News: Work of Art at Brooklyn Museum

Last night, Bravo’s reality show Work of Art concluded with what the Los Angeles Times is calling an upset; artist Abdi won the big competition beating out forerunner Miles. Abdi wins not only $100,000, which he vowed to give to his mother, but also a solo show at the Brooklyn Museum.
 
The show ended last night with a final gallery opening and critique by judges China Chow, New York Magazine art critic Jerry Saltz, gallery owner Bill Powers and guest judge, famed artist David LaChapelle. Favored to win, Miles showed abstractions of camera phone footage taken at his local White Castle, hippy Peregrine, who grew-up on a commune in San Francisco, created a fantasy carnival with a tinge of darkness by displaying bright wax molds of horses and child busts while winner Abdi did a series of self-portraits including two large molds of himself laid out on the floor. Abdi’s work also included a photograph of himself in a body bag entitled ‘Home’ which had the judges, most notably LaChapelle, very moved.
 
The museum has this to say about Work of Art “Though it may seem an unconventional presentation, contests such as Work of Art are not unfamiliar to art museums. In nineteenth-century France, the principal route to prominence for an artist was to enter his or (rarely) her work in a competition held every year or two at the Louvre. A jury of experts presided, selecting from thousands of submissions. Work of Art is a direct descendent of the juried-exhibition tradition” Abdi Farah’s exhibition entitled ‘Luminous Bodies’ can be seen on display at the Brooklyn Museum from August 14th – October 17th.
 
Brooklyn Museum
200 Eastern Parkway, Brooklyn, NY‎ – (718) 638-5000‎

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