I soon found out that turtle was very much alive, as it slowly tried to escape!

I took the turtle down to the river bank and gave him/her a piece of organic frisee from my garden boxes.

It turns out that the turtle doesn’t want to have anything to do with my pathetic bourgeois attempts to connect with nature!

I can sympathize with her/his perspective.

My little friend can smell the future.

Oh yes my friend seems to know what to do!

Poor little guy must have been dehydrated!

The turtle disappears into the brackish waters of the Hudson River.

OK, this is the part, you may not believe. The turtle swam back, poked his/her head up and said thanks and goodbye to me.

Is it bravery or familiarity that spurs on the turtle?

Just another day living on the mighty Hudson River.

Nao responds to the critiques of her “shocking” work, and explains her competition strategy.

Art isn’t always where you think it’ll be. Sure, you have your artwork, or art piece, but that is often just a snapshot of where an artist is in their process. So the “art” is in the process and it’s evidence is elusive. “Good” art is hard to trap. For me the process is like absorbing my surroundings, mingled with my perception, then reorganizing that into a form. That form may be readable as intended or shifting, and unconscious. Once you take your work out of your head or heart or guts and put it into a form, it is subject to interpretation. At that point the artist loses control, but gains a dialog and an understanding of the interpretation by the viewer. Work of Art contestants made what we could with X number of hours. If we had 12 hours the work would be different than if we had 12 days or 12 years. That’s why I think of the work as a snapshot of the process or time available.

When I watched Episode 4 of Work of Art, I thought my work looked strong on TV, but the details of the process, the drip painting and the ripped and painted nest interior, were left out, or at least hard to pick up on. This is TV and the narrative doesn’t always require the details. But when the judges had all the contestants assembled and the camera panned across our heads, it was that moment I saw the art, all of those heads and then… my crazy sculptural mask! IT WAS A RIP IN THE FORMAT OF THIS ART COMPETITION. I really thought it was beautiful. No one made mention in the show that I had used the Utrecht bags from our show sponsor. It was a commentary/frustration of the limitations of the structure. I am primarily a video and performance artist (but I don’t put emphasis on media hierarchy). I rarely go to the art supply store for materials. Don’t get me wrong, I love the art supply store, just as much as the library, the hardware store, my house, the street and so on. Materiality is all around us, as is art. One of my strategies for going on the show was to engage in things I didn’t actually know how to do. So each week I tried to do something that was new for me. I wanted to model a process for people watching the show that you can express yourself creatively in any medium. Even though I said I had no idea what I was making, episode 4 felt like the most familiar art-making process for me. It was a true exploration. Making art can be animal and instinctual, spiritual and beyond words. Heck, I’ve been in critique sessions many times, and I certainly know how to B.S. with the best of them. But really is that what it is all about? I determined that my piece, “Barely Standing,” would be the work that would break though the show format or get me sent home, and well, we all know what happened. I think it is possible to make great art in a reality TV format, but it may not be where we intend it to be. Will the next great artist be a competitor on Work of Art? Watch what happens. Nao will be heading back to relative obscurity now to make her own works of art. But remember people out there in TV land, take off your mask, because there is another one underneath.

Nao’s Work of Art exit interview here!

On the deck, too hot to cook inside.

I had to use oven mitts!

I’m making a bread cooker next out of a shoe box.

“Nao:” Right? It’s been totally nutso!

Nao: I wonder if I can ask you anything that will surprise you or catch you off guard, given that this is a self-interview? Which, btw, the idea is ripped off Hayley Newman, the amazing performance artist…

“Nao:” Yes, I’m also a fan of Hayley’s… let’s see what happens.

Nao: Ok ok, there seems to be a lot of discussion about Nao vs. “Nao.” You know… were you acting on “Work of Art?”

“Nao:” We are all performing our roles constantly. It’s very difficult to get outside of performing. When I manage that, it’s very dislocative. This “reality” that we are placed in, is nothing like the reality that I have created for myself as an artist, etc… but we are still expected to perform as if it is. I prefer the term unscripted.

Nao: Yes, but don’t you run into the same problems with that alternate term?

“Nao:” I suppose. Forget I said that.

Nao: I can’t this is a direct transcribed interview. And the idea that you would be more comfortable with one problematic term over another is very telling.

“Nao:” Actually this interview is making me uncomfortable.

Nao: Ok, ok, did you make any good friends on the WOA set?

“Nao:” We couldn’t really engage with production, although I had a huge crush on one of the producers, who was so kind to me at the first episode shooting, which was a nightmare for me! I thought Nicole was my BFF, but it turns out she was everyone’s BFF. I can’t believe how chummy she is with everyone still. I mean, doesn’t she have a job or something? We have this thing we do all the time. We refer to everything as n², that’s supposed to be N squared.

Nao: uh huh, that’s cute, but what happened on the first episode that was so upsetting?

“Nao:” Didn’t you watch? I can’t talk about anything that wasn’t on camera…

Nao: ok, ok, I saw your show up at Baer Ridgway Exhibitions and I was really stunned! Did Miles’ Death Portrait of you from episode 1 effect your choices around your “Deathbed” photo installation?

“Nao:” OK, for the last time, I made the “Deathbed” photo months before I had ever heard of Miles Mendenhall!

Nao: You seem like an angry and aggressive Woman…

“Nao:” If you’re not angry, you’re not paying attention!

Nao: ok, ok, I guess with the oil spill and the wars and genocide and all, it must be difficult just to focus on you.

“Nao:” Yes, it’s been hard to keep the focus on myself. But, I really try. I mean I’m not curing cancer here. Some art might be curing cancer, but mine is not. I wish it would, but it’s not…

5. Why not make it a themed potluck? I like an “Apocalyptic Luau.” Always a classic…

I can now announce that I’ll be part of Bravo TV’s upcoming reality show, Work of Art, which starts in June 2010.

“As she left the stage at the close of the Sundance performance, she even got into a little tiff with the lighting technician over how long her fade to black should last.

Was it real, or a staged argument? No wonder the New York Times described Bustamante as “a frock-wearing Andy Kaufman.”

“I like to make the audience feel uncomfortable, but I don’t like to push them away,” she said. “I like to make them feel like they might feel uncomfortable.””

Fun Fact: Warhol was called “Drella” by his friends, a condensed version of Dracula and Cinderella. The nickname is attributed to Lou Reed, who felt it fit both sides of Warhol’s persona.

In 1964, Warhol cast Jack Smith as Dracula in his film Batman/Dracula. According to Warhol, Smith “really got into the part. He claimed that as he put his makeup on, he was slowly transforming himself, letting his soul pass out through his eyes into the mirror and back into him as Dracula, and he had this theory about how everyone was ‘vampirical’ to a certain extent because they ‘made unreasonable demands.’ ”

In Batman/Dracula, my impression is that Smith ends up taking over the film with his strong presence. Watch it and decide for yourself.

See video on my YouTube page