Miles plots and China Chow cries in Bravo's 'Work of Art'

As the number of contestants dwindles and the competition approaches its final stages, Bravo's reality series "Work of Art" has taken on distinct hues of gloom and unease. The normally icy host, China Chow, even showed her emotional side by openly weeping on Wednesday's episode.

This week's challenge paired off the remaining contestants to tackle a series of opposing themes -- male versus female, order versus chaos and heaven versus hell. Each pair had to create a conjoined work of art that would address one set of opposites -- but the pairings produced their own oppositions in the form of interpersonal disagreement and resentment.

Abdi had trouble conceptualizing his order-versus-chaos assignment with Nicole. His halfhearted attempt at a sculpture that symbolized chaos was abandoned in favor of a painting that would compliment Nicole's gears-and-pulleys mechanical contraption.

Mark clashed with Peregrine on their heaven-versus-hell project. Peregrine wanted to use Mark's abdominal scar as the subject of their artwork, but Mark expressed reservations, only to back down from his objections in order to be a good sport.

But in art as in life, being a good sport doesn't necessarily count for much and shameless self-promoters rule the day.

Miles, who worked with Jaclyn on the male-versus-female assignment, revealed his manipulative and predatory side by quietly maneuvering his partner into taking off her clothes for her portion of the project. As shown in previous episodes, Jaclyn doesn't need much encouragement to strip, but her initial hesitation was sanded away by her partner's smooth insistence.

The Machiavellian machinations of Miles continued into the judging section, which brought with it some unexpected tears. (Spoilers below.)

As he has done before, Miles openly attacked a fellow contestant in front of the judges. During the critique, he chastised Mark for giving in to Peregrine and cruelly mocked his slightly hang-dog mannerisms.

In the end, Miles' and Jaclyn's project was the winner. Their triptych featured panels that juxtaposed male rage (symbolized by holes punched through wood) and female desire (represented by a self-portrait of Jaclyn pleasuring herself).

The loser was Mark, whose depiction of his abdominal scar the judges found uninspired and cliched. In announcing the judges' decision, Chow fought back tears of sympathy for Mark. Her first-ever display of emotion suggests that the verdict might not have been unanimous and that the judges' seemingly united front is anything but that. 

As one commenter on this blog noted, contestants who have voiced skepticism about Miles end up being whacked. Do the judges have a prejudicial soft spot for him? (At the very least, critic Jerry Saltz seems  smitten.)

Mark's exit on Wednesday leaves the path wide open for Miles' domination.

-- David Ng

Upper photo: Miles and Jaclyn, standing at left, explain their work of art. Credit: Bravo

Lower photo: China Chow weeps. Credit: Bravo

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Comments

[william wray]

I love Miles. The fine art world is fond of using the put down of "Craftsmanship" when condescending to skilled artists, yet Miles the brilliant Craftsman is winning all the way with clever manipulation of the participants and a skill saw. He played everyone and is being openly rewarded for it. Such a wonderful example of how to let the art world works when there is more to your manipulation ability and less to your art than the art world brings to it. Do almost nothing; let the judges put depth into it. I LOVE IT!!
Encouraging Jaclyn to do herself nude again was a brilliant ploy to make it seem like she's the artist repeating herself when in fact Miles has done variations of the same minimalist thing, but in comparison to her he seems way more original. The kid makes me want to be on the show just to try and beat his game. I do wish the producers would stop featuring someone chastising him every show, it always gives away that they are going to be voted off, killing the suspense.

[nacaty]

The program is getting from maybe to bad to worse... and worse... and very predictable. Great idea, bad everything else. No more "Work of art" for me.

[chris]

Jaclyn is getting tiresome. Every show the same thing - talking about how "vulnerable" she feels, then stripping down for another nude self-portrait. The schtick is wearing thin, although it's probably a good programming ploy to get the guys to keep watching.

['Sat Art?]

I love this program !! (It's almost as good as "Billie the Exterminator"- the best thing on television!)

Did anyone else have the insight that if Simone De Puys isn't gay he's going to swoop on Jaclyn.... ???

Now if you could get Billie the Exterminator to make art - then you'd have some great TV!

[Koeri]

I love Miles.He acts nonchalant about the competition and/or the other artists, yet he does great work, and still takes time to take the occasional coffee break, nap, the time to read a book and interact/mess with the other artists. Yes, he's a total douche and frankly I wouldn't want to meet him in real life, but he's fun to watch and ridiculously funny!
I couldn't stop laughing when he managed to convinced Jaclyn , not only to take her clothes off, but to take a picture of her masturbating. lmao. I mean, I'm a girl, so his manipulativeness of her should probably make me mad. But if you're stupid enough to get talked into it, you freaking deserve it. So I only found it amusing.
However, at the end. I did think that they deserved the win. Peregrine and Mark's work had no depth at all, and Abdi and Nicole's didn't bring forth their confusing idea. Miles and Jaclyn's was really the only group that presented congruent work with some depth. In other words it was the one that sucked less :)

[Charles J]

Can't really explain it, but somehow I'm beginning to think that Peregrine & Abdi are the 2 best. A feeling...a feeling... Hope it eventually comes down to them.

[Renee]

Watching the show one may think that Jacklyn is unoriginal and self centered, perhaps even a bit dim compared to her fellow contestants; because the show portrays her in this light, I believed this is who Jacklyn was. Yet as I began to read her blog, I was more and more inspired and intrighed by how she represents herself as an artist, and it is more evident to me that she is FAR more intelligent than how Bravo portrays her. With that said, she is one of my favorite contestants.

Her blog is located at www.jacklynsantos.com

[william wray]

A good lesson here as an artist: plan for you and your work to come across in small sound bites. That's how you will be judged. The show is getting more revealing now that we con have more time concentrate on the few that are left.

[Leigh-Ann]

If you take your clothes off on "Work of Art" and your name is Jaclyn, the judges love it and you win. If you take your clothes off and your name is Mark, you're criticized for being "cliched and uninspired" and are sent home. Guess you should only take your clothes off if you're putting a good body on display?

[Mae-sa]

Miles was my fav throughout, but alas, he did NOT deliver when it counted most! His exhibit was a snooze-fest, (aside from the old guy who died). I think Miles and Mark alike will survive in the art world.