Work of Art

Twin Fawns | Peregrine Hoing

I've been watching the first season of Bravo's Work of Art series, where they bring a group of young artists to compete for a solo exhibition and a cash prize. Like Project Runway, but with art!

I watched the whole season from start to finish and I found it really entertaining. I did not agree with the judges on occasion, which is always interesting. I certainly did not agree with their opinions in the episode in which the contestants had to illustrated a book cover. First because they didn't include Jaime Lynn's cover for Dracula in the top 3 (though yeah, the typography needed a lot more work). Second because they then went and picked Mark's Dracula cover as an exceptional cover design, which I found just insulting to illustrators everywhere. It was not a good illustration, it was what artists think commercial illustration is. According to them, a big yawn. To answer that I'd like to point them in the direction of Sam Weber, John Howe, Vania, Fumi Nakamura, James Jean... the list goes on. So suck it, judges! They did end up selecting the best piece there as the winner, which was a no-brainer when you saw it (the critique portion of that episode felt redundant, even). It was John Parot's cover for The Time Machine.

My favorite artwork during the competition was Abdi Farah's grand self-portrait inspired by nature. But I really thought Peregrine Honig should have won the finale. Her carnival exhibition was fun and exciting and I wanted to buy the wax sculptures! My absolute favorite is the photograph above entitled Twin Fawns. If it didn't cost an arm and a leg I would buy it. I completely understand her attraction and emotional reaction to these sweet, slightly disturbing and highly fascinating taxidermy sculptures. Apparently it took her 2 years to acquire the fawns from a curiosity shop in her town - I'd be loath to part with these beauties myself if I had them. I wonder who was the artist who originally made them...