by Gina Scarpa and Mike Bandy

 

Abdi Farah came into Work of Art: The Next Great Artist extremely upbeat and motivated, performing consistently well throughout the competition. The judges felt that his final collection at the Brooklyn Museum of Art was the strongest and he walked away the winner. For his prize, he received his own show at the Brooklyn Museum of Art, will have one of his pieces auctioned off by Simon de Pury, and wins $100,000. We spoke to Abdi today about his win, fellow finalists, and future.

 

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: What made you want to do Work of Art?
A. Abdi: Oh my God, I have been talking about something like this for years with art teachers and what not. I grew up playing sports. I grew up wanting to be in the Olympics. Competition brings out the best in people. I just wanted to be a part of something so cool. I was so jealous of Top Chef and Project Runway. I liked those shows already! It's ridiculous that somehow, I found out about it and was able to audition.

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: What were your expectations going in and how does it feel to have won the whole thing?
A. Abdi: Crazy! My expectations coming in were a big old question mark. I had no idea what was going to happen. I thought it would be an amazing work experience. I had just graduated from college. I thought I would learn a lot about the art world and business and politics and all the things you would expect from reality tv. I learned about art, myself as a person, myself as an artist. I'm so incredibly optimistic about the next part of my career. I'm so excited to be an artist right now.

 

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: How do you feel about your fellow finalists, Miles and Peregrine?
A. Abdi: I'm such a huge fan of those two. I wish everyone in the world could have seen their finale shows. It was so breathtaking in person. Peregrine's fawn piece might be one of the greatest things I've ever seen in my life. I learned so much from them throughout the entire competition. One thing this show does that is so different from other shows is that everyone grew by leaps and bounds. I learned so much from turning to the left and seeing Miles and turning to the right and seeing Peregrine.

 

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: What does winning the show do for you as an artist?
A. Abdi: I feel like winning the show just gives me what every single artist would dream about and kill for which is to have people interested in their art, looking at their art, caring about their art, experiencing their art with them. It's a complete dream come true.

 

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: It was announced on the show that one work from the winning collection would be auctioned off at Simon de Pury's gallery - can you tell us which one was chosen?
A. Abdi: Yes, the piece calld "Baptism", from the nature challenge. We just got that framed. It looks exquisite. Simon is going to auction that off. I feel great for whoever buys that. It's probably the best thing I've ever made.

 

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: Your mom is a big part of your life. Aside from what we saw on the show, what is her reaction to your win?
A. Abdi: She's probably having more fun than me. She's been jumping around every day like, "Oh my god, you're going to New York!" It's just so cool to have her be able to experience this and the fact that all the work that she's put in and all the receipts from art supply stores are back in her pocketbook. It's so cool. It's great to make your parents proud

 

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: What's coming up next for you?
A. Abdi: There are not enough hours in the day! I'm working on a lot of artwork. I'm hoping to bring this body of work that I'm working on to fruition. I'm having an artist talk on October 2nd in conjunction with this show and the Brooklyn show and I'm heading to New York soon.

 

(Image courtesy of Bravo)

 

Follow Gina at twitter.com/ginascarpa

 

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