The 2009 College graduate and former Daily Pennsylvanian opinion artist earned the title after winning the final challenge on Bravo’s new show, Work of Art: The Next Great Artist.
Like many young artists, Farah, 23, admits he has always had “crazy delusions of grandeur.”
“The crazy part is that it actually happened to me, which is so awesome,” he said.
Work of Art brought 14 aspiring artists together to compete for a solo art exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum of Art and $100,000 cash prize. Contestants were challenged to create unique paintings, sculptures and photographs every week.
While Farah described the experience of being on a reality TV as an “artist’s life on steroids,” it was also his most productive artistic experience to date, with highlights such as having his work critiqued by renowned New York Magazine art critic Jerry Saltz.
While studying fine arts at Penn, Farah found it difficult to balance his artistic aspirations with the demands of a liberal arts degree. “I’m so glad that I’m out of school, because it was difficult to grow and develop as an artist when you have four other classes,” he said.
Yet, Farah’s work on the show was clearly an extension of the art that he created at Penn. His final portfolio on the show reflected his love of people and color by exploring the human body.
“We see people all day and we don’t really think it’s beautiful, but something changes when it appears on a canvas,” he said. “Artists take things, normal things around the world that we’ve forgotten are beautiful and interesting and we release it and interpret it.”
Joan Curran, a Fine Arts professor who taught Farah’s painting course, said he has always been interested in drawing the human figure. She also noticed consistent “conceptual goals” in Farah’s paintings and sculptures.
She identifies similarities between his final work on the show and his senior thesis piece, “Intruder Alert” — a “huge monumental painting” and “amazing tour de force” of himself and Obama dressed in spacesuits.
According to Curran, the main difference between Farah’s assignments on reality TV and his work at Penn is timing, as contestants were asked to create pieces more quickly.
While the term “pre-professional” rarely conjures up the image of an art major at Penn (even Farah knows this, — his three roommates were in Wharton and he endured a healthy dose of “antagonism about art”), the rigorous Fine Arts curriculum at Penn aims to instill a sense of what it takes to be a professional artist.
“In many ways it’s just as competitive as business,” said Curran. “The art world is extremely competitive. It takes great focus to succeed.”
Abdi Farah’s exhibition “Luminous Bodies” is on display at the Brooklyn Museum of Art until October 17, 2010.
