Lucinda Breeding

It took them long enough.

Television producers have finally made a reality television series about visual art. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves, shall we?

Work of Art: The Next Great Artist airs 9 p.m. Wednesday on Bravo, the network that pioneered the calamity of continuous cat-fighting in the The Real Housewives series. The franchise provokes mean-girl drama in Orange County, New York City, New Jersey, Atlanta and, soon, Washington, D.C.

It would be a mistake to take anything from Bravo seriously.

All the same, it seems like the art world was ripe for a reality TV contest. Foodies have Top Chef, fashion junkies have Project Runway, hair stylists have Shear Genius, marksmen have Top Shot and masochists have Bridezilla.

It took the likes of Sex and the City’s Sarah Jessica Parker and investors to bring the televised creative contest to visual artists.

The show assembles artists of different specialties, backgrounds and ages and asks them to produce a piece of art in roughly 24 hours according to a themed challenge. When the clock stops, the artists tote their pieces to the gallery — or a designated place elsewhere — for an “opening.”

Afterward, four judges critique their favorite pieces and least favorite pieces. The artist who earns the most negative criticism is set home with his satchel of art supplies. The favorite earns immunity in the next round and takes one more step toward getting a fat check and a solo exhibit at the Brooklyn Museum.

Bravo

Work of Art Season 1 contestants surround host China Chow, center, and judges.

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“I’ve enjoyed watching it, and my opinion is that it’s a fun competition featuring some creative people, but it isn’t about art,” said Robert Milnes, dean of the University of North Texas College of Visual Arts and Design. “It’s about television entertainment, developed around creative, project-oriented competitions that each week results in projects that look very much like art might.

“Almost anything where people have to come up with something that doesn’t exist yet could be substituted as the theme.”

As is the standing formula for reality TV, Work of Art puts talented, driven types together in a workroom with a demand to make something good, something provocative in a short time period according to rules chosen for them. Not only do we see people struggle to be creative on demand, we watch them evaluate each other as craftsmen and as human beings.

The show’s cast of artists isn’t surprising. There’s wunderkind Miles, a Minnesota installation artist with obsessive compulsive disorder, a goodly supply of confidence and very direct opinions. There’s a self-taught artist changed by brain trauma. There’s the wizened art school grad who’s jaded with “the scene,” a young Christian with a flair for animation, and a jack-of-all-trades who has a fondness for superheroes.

Will the viewer learn anything about the process of creating art by watching this contest?

“Not at all,” Milnes said. “Rather, it just adds to the mystique of creation while diluting the judgment of whether something is art or not to the level of quick visual response. That said, it doesn’t hurt — maybe the attendance at the Brooklyn Museum will go up when the winner shows there, and more people will see art in the rest of the building, become intrigued, and will learn something important.”

Milnes doesn’t think the show is either reinforcing or challenging popular assumptions about artists or art. If you think artists are egoists looking to make fun of the masses, Miles from Minnesota won’t change your mind — not with his stunts, such as sleeping while his peers buzz around the workroom. If you think art is insider nonsense, conceptual artist Trong will be your proof — with his references to Tom Friedman, a god of American conceptual art. If you think art can turn junk into something beautiful and stimulating, the second episode would be confirmation. Like Milnes said, Work of Art is really about television, not art. Milnes said one misconception about art reinforced by the show is that art is “easy, glitzy and if you’re creative, you can perform in a day [or] a week on demand.”

That doesn’t mean Work of Art has no value.

“I think the reality shows on fashion, interior design and art help fuel interest in being an artist or designer,” Milnes said. “Indirectly, they help people who aren’t involved know names, places and activities in the fields. That’s all great! The urge to create is a huge force and the shows do point out that there are professions with people in them, who some of the players are, and what they look like. Imagining yourself in a role is much easier if you have a role model. So I think the shows offer entertainment and hope that maybe when people are watching, they will be inspired to look up information about schools, galleries and museums on their laptops or mobile phones.”

Work of Art does feature artists who have been to art school — and some who teach in art schools. It also features contestants who keep their own studios and who actively exhibit. Sure, they are presented as characters in a sense, but they have credibility.

Reality shows based on creative pursuits carry few guarantees beyond their cash prizes and accolades. In fact, most reality television contestants rarely go on to dominate their fields. The first season winner of Project Runway, Jay McCarroll, at one point made graphic T-shirts you could buy at Urban Outfitters, and he won a recent season of Celebrity Fit Club.

Real-life art school training and experience is more mundane and more directed than a televised contest with high ratings as its goal.

“At the College of Visual Arts and Design, we hope to inspire creativity, hone it, instill a work ethic, and most of all, help make a life in the real world of art and design possible for our students.”

In the “real world” of art, four judges won’t make or break your career based on a challenge. Persistence will. Doing the work, and marrying a technique to inspiration makes an artist.

If Milnes had to place a bet on which artist will win, though, he has something in common with the Work of Art judges.

His money is on young Miles.

LUCINDA BREEDING can be reached at 940-566-6877. Her e-mail address is cbreeding@dentonrc.com.