When the fall art season takes off in September, you might notice TV cameras during some of your New York gallery visits. Production is about to begin on “Paint the Town” (working title), a new art-world reality show that will appear on Bravo. Produced by Magical Elves, the company behind Project Runway, Top Chef and Work of Art (which just wrapped filming on its second season), it will track six “20-something girls” who work in entry-level positions in top New York galleries.
An e-mail sent out by the company in search of the show’s sixth star says it is looking for: “a gifted and vivacious trailblazer with a tell-it-like-it-is attitude. This gallery girl will inspire others with her wit and charm, but she should also be sly-as-a-fox when it comes to the politics of New York City’s art gallery world. Above all else, her love for NYC should be unwavering as she strives to find her place in the art world.”
Billed as a docu-series, the show aims to follow these newbies as they live “a chic, fashionable, art-filled existence,” according to Bravo, which entails “manag[ing] the stress of their demanding bosses.” Bravo declined to provide any specifics about the cast or their employers, but the art world is rife with tales of egomaniacal art dealers.
Will the show offer the pyro-drama of the “Real Housewives” franchise or will we watch stylish “gallerinas,” as they were known not so long ago, do data entry, answer phones and look pretty? Will the girls rise to the top or be chewed up and spit out by a ruthless and glamorous industry? Stay tuned.
© Andy Freeberg
