There is a new reality show - of sorts - on TV, and it's one that I intend to watch. In School of Saatchi, a group of artistic hopefuls are competing to produce a series of artworks with a major exhibition sponsored by Charles Saatchi and a studio for three years as the prize. Tonight's first episode whittled down the very large number of applicants first to twelve and then to six in an X-Factor style process that includes a panel of art experts, including Tracey Emin, Matthew Collings, Frank Cohen and Kate Bush (not the pop singer, the Head of Art at the Barbican).
The style is a little bit X-Factor, a little bit Dragon's Den and a little bit The Apprentice.
Of course it's the art that matters.
Artworks exhibited in the first episode were a mixed bag. Of the three video artists I liked Suki Chen's video of starlings the best. She, along with Saad Qureshi, another video artist with an out of focus film of someone on a swing, made it through to the final six. I didn't really get Eugenie Scrase's whistle hanging from a bathroom towel rail though she was another finalist. The fourth was Samuel Zealey, a man whose sculptures included two strong magnets held apart by cables and a large tractor wheel on a treadmill - clever but not, to me very interesting. Matt Clark's installation was a plywood constructed room filled with models and Ben Lowe was a self-taught commercial artist working mostly in abstracts who wants now to move towards a more surreal style.
One thing they all had in common was that in the life art drawing task they proved that they couldn't draw at all. Even the panel agreed on that.
It was, for an open minded art lover, an interesting program and I look forward to seeing more. Of course anyone who thinks that art means "paintings of something" (my father, who was also watching and tutting loudly, being one) should probably be watching I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here on the other side.
The style is a little bit X-Factor, a little bit Dragon's Den and a little bit The Apprentice.
Of course it's the art that matters.
Artworks exhibited in the first episode were a mixed bag. Of the three video artists I liked Suki Chen's video of starlings the best. She, along with Saad Qureshi, another video artist with an out of focus film of someone on a swing, made it through to the final six. I didn't really get Eugenie Scrase's whistle hanging from a bathroom towel rail though she was another finalist. The fourth was Samuel Zealey, a man whose sculptures included two strong magnets held apart by cables and a large tractor wheel on a treadmill - clever but not, to me very interesting. Matt Clark's installation was a plywood constructed room filled with models and Ben Lowe was a self-taught commercial artist working mostly in abstracts who wants now to move towards a more surreal style.
One thing they all had in common was that in the life art drawing task they proved that they couldn't draw at all. Even the panel agreed on that.
It was, for an open minded art lover, an interesting program and I look forward to seeing more. Of course anyone who thinks that art means "paintings of something" (my father, who was also watching and tutting loudly, being one) should probably be watching I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here on the other side.
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