by Gina Scarpa and Mike Bandy

 

This week, on the season finale of Work of Art: The Next Great Artist, Miles (a fan favorite) surprisingly finished the competition in third place. The judges gave Abdi the win, while Peregrine took second place. Today, we caught up with Miles in an exclusive interview about his duel personas, the genuine friendships he formed, and whether or not he's learned to give up control.

 

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: What motivated you to try out for Work of Art?
A. Miles: You kind of get this ulterior persona created for you and that's part of pop culture and reality tv. I couldn't think of anything more interesting that having a duel persona.

 

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: Were you concerned at all about having your art judged?
A. Miles: Not really, I don't think I'm all that great of an artist. I made stuff that wasn't too vulnerable so when they critiqued it, I tried to move the conversation to a larger issue about art or social issues.

 

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: Who stood out to you as someone to watch out for or someone who could be your biggest competition?
A. Miles: I didn't really think about it like that. I tried to concern myself with the people that weren't taking it seriously but having fun, like Peregrine and Nicole. The rest were so serious. I didn't want to deal with that.

 

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: Is it safe to say that you came out of this experience with some true, genuine friendships?
A. Miles: Oh yeah, Peregrine and I talk on a weekly basis. She has more experience in the art world so when I have a question, I call her. Abdi and I stay in touch. We are trying to do some collaborative stuff just for the sake of it. I talk with Nicole every once in a while. We throw around ideas that we're working on. Those people were pretty fun.

 

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: How do you feel about Adbi's win?
A. Miles: I'm happy for the guy. He was the most energetic of all of us.

 

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: When I interviewed Abdi yesterday, he had nothing but great things to say about you and Peregrine. It seemed like that final group was having a lovefest.
A. Miles: Let me tell you this. The lovefest was the entire season. It didn't start at the finale. That's one of those things that gets swept under the rug because of the drama. Peregrine and I would howl with laughter and Abdi and I would talk and talk and talk. It's interesting that the whole dramatic thing kind of came about and the show focused on that.

 

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: Do you feel that you accomplished letting go of control with your final gallery showing?
A. Miles: No. No way. I think that's an issue for everyone to work through. For me, that issue of control was brought up because I am pretty calculated. When you're in a competition, let's be honest, this is a game show. We weren't challenged with making great art. I happened to be kind of calculated and controlling. The storyline that they wanted to latch onto was that. I'm slowly getting rid of that in my work.

 

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: Is there anything that you're taking away from Work of Art that you'll apply in your daily life or artwork?
A. Miles: Definitely. One of the things it really made me aware of was the importance of person to person contact. I have this gray area of this person floating around in pop culture. I appreciate my friendships so much more and just direct contact with people. That and it set me on a whole new investigation artistically in terms of gray areas and things like that.

 

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: What do you have going on now?
A. Miles: I just finished curating a show in Minneapolis which was extremely successful and got great reviews. I have a show in New York next week and I have a solo show at Franklin Artworks in April and then, I'm off to New Mexico.

 

(Image courtesy of Bravo)

 

Follow Gina at twitter.com/ginascarpa

 

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