by Todd Betzold

Bravo is back with season two of Work Of Art: The Next Great Artist and we are in for some fierce competition from the 14 new contestants.

One of the first contestants we get to meet is Sucklord....this should be an interesting season! He is going to be the cocky one the season and one that's gonna annoy me...I can tell already.

Eventually all 14 of the contestants make their way into the gallery, with Leon Lim standing out because he is deaf and of course Sucklord and his cocky attitude. There are a wide variety of artists in the group: sculptors, video artists, street artists and so on.

The winner will get $100,000 and a solo show at Brooklyn Museum. All the contestants head into the gallery where the winner's art will be shown. There are portraits up already, which get mixed reviews from the contestants.

The portraits hanging up are "bad" kitschy art and for the first challenge they will have to transform one of the pieces into a masterpiece. They must keep a recognizable part of the work intact and make it work within their style. They have until midnight that night and an hour the next day. They have five minutes to choose their piece and the fighting begins between the artists over what they chose.

They make their way into the studio and we get to see more of each individual artist. Michelle Matson, who was involved in a hit and run accident last year, chooses an eagle and wants to make it a grave marker, since death is always on her mind since the accident.

Lola Thompson moved a lot as a child because her mother is a gypsy, so that affects her art. She can't concentrate and her mind is always going all over the place. She is struggling right now.

Meanwhile, Sucklord is doing some crazy talk in the studio and is making it awkward for some of the artists. Kathryn Parker Almanas should be on everyone's radar though, because in her self-portrait she is holding in her arms what looked like the insides of a person and now for her first challenge she is taking a portrait and changing it to look like the inside of a body and photograph it...crazy?

Simon de Pury comes in for his first studio visit. Lola doesn't have any direction right now and Simon tells her to get a plan and get crackin' and this makes her even more down on herself and worried.

Simon tells Ugo Nonis that his style is very similar to artist Keith Haring, which it is very similar, and this could affect him in the competition. Uno claims it is his own, so he is not worried.

Lola, again, is freaking out and has no plan. As time is running out for the night she still has no plans on what to do. Will she even have anything to show tomorrow?

They go home for the night to their lovely penthouse and come back with one hour until gallery show. Lola pulls all the random things she put together for her piece and is happy with how it is all coming together.

Sucklord isn't as confident, as he is paranoid that he has made the kitsch piece even kitschier. Bayete is worried about taking a risk delving into material that deals with identity and race, but he thinks it will work.

Time for the gallery show before the judges: China Chow, Jerry Saltz and Bill Powers and guest judge Mary Ellen Mark. The gallery is opened and we get to see some familiar faces, as Sarah Jessica Parker, one of the executive producers for the show, and Abdi Farah, winner of season one, are in attendance.

Like the contestants, we see a wide variety of pieces at the gallery show. The judges have mixed reactions with all the pieces, so who knows who will be the first one sent home.

They keep the following artists after the show: Michelle, Lola, Ugo, Sarah H., Bayete and Sucklord. The rest of the artists are safe for another week. The top three artists are Sarah H., Michelle and Lola, with the winner of the first challenge being Michelle, who will receive immunity and cannot be eliminated next week.

That leaves Bayete, Ugo and Sucklord in the bottom three. It makes me laugh that Sucklord is in the bottom three since he was so cocky throughout the show. All three got harsh critiques from the judges, but the first person going home is Ugo.

Work Of Art: The Next Great Artist airs Wednesdays at 9/8c on Bravo.

(Image courtesy of Bravo)

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