KATE Bosworth in “The Art of More”
We believe in the transformative power of the arts, so we keep searching for TV programs on culture and the arts so we can interest viewers into watching them! Our latest “discovery” in this regard is “The Art Of …” by Ovation TV.
It’s a relatively new production that tries to popularize the arts and make them more accessible to the “ordinary” viewer.
So, it finds beauty and significance in a wider range of fields beyond the traditional or classical arts.
The areas it covers include fashion, food, cars, comedy, photography and “street art.”
Also great fun to view, especially for children is “Art Attack,” which not just teaches kids a wide range of creative techniques, but also engages their imagination and inspires them to create their own artworks from “found” materials and objects.
Another arts-related show, “The Art of More,” isn’t documentary or magazine in approach and format, but it is in fact a drama series that exposes the less beautiful scams and other schemes behind the glamorous façade of posh auction houses in New York.
It stars Kate Bosworth, Cary Elwes, Dennis Quaid and Christina Crooke. An episode focused on a forger’s efforts to pass off some decor pieces as “Napoleonic” antiques.
Another show was about a couple who unearthed millions in gold coins in their backyard.
The series has been green lighted for a second season, which will consist of 10 new episodes.
Positive reviews cite the show’s success in “exposing its selective, exclusive and corrupt world”—“suspense and fun to learn the history behind auction items”—and “some beautifully restrained performances that convey depths with very little.”
We also like watching “Brilliant Ideas” on Bloomberg, because it introduces us to contemporary artists all over the world who are engaged in highly original explorations of the edges and “limits” of creative expression and communication.
A special telecast on the arts we watched just last month was about a unique event—the British Royal Academy of Art’s annual exhibit that’s open for anybody to join!
The supremely “democratic” competition is so popular that its most recent edition generated over 12,000 entries—which were then vetted by a guest curator, sculptor Richard Wilson, to 2,000 semifinalists.
At the end of the long selection process, hundreds of finalists were exhibited at the Academy.
They included some celebrities, but the happiest “winners” were the relative unknowns who made it all the way up to the end.
They had been practicing artists all their lives, but generally worked in relative anonymity—so, their having been included in the big annual showcase was a huge psychic boost—and “official” affirmation of their exceptional gift!