by Mike Bandy and Danae Young

Last week on Work of Art: The Next Great Artist, John's auto-fellatio painting paired with directions was compared to graffiti by Serrano. His painting, "The Recluse," even misspelled fellatio. The combination of graffiti and a lack of spelling lead to John's elimination. John spoke with RealityWanted on his relationship with the other artists along with what he is doing now that he is off the show.

Q. Mike, RealityWanted: When you were eliminated, you said that you were trying to please Serrano and not yourself. If you had to do it over again, what kind of piece would you make?
A. John: Well, I think I would have challenged the judges in the way that they view art, rather than create an arresting image, and dip back into my own repertoire. I wanted to make a new piece for the judges. I had to make a shocking piece for a panel of judges who were all straight and in their 50's, so I had a little trouble coming up with what would be shocking for them. What's shocking to a gay man may not be shocking to them. I don't necessarily wake up in the morning and say, "I'm going to shock my viewer." I make artwork to engage the viewer and see the world through my eyes, and hopefully give them a slice of that life. I think I would have done something that challenges the viewer on how we look at artwork. Serrano is a straight Cuban man; does he really understand [the gay point of view]?

Q. Mike, RealityWanted: How well would you say you got along with the other artists? Was there a lot of tension?
A. John: There wasn't really a lot of tension. I'm an easy going guy. I was the only gay person in the group and that made it a little trying; they didn't really get my humor or jokes, and I had to hear all of their bad jokes and their frat-room humor. [Laughs] I was trying really hard to get across that only a couple of us are witty and funny. I got along with everyone fine; I didn't come to make waves or to fight or argue about art, I just turned 40 and those days are over for me. I just like meeting new artists and seeing what they do. I tried to bridge a sense of camaraderie with everyone; I was kind of the one to smooth everything over if there was tension.

Q. Mike, RealityWanted: You made a comment that being gay; people are already so into everything you do. Can you elaborate on what you meant by that?
A. John: Well, I grew up in the Midwest in the 80's, and this was before "Will and Grace," so people would really question things I was doing. Even today we question the idea that gays want to marry. The gays want to do normal things and be accepted in society, but the microfilm is always on our culture and the things that we do. It's a hot topic in the news when a gay person gets beaten up. In the American culture, we get a lot of attention, and that's what I was referring to. I think times are changing and that people like to rush to point the finger at the gays' "lifestyle" and lifestyle choices.

Q. Mike, RealityWanted: What's coming up next for you?
A. John: I just had a show at a gallery and I just did a book signing for The Time Machine for Penguin, and that went really well. I'm in talks with them about designing more book covers for them...I'm very interested in that, and I'm going to focus on that.

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

(Image courtesy of Bravo)

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