by Gina Scarpa and Mike Bandy

 

On last night's episode of Work of Art: The Next Great Artist, Ryan, the self-taught oil painter from Chicago, was eliminated. His piece, "Drawn Excavations", evoked memories of a once-strong relationship with his mother, but didn't make the judges feel anything at all. We caught up with Ryan to talk about his experiences as a contestant, what's coming up next for him, and what his mom said about his time on the show.

 

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: What made you decide to try out for Work of Art?
A. Ryan: My roommate told me about it and I only had about four days notice to get my portfolio together and audition. I was interested primarily ... well, it's two fold. I thought it would be good to get some exposure. I went in thinking that I wouldn't win and I'd get kicked off really fast. I just wanted to show my face and direct people to my website. The other thing is that I had a crazy, ridiculous life. I thought, "Why not do something as absurd as reality tv?"

 

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: Did your mom watch the show, and if so, what effect did this episode have on your relationship with her?
A. Ryan: It's actually good. When I came back from the show, the biggest change that happened in my life was not in terms of art that I made, but I made it my main goal to reconnect with my mom. I felt bad and felt like our relationship was really messed up. I needed to take the initiative to reconnect with her, despite my different outlook on the world. I made sure that we reconnected and it worked. My mother is the one who supported me until the whole religion situation. She wasn't mad about last night and she called me immediately afterwards. I figured I knew what she was going to say but then she invited me to go to sushi on Sunday.

 

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: You called your last piece, "Drawn Excavations" a "cathartic event". Did you come to any revelations as a result of making this piece?
A. Ryan: Because our relationship had been screwed up for a little while and we weren't really talking... and when we did talk, it wasn't a warm, affectionate conversation... I started thinking about this as I was working on the piece. I remembered why I could make a straight line when I was young. My mom was holding my hand to help me make that straight line and I remembered that. Because of our relationship, I sort of blocked that out. All of that came flooding back.

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: The piece was very personal to you so did it surprise you that the judges didn't feel much emotion when looking at it?
A. Ryan: It mostly surprised me because... during the critique, they weren't all negative. I was not expecting to get kicked off at all. Despite that fact, I was surprised that I was the one that got the boot.

 

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: What did you learn from being on Work of Art?
A. Ryan: I learned that reality tv is really weird! The biggest thing that I learned is that I really can't work in that type of situation. Actually, I'm the type of individual that needs a large amount of control in my life and I need my freedom. When those things are taken away, I don't know what I'm doing. If I can't listen to music and I'm locked in a room, my work sucks and my mental state is scrambled. I appreciate the freedom I have. I wake up at noon, I teach an art lesson, I have a mimosa, I meet up with friends, I go to a bar. My life has so much freedom.

 

Check out Ryan's work on his website, ryanshultz.com.

 

 

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

 

(Image courtesy of Bravo)

 

Follow Gina at twitter.com/ginascarpa

 

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