by Mike Bandy and Danae Young

 

Last week on Work of Art: The Next Great Artist, Nao's shocking art piece named "Barely Standing" kept her barely standing as well. She was sent home with the lingering thought that failure isn't a bad thing. Nao spoke with RealityWanted on her artwork and the experience she had on the show.

 

Q. Mike, RealityWanted: Going into the gallery, did you feel you were really prepared for your performance, or were you still

questioning it?
A. Nao: It wasn't that I was questioning, or a matter of not being prepared, it was that I was in a process and not sure where it was going to go. It felt like the eye of the storm.

 

Q. Mike, RealityWanted: Being the only performance artist on the show, do you think that helped or hindered you in the competition?
A. Nao: It didn't really make a difference, even though I am extroverted and a performance artist, I'm also used to having a quiet time to reflect, which you don't get on a reality show. The camera is on you all the time! I don't know that it really helped me. I don't think it was necessarily an advantage or a disadvantage.

 

Q. Mike, RealityWanted: Would you ever do another reality show?
A. Nao: I want to put a couple of rumors to rest...I'm talking to some people and I have a couple of ideas that I'm excited about, but nothing definite yet.

 

Q. Mike, RealityWanted: When you were eliminated, you said that failure was okay. How would you say failure has contributed, if at all, to your success as an artist?
A. Nao: My whole career is built on failure...if you don't fail, how do you know what your limitations are? There's no way to test your limits without it...failure is a wonderful place of possibility. It opens up space for new ideas, possibilities, and solutions.

 

Q. Mike, RealityWanted: How well would you say you got along with the other artists? Was there a lot of tension?
A. Nao: It really depended...there was tension. I'm not used to working in a factory setting; I'm used to a much more reflective process. Sometimes the tension was no fault of the artists, it was just the situation. I had a great relationship with my roommates, Nicole and Judith, so that was a comfort.

 

Q. Mike, RealityWanted: What's coming up next for Nao?
A. Nao: I'm at the end of a big cycle; I had a show open last week in San Francisco, I'm working on editing more episodes of my web show, which was born from my audition video for [Work of Art], and I'm in the process of posting that. [I have] a residency in Italy coming up this month, and I'm pitching TV show ideas. I'm crazy all over the place. I have no time to wallow in my failure.

 

Q. Mike, RealityWanted: Who do you think will win Work of Art, and why?
A. Nao: I think an artist who is very representational and direct will win, because the judges will understand their work.

 

 

Work of Art airs Wednesdays at 10/9c on Bravo.

 

(Image courtesy of Bravo)

 

 

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