would you feel if I said that Piss Christ makes me feel MORE drawn to the message of Christ? You are talking "shame". Does a child feel shame for having... ok... a pee accident? Of course. Was Christ humiliated in the worst possible way? Yes. Does Jesus want us to love ourselves and others as He loves us? Absolutely. Did not Jesus suffer the ultimate humiliation in order to send us the ultimate message of love? Could not this image send the message that no matter what your shame may be, Jesus was willing to suffer and equal or greater shame? Could it not be that this is no more shocking than the image of a tortured Christ, and perhaps even more powerful, because it is a lot more likely we might have a pee accident sometime in our lives than be tortured. So, by that token, could it not be that we can see this image, and feel MORE love for Christ AND more love for ourselves?

Enjoy your store-brand cola, I guess.

As a lifelong recovering artist (both fine and commercial) I must say I found it refreshing to see that all three judges zeroed in on the true worth of each of the artist's works, be they good or bad, and with no regard for rank or resume.

Having grown cynical of the art world over the years, I was also very impressed by the fact that the vitriolic elitism displayed by Judith was seen through immediately by the judges, and her work called out for what it really was: bad art, and even worse book cover design.

Finally, as a former book cover designer myself, I appreciated the history lesson regarding the number of important artists who considered it an honor to grace the cover of a book. Thanks to you, I'm now beginning to have hope for fine art again; perhaps I'll even drop out of AA.

Oh boy it didn't take long for the nut-bars to come along did it?

Why in the world would someone with such sensitive sensibilities watch an art show? Art is about expression, often times expression of the times an artist lives in, we live in a very calloused world with movies and tv shows that are violent and sexually charged ( not that I'm complaining) It takes a LOUD voice to break through that nowadays.

A lot of art is controversial, and I'm glad to see that Bravo will be taking that on, and I'm extra excited to see Miles take it on.( Judith probably would have done something interesting with this too)

I imagine this show will lose a lot of viewers ( or there's going to be a lot " I'm not watching, but still watching" types)and I think people should see the art, and learn about the art before judging the art. Then again I'm an artist,and not religious so maybe I'm biased the other way.

Am replying to "Concerned in LA" Am also "outing" myself as a Christian. Next week, will we see more "rebel artiste' art cliches' trotted out? Will the judges go along with this fashionable postmodern toilets over truth & beauty...or will they bring some real aesthetics and true judgment to the mix???

Apparently(per the preview clips) these artists might follow the tired, silly path to so-called "shocking art"...such as semi porn situations...maybe gross insults to a particular faith...and inspiration for "shocking art" comes from a man who got a name by dropping a crucifix in his urine. And apparently he was funded by our tax dollars.

But what is the truly shocking art?

What of art that draws death to the artist because he/she stood up for the oppressed??? (Think of Theo Van Gogh, murdered for his film on women who are oppressed in some branches of ISlam???) T. Van Gogh (great grandson of Vincent's brother) was shot down in the streets!

And word art (The Jungle - a book which helped my aunt's grandmother get better Chicago factory working conditions) can be both quality art product AND a great, shocking work...which shocks the strong into protecting the weak.

I am sure there are some visual art examples of shocking art which works for good...but I can't think of them right now.

Haven't seen a similar urine soaked insult to Islam. And I hope I never do. To that faith or to any others! Art should not come above truth, beauty, other great things maybe college philosophy classes pretend don't exist anymore. And if you are an artist who ONLy draws upon your inner self...and you refuse to feed your soul with good writings, movies, and spiritual food, your art will not be as great as it could be with such great "soul" food!

What of painting-sculpting-filming the mild mannered man in a business suit - the 100 year old Nazi ( heard on History Channel) who thought it was "okay" the Jews were pushed out of their jobs in the 1930 Germany??? He scared me more than an overtly scary picture or film!!! Does he have like minded grandsons??? (Or the Eastern European aged mass murderer who had nothing to say when asked about the people he shot down???)

Portraits of either man would be a great shocking art piece...Particularly if they combined quality art technique, possibly semi traditional portraiture, with hints of the aged man's deadly, shriveled and (apparently) still evil-infused soul!!!

I can't believe how many tired, dreary art cliches' these young to middle aged artists follow. I do like the show...tho if they go over the limit on the dreary "insult the faith it's fashionable to insult" I might not watch again.

And I too am offended by the Crucifix in Urine...and don't care if a nun gave it an "ok". Tired, lame offensiveness.

No WONDER lots of art collectors buy art elsewhere...old art, western art, or just art from persons who know MORE about real life!!!

The show has possibilities. Hopefully the judges will push all artists to go beyond today's silly art think and onto longterm greatness!

PS last I heard there was incredible drama in the illustrations, paintings, sculptures done on the Christian faith. Maybe something in that faith set off great creativity in some artists...Am thinking of a 20th century artist portraying sad prostitutes -Georges Rouault. Versus some soulless objectified females others have portrayed!!!

"she could not shake her hippie idealism" I agree,Judith failed to accept responsibility. She was lost and fell back on a trite excuse. If she really felt the way she claimed, then why not disregard the rules and do something opposite of what the solution requires? start being wrong and suddenly anything is possible. It was her time to go

Dear Concerned in LA,

although I understand you're concerned, one of the most common images of christ is one enduring incredible pain. The piece is no different from those images. If this image is offensive to you then I sincerely suggest you re-examine any similar depiction.

christ NAILED to a cross with a crown of THORNS on his head after being TORTURED has never been a pleasant image. Yet this terribly violent image is so common. Also, read some of these other comments here, they're more knowledgeable in concern to the work.

Although I have not completely agreed with the judges thus far, I think they picked the right finalists this time with Mark and John's work. So Bravo!

I was also glad that they allowed the comment at the beginning of the show by Miles about "making a monster out of six Helvetica question marks" to make it past the editing room floor. Did anybody else notice that the question marks were Verdana not Helvetica? Maybe Miles doesn't know as much as he thinks he does. The kid has talent, but he is coming off as a pretentious art snob. As a fellow artist, I hate those kind of artists.

Television needs more shows like this.

Jaclyn should've gone home. She is kind of ideologically thin, and at least Judith's piece could play on the idea of backwards social mores as displayed in the book itself; the missed connections and general misinformation that were a result of Victorian rules of conduct.

As for the idea that Serrano is shocking, really, I find his work kind of boring and indicative of a mid-90s kind of FTW attitude in art. There are much more interesting and relevant artists making provocative work. Come on: he's still trading on Piss Christ.

Snore.

Thank you for your show. My daughter is an illustration major at the Savannah College of Art and Design, and watching "Work Of Art" with her gave me a greater insight into her as an artist.

I suppose it was inevitable that someone would go hysterical at the mention of Andres Serrano and his work. Serrano's been at the center of the firestorm over subjects explored and private sensitivities rubbed the wrong way.

The much more interesting question is whether or not "shock" is a meaningful value in art--and whether we want to be equating "the shocking" with "the good."

And so the "Piss Christ" controversy rears its head again. I don't understand why people don't think about the fact that in biblical tradition Christ endured humiliation and shame--that's an integral part of the theology of the cross. The way Christ died was the epitome of humiliation within the Roman world--it was strictly reserved for slaves and criminals, whose low status was reinforced by their ability to be pierced. Why then, get so exercised about the artistic depiction of this very thing? Art is meant, at least in part, to make us think about the visual and its power.

Finally, a show that inspires me.
I'm 16 and I use the i ideas from the show to give me something creative to do at home. I turned my TV into an awesome table and made a book jacket for one of my favorite books, "1984" by George Orwell.

Concerned:

The piece is called Piss Christ. If you look it up in Wikipedia you'll find out that Sister Wendy--Catholic nun and art critic--isn't offended by it but thinks it is a metaphor for what society has done to religion. I find that to be an interesting analogy.

My understanding of the upcoming episode is that they are going to challenge the artists with pushing the envelope. I think that is going to be interesting. While you, or I, may not like Piss Christ, it is a bona-fide piece of art and it certainly pushed the envelope. (And I really believe God is too big to get offended by what we mere mortals do.)

Being offended at a piece of art is OK. Discuss it--the best art causes us to think. Even better if you can share it with other interested people. Don't let it close your mind or limit your experiences.

Still can't believe you sent Trong home, but I liked this episode much better. :) Thank you for not choosing Miles as the victor. I was beginning to believe that the whole thing was rigged. John's style is groovy and Mark is a badass. Nice comments from the judges this time around. (:

I've been in every aspect of the book business, from publishing, to illustrating, to marketing and selling. I would have displayed Jaclyn's Pride and Prejudice book cover in my front window display, and it would have sold that book. As a consumer, if I was in the market for a copy of The Time Machine, I would have purchased a copy with a more traditional cover , and left John's version sitting on the shelf.

While I'm close to Judith's age, I have been annoyed by her (& some others') snobbish attutide towards art "assignments". The weary, tired fake "fine art vs the art of the lowlifes i.e. "commercial" art!!!

It's the self absorbed 1960's attitude of "I wanna do my own thing...and you have to just ACCEPT whatever I throw up on the canvas!!!".

Thus, your comment hit the mark*****
"While Judith drew on her own ambidextrous abilities, she could not shake her hippie idealism, and refused to play along."

It seems she was TRYING to get knocked out of the contest! Her resume' is impressive---neither of her book covers live up to her past accomplishments!!!

We especially LIKE the fact that WoA is NOT "established" artists we are watching, but emerging artists, or those who are open to challenging themselves and being vulnerable before us. Who says established artists are the only ones worth considering, anyway?

We LOVE being exposed to the PROCESS of creating art -- it ENTIRELY MAKES THIS SHOW!!!If it weren't for that, we would just go to our local museums (which we do and enjoy), but AoW is so stimulating! People think "good art" from "real artists" justs pops fully formed from mind to hand to canvas.

One wish: artists were given longer deadlines or didn't have to go to sleep if they wanted to work all night (without pharma help, of course). I'd rather see art they feel proud to submit to crit than products they rushed to get done and into the gallery -- Don't you think we'd see better stuff overall?

Judith's should have been sent off for thumbing her nose at the challenge itself -- she didn't like designing a book cover to "sell" a book, and so didn't even include the title on her piece. Yes, misspelling the author's name was bad, but Judith's refusal to work within the challenge parameters should have been an AUTOMATIC BOOT OUT the door -- even if her pink had been hot and her finger flowers were breathtaking!

After last night, my daughter insisted we stay up til midnight designing covers for our favorite books! Thank you!

To the producers: I began watching your show last week and again this week. I found it fun and different. I really enjoy all the different cast members with their very different personalities and artist styles. They are so creative!
However I am not going to watch any more shows and I am telling my friends not to watch either. I was ABSOLUTELY SHOCKED at the previews for next week showing a supposedly famous artist and his painting of Jesus' Crucifixion on the cross. It was not only done in poor taste but when one of the artists mentioned something about a jar and a certain liquid I got sick to my stomach. The lack of respect and the egotistical manner of this artist that he would dare to insult not only Jesus and the way He died but God as well is disgusting and just plain wrong. What is wrong with you guys to allow that to be shown on TV? Where did you draw the line or do you just move it around to get ratings?? Where are your ethics & morals? How do you sleep at night? Would you debase your director or your mother or father in that way??

Shame on all of you for allowing it to be shown and if you have any good sense or moral judgment or self control you will remove that picture & comment from the previews & next week's show. As I said I will never watch this show again and I am spreading the word about the lack of ethics and morals by Bravo and your producers, writers, directors and all of your commercial sponsors. MY FRIENDS & FAMILY AND I WILL BOYCOTT ALL PRODUCTS SHOWN ON YOUR SHOW'S COMMERCIALS. HOPEFULLY THEY ARE READING THIS AND WILL PULL SPONSORSHIP IMMEDIATELY!!

Please remove this photo and discussion of it from your preview and next week's episode. Shame shame shame on all of you for allowing it.

Hello,

How can one be a participant in the season of Work of Art? thx in advance.

Wrong choice tonight!!! Dracula had it hands down! BOTH covers he did were brilliant and commercially enticing.

I love this show! I love watching the process and hearing the comments as they work. It's nice to know that it doesn't come perfectly easy to artists and they doubt themselves as much as we regular people do.

Now, speaking of good hair...I can't get past the mullet you've got going. I love love love your super short front and sides, but would love to see the back join in the fun. I would easily take that picture to my hair dresser as the ultimate short hair.

Love the show and your comments are spot on. I would suggest the next version of the show pit art students from various art schools. Should boost ratings a bit!

Keep up the good work.

Mark

HELLO, YES I DO THINK JUDITH SHOULD OF WENT HOME. SHE JUST DID NOT GET THAT SHE IS IN A CONTEST. I DO HAVE A COMMENT ABOUT THE WOMAN THAT KEEPS TAKING OFF HER CLOTHS AND CALLING IT ART. I DON'T KNOW HER NAME. WHEN SHE DOES DO ART SHE IS GOOD, BUT WE FINALLY HAVE A SHOW WHERE FEMALES CAN USE THEIR BRAINS AND SHE KEEPS PUTTING WOMEN WHERE MALES THINK WE SHOULD BE, ON OUR BACKS. I UNDERSTAND SHE PAID FOR HER BREAST AND FILLS THE NEED TO SHOW THEM OFF BUT NOT ON THIS SHOW. MY HUSBAND IS A ARTIST AND IT COMES IN ALL FORMS BUT EVEN HE WAS ASKING WHY? AND BEFORE YOU THINK IT'S SOME KIND OF CAT FIGHT, I AM A 36D AND THEY ARE REAL. THANK YOU.