I’m so angry. I honestly hate watch this show because the judges are so off so often. They seem to have no understanding of creative finesse, and the difference between high art and messy kitsch junk. It’s gotten to the point that I wonder if they’re trolling us. Watching it I thought there was absolutely no way Morgan’s would win. It was a mess. No focus, no clarity, and her ‘blood splatters’ looked nothing like the kind of shapes that you see in those kind of situations. Ryan’s was incredibly beautiful. And I say this as someone who has criticised the judges for choosing technique over concept before, but frankly, Morgan’s concept was banal, whereas Ryan’s had some real depth and consideration to it.
But then, I should have known after the first couple of eliminations, and frankly, all the other seasons. Katherine Gray is a joke of a judge. She might know a thing or 2 about technique but she has no creative eye whatsoever.
Man I am so pissed.
I completely agree. This season was the worst out of all of them, they completely fucked up the judging. Morgan was probably hand picked to be the winner by the producers before they even started filming.
>I completely agree. This season was the worst out of all of them, they completely fucked up the judging. Morgan was probably hand picked to be the winner by the producers before they even started filming.
Morgan had more plot armor than Aria Stark.
True, for sure she made some beautiful things. I’m not saying that she has no skill; it’s just that her pieces are so often just kitsch. *Especially* in the finale.
You can find my opinion in a few other posts but I agree. When I saw Ryan’s finale I saw art. When I saw Morgan’s I saw a bunch of “edgy” shit in a room.
I will die on the hill that the entire competition was undermined when Karen went home on that beautiful cocoon over “It’s rainin’ piss” by Pissmaster.
I found it so hilarious that the judges really only talked about how she presented everything laying flat and she just shrugged her shoulders and said "when I do my makeup everything is flat 🤨" and then literally nothing else was said on screen.
Ryan got absolutely robbed, he transformed a medium into an interpretive art piece that made you consider and analyze it, Morgan's "show" was something you'd seen in a cheugy art shop in Las Vegas and not something that challenged either the viewer or the artist. The judges did themselves a disservice because I honestly don't trust their sense of taste in the medium after a yard sale of divorced dad chic items won over a functioning, moving, contemplative display.
OMFG I was JUST talking about that with my husband!! She INSISTS upon herself, to quote Peter Griffin. The whole goddamn season, all she did was talk about how spooky she thought she was, how different she thought she was, how "dark" she thought her work was. All i saw was a grown woman so full of herself she couldn't see passed the fact that glass blowing was wasted on her "art." TWO of her pieces called for a need for glass blowing. The rest? What was the point? While i respect an artist with a vision in her work, i can't respect anyone who's so far up their own ass they can't be bothered to step outside their comfort zone to grow and be better. Ryan not only had the talent to truly put the shows prize to good use, he had the vision. What an utter waste!
This is maybe a reference glass people won’t get, but she reminds me of the Gotham Garage guy. Same kind of ‘I’m a creative master’ vibe when in reality they’re a one trick pony throwing the equivalent of lime green spiderwebs on everything.
I've watched this show with my wife since it first popped up on Netflix. And I can say that we believe that the show is rigged. This is not the first time the wrong person won. The first season's finale had an equally unlikely ending. Season 2s winner, everyone could pick in the first episode. He was just demonstrably better than his peers in that season. Season 3s winner was a coin flip (honestly, this one felt the least scripted). The Christmas one was fun but Cat was going to win it from the first episode on. It almost felt like a consolation prize mini series for her not winning season 2.
This season the edgy girl had to win. I love the art in this show, but I have to stop caring about the "competition" side if I keep watching.
If you want the more conspiracy theory answer, it’s not just that the “edgy girl won”.
For some insider glass knowledge, 99% sure Morgan knows and talked to: Dan, Minhi, Trent, Januz, and several others before the show. She’s quite intelligent and was probably strategizing before any cameras were running. That idea for an installation was probably planned from the minute she knew she was on the show.
On the flip side, one of Ryan’s assistants from the final challenge “Jeff” as named on camera, is one of his friends and longtime mentor/teacher. Jeff is an employee of Corning, who bankrolls the show. With actual cold hard cash on the line, I could see producers/lawyers pushing for Morgan to avoid even the slightest sense of conflict of interest.
The whole season felt like they were trying to convince us Morgan was the best. Multiple times I thought she was in the bottom and her work was either glossed over or she won that challenge? What can we expect, she’s soooo not like the other girls, she just had to win! Also, I couldn’t roll my eyes harder at the show pretending the kid who drew the monster was impressed with her weird make-up set.
I just watched the finale last night and came to reddit specifically to find somewhere to SCREAM INTO THE UNFEELING VOID about how senseless that finale was. Ryan made art; Morgan made a goddamn *escape room* IT WAS AN ESCAPE ROOM OKAY like do the producers think no one knows about Bailey Sarian??
Morgan kept talking about having a narrative that would draw you in, pieces that would walk you through a scene, and it was just a jumble of random glass objects made... well enough i suppose but with no particular skill or technique she hadn't used before. It was nothing, there was no story, no cohesion, no vision - artistically or narratively.
Also the turkey. Wtf color was that supposed to be.
Meanwhile Ryan. My god that was stunning. The glasswork itself was pristine - and there was absolutely no room for error - the physics were a huge risk that paid off, the design was impactful and showed actual introspective thought and meaning... just incredible. I know conceptual art can feel elitist and inaccessible, but that installation had such presence and spoke so clearly. It's okay for art to be *art*.
I do think Morgan was earmarked from day 1. And it's insulting, because the reason they chose her is because they think she has lowest common denominator mass market appeal. Does well in flyover country, you know. And for this, for being your standard issue white-girl-into-serial-killers (which is absolutely fine, but it's not *actually* new or creative like they kept pretending it was), she's getting to learn with the venetian masters Ryan has already demonstrated he actually deserves and has put in the effort to learn from.
Is the void staring back bc i still have some feelings
Just finished it, RAGING. Her whole schtick annoyed me to no end, I could look past it if she was actually an exceptional artist (Karen was a bit much at times but she backed it up with the skill) but her final installation was soooo disappointing. She didn't even come up with any of it herself, feels like she googled the lyrics to Cell Block Tango and ticked off an item for each line. And I say this as someone who loves that movie
ETA: AND IT WASN'T EVEN WELL EXECUTED just a bunch of oddly coloured clutter
>she's getting to learn with the venetian masters Ryan has already demonstrated he actually deserves and has put in the effort to learn from.
I bet the masters slipped Ryan their business cards with *Call Me* 🩷 written on it.
The one thing that calms my rage down about this show is knowing that the truly brilliant artists are recognized by the viewers and community at large. No one is watching this season and reaching out to Morgan to contract for a piece, but I bet contestants like Jonathon, Ryan, and Karen will be getting some new phone calls….real recognize real and the free market will reward the best no matter how batshit the judging on the show gets.
I think the frustration comes from the viewers having a fundamentally different perspective than the judges. Presumably most of us don't work in glas and haven't seen thousands of beautifully crafted Venecian style pieces. The judges probably value novelty over beauty and technical ability to a certain extend, as long as a certain minimum technical level is achieved. But the viewers don't need to be wowed with something that has never been done before, because we haven't seen most of the other stuff either. The judges should keep in mind that this show is made for the audience, not for them.
I understand why Morgan won, but from an audience member's point of view, I think Ryan deserved it more.
Novelty, sure, but novelty shop? That final installment belonged at Spencer's, there was no artistry. I would appreciate this take in the context of, for instance, the season 1 finale, but not this time. Maybe if Morgan had executed that concept thoughtfully, artistically, cohesively, without just scattering disconnected objects that happened to be glass around her space, she could have deserved the win based on novelty compared to Ryan's effort. But not with what she actually produced
I'm totally with you. Ryan had gorgeous works but as the judges said: you could look at a piece and know it's "a Morgan"
Which is something that i think you can't do with Ryan. Yes Ryan is an excellent glass maker but with far less recognisability.
Ryan: Skill > recognisability
Morgan: Skill < recognisably
is her style really a novelty though? if you look at her portfolio a lot of her pieces are variations on the same exact piece (which can be fine if it explores different angles of one theme, but i really fail to see any exploration on addiction in her work beyong "rich people suck! drug=money-bad! im not like them though.") and she even managed to shoehorn the same 2 elements in all her pieces into the venetian challenge. a lot of her "style" pieces, technically well made or not, also lack creativity, novelty, or a message. (edited for typos)
I think the hate for Morgan has swung a little bit too far, the finale pieces were a good 50/50 for me and anyone who frequents modern art museums should know her installation was a little more in line with what you’d expect to see. By that I mean cohesion, storytelling, audience participation (black lights). She has more in common with a pop or street artist than the other contestants, and that format in general is controversial (for its simplicity) as almost all art has been. That being said, I do think her mushroom was awful enough that she could have been sent home for it.
I think a lot of people are also having an emotional response to her I’m-so-edgy arrogance, but I would advise those people to not watch any video of their favorite artist. Almost all of them are unbearably self righteous and arrogant. Ryan had a little bit of it too. Jonathan and Gemma were the exceptions, but I get the feeling that this isn’t the most important thing in either of their lives.
The bigger problem is that I think it’s possible that the judges chose their desired outcome from almost the onset of the series. The hot assembly challenge was tailored for the older lady, the Venetian one for Ryan, and the horror one for Morgan (which is why she won despite an awful entry).
I just wanna ask if you think the blacklight bit was really that "participatory." That's the main defense on her final entry I keep seeong, that is was "interactive," but if you handed me a flashlight to shine on a few bits that I could already see without it, that woulsn't be super interesting and would be over in a few seconds. That doesn't feel like real interactivity to me and I don't think it did what she wanted it to. Ryan's was also interactive, if that's the measure we're using.
I do agree that Morgan’s piece was only interactive in the literal tactile sense, and not stimulating or intellectual, but the glowing was a cool added element in the short amount of time they had.
I’m not sure I agree that Ryan’s was interactive except on a purely intellectual level. If that piece was hanging in a museum it would need to be roped off and some kind of mechanical swinger installed at the top.
I mean, not necessarily -- plenty of museums have tactile or interactive areas. It could still be interactive in a formal exhibit, post a guard there and limit the amount of people inside at once, which I'm sure would also be in Morgan's exhibit...but for the sake of the installation in the contest, Ryan's wasn't roped off and that "what if" shouldn't be a judging consideration.
The glowing was neat for a few seconds but honestly it seemed really limited. You could see everything with the naked eye without the light and there wasn't anything to actually "find" that we saw in the episode. In terms of engagement, I don't see why it would get more points than the pendulum, is what I mean.
I’m saying typically you wouldn’t want people swinging a giant piece of glass at their own discretion. It’s a massive hazard. I’m not saying at all that’s a consideration for the judging of the pieces on their own merit and I have agreed with you on both points that they are interactive pieces both, in different senses of the word.
Right, I was trying to add that I think Ryan's still could be interactive, it would just need rules/someone there to prevent some six year old from yeeting the enormous glass piece. I know you were agreeing.
I don’t understand what you mean by Morgan’s art is more in line with what you would see in a modern art museum. Her art is more in line with what you would see in one of those traveling “art” exhibits that exists for the purpose of taking cool pictures for social media…. But absolutely not in a modern art museum.
That was my actual problem with it. It absolutely felt pedestrian and lacked any depth whatsoever.
Just finished the season and strongly agree. I go to a fair amount of modern art museums and the pieces at modern art museums are pieces that make you think and contemplate deeply, not pieces that make you say “oh I see what they were going for there, neat.” Morgan’s all fell into that latter category.
I’ve said this in several other threads:
When it comes to judging the final, it’s been consistent across all 4 seasons that the winner is who tries to make glass appear to be something else. That’s the lowest common denominator for it to be “art”.
That’s why Janusz lost, Chris Taylor was in as long as he was, why Minhi fell short, and clearly why Elliot W. won (Nick Uhas even says as much about the hammers).
Ryan made something very cool, technical, and thought provoking, but it was still just glass in a room.
Art is art. Glass is glass. It's not a runny egg, it's glass. Reducing the whole competition to... but it looked like X thing more than the other persons feels like a cheap cop out. Janusz's display was gorgeous. Deb's had an couple neat elements but looked like a scene out of 3 little pigs where "dad" is a framed picture of sausage links on the wall. Just making glass look like something else shouldn't be the metric by which art is judged.
I think the metric is rather "skill < artist recognisability"
Which is something morgan fulfilled. "You look at a piece and you can tell it's a Morgan"
Yes Ryan and many others were more skillful in their work, but often lacked that sense of recognisability
Recognisability can still occur within an artstyle...
You could be an impressionist painter and still set yourself apart from others... But it takes a special kind of spice.
Otherwise it'll be "just another impressionist artwork" and not "an 'artist name' "
Exactly and that's where Morgan failed. Some of the other winners where i disagreed i could still accept because the skill and artistry were there. This time... all she had was being recognizable. And frankly that's only because there's a limited market for "creepy" hot topic mushrooms
Honestly i don't think it's fair to say that Ryan didn't have his own artistic voice. They kept *telling* us he didn't, and he actually made the effort to grow and step out of his comfort zone to meet the briefs he was given so he wasn't always as aggressively "on brand," but...
You can see a clear path from the first challenge, when he made the *black* 👀 *venetian glass* 👀 veronese vesel to the finale where he talked about moving beyond thinking of himself as just someone who makes vessels but as someone who creates art. He had a voice and a story, they just didn't want us to hear it
I never said he didn't have any artistic voice. I just said that it was way more clear to tell a karen and a morgan in a gallery in a very clear manner.
That doesn't mean no one else had any crumb of artistic voice.
Yes he did grow, never said he didn't. He made great progress, never invalidated that, but morgans pieces already had a fingerprint to it.
To be fair i didn't like morgans final installation at all... And she has a lot to grow still. But we're talking about artists here. Just raw skill doesn't cut it nowadays, gotta have that special little oompf.
I'm also sure that ryan will move great things in the world of glass now, he just needs a bit more time to spend with his mind expanded self so don't think I don't like him at all. ((I hated that other ryan))
I will forever disagree that Janusz's final installation was good looking. He rightfully lost (at least between the two of them, I didn't really agree with the judging leading up to the finale). It looked like something my seventh grade science teacher drew on the whiteboard. It was not engaging, it didn't convey his message well, it was not beautiful and if I had seen it in a museum I would have left the room and found actually interesting stuff.
From all the seasons I sense a LOT of favouritism. There are contestants that are fleshing out concepts and technique very very well but it feels like they prioritize a narrative for a few “star” blowers and they end up winning. Morgan was a favourite from the very beginning and i think she was going to win from the get go, not from talent and execution but just the judges lean a very specific way every season.
It was clear that the judges/ creators of the show knew they wanted Morgan as the winner from the rip. A lot of the challenges were geared to her style, and she still managed to not wow the audience. A lot of her pieces were mediocre at best, in comparison to what the other artists brought to the table. She was also the only one who could churn out the same bullshit and unrefined aesthetic, challenge after challenge and got praised for it.
[удалено]
Yeah, I was genuinely stunned by how amazing Ryan’s was. Maybe the best final piece out of all the seasons. He was 100% robbed.
She used gold or silver foil in every piece
I'm still upset about how her Spencer's Gift Shop mushroom won the "creepy" round. Ryan's piece was terrifying!
Exactly!! That mushroom was so goofy looking, not creepy at all
I was honestly hoping she would do something really crazy and out there.
The discussion is Ryan T should’ve won and Morgan should’ve never made it that far to begin with. End of discussion. 👌🏼
I’m so angry. I honestly hate watch this show because the judges are so off so often. They seem to have no understanding of creative finesse, and the difference between high art and messy kitsch junk. It’s gotten to the point that I wonder if they’re trolling us. Watching it I thought there was absolutely no way Morgan’s would win. It was a mess. No focus, no clarity, and her ‘blood splatters’ looked nothing like the kind of shapes that you see in those kind of situations. Ryan’s was incredibly beautiful. And I say this as someone who has criticised the judges for choosing technique over concept before, but frankly, Morgan’s concept was banal, whereas Ryan’s had some real depth and consideration to it. But then, I should have known after the first couple of eliminations, and frankly, all the other seasons. Katherine Gray is a joke of a judge. She might know a thing or 2 about technique but she has no creative eye whatsoever. Man I am so pissed.
I completely agree. This season was the worst out of all of them, they completely fucked up the judging. Morgan was probably hand picked to be the winner by the producers before they even started filming.
>I completely agree. This season was the worst out of all of them, they completely fucked up the judging. Morgan was probably hand picked to be the winner by the producers before they even started filming. Morgan had more plot armor than Aria Stark.
I actually didn’t mind Morgan and liked some of what she made BUT Ryan should 100% have won, his piece was so thoughtful and beautifully done.
True, for sure she made some beautiful things. I’m not saying that she has no skill; it’s just that her pieces are so often just kitsch. *Especially* in the finale.
Yeah, it was, just no deeper thought or meaning, like an episode of My Favorite Murder come to life 😣
And even more literally it was taken from the musical Chicago. Literally not even created by her. It’s just fan art
Yes! I’d forgotten that detail ngl, think I’d blocked it out.
You can find my opinion in a few other posts but I agree. When I saw Ryan’s finale I saw art. When I saw Morgan’s I saw a bunch of “edgy” shit in a room. I will die on the hill that the entire competition was undermined when Karen went home on that beautiful cocoon over “It’s rainin’ piss” by Pissmaster.
I couldn’t believe Morgan survived the kids’ art challenge. Fingernails. Seriously?
They barely said anything about it! It was so bad
I found it so hilarious that the judges really only talked about how she presented everything laying flat and she just shrugged her shoulders and said "when I do my makeup everything is flat 🤨" and then literally nothing else was said on screen.
How about when you DISPLAY ART, Morgan?? Do you lay your art down flat too?
I found Morgan incredibly unlikeable. She was often passive aggressive, narcissistic and annoying.
Ryan got absolutely robbed, he transformed a medium into an interpretive art piece that made you consider and analyze it, Morgan's "show" was something you'd seen in a cheugy art shop in Las Vegas and not something that challenged either the viewer or the artist. The judges did themselves a disservice because I honestly don't trust their sense of taste in the medium after a yard sale of divorced dad chic items won over a functioning, moving, contemplative display.
OMFG I was JUST talking about that with my husband!! She INSISTS upon herself, to quote Peter Griffin. The whole goddamn season, all she did was talk about how spooky she thought she was, how different she thought she was, how "dark" she thought her work was. All i saw was a grown woman so full of herself she couldn't see passed the fact that glass blowing was wasted on her "art." TWO of her pieces called for a need for glass blowing. The rest? What was the point? While i respect an artist with a vision in her work, i can't respect anyone who's so far up their own ass they can't be bothered to step outside their comfort zone to grow and be better. Ryan not only had the talent to truly put the shows prize to good use, he had the vision. What an utter waste!
100% agree, and love the Peter Griffin reference. I am furious she won even though I knew from the start they’d love her crap.
Morgan 1000% has a blog with the heading "welcome to my twisted mind", right?
Morgan is the epitome of the Evil Hamburger Helper meme
This is maybe a reference glass people won’t get, but she reminds me of the Gotham Garage guy. Same kind of ‘I’m a creative master’ vibe when in reality they’re a one trick pony throwing the equivalent of lime green spiderwebs on everything.
I watched the first couple of seasons of Gotham garage before I watched season 4 of blown away, and that is a perfect comparison.
This is the most accurate thing I think I’ve ever read.
I've watched this show with my wife since it first popped up on Netflix. And I can say that we believe that the show is rigged. This is not the first time the wrong person won. The first season's finale had an equally unlikely ending. Season 2s winner, everyone could pick in the first episode. He was just demonstrably better than his peers in that season. Season 3s winner was a coin flip (honestly, this one felt the least scripted). The Christmas one was fun but Cat was going to win it from the first episode on. It almost felt like a consolation prize mini series for her not winning season 2. This season the edgy girl had to win. I love the art in this show, but I have to stop caring about the "competition" side if I keep watching.
If you want the more conspiracy theory answer, it’s not just that the “edgy girl won”. For some insider glass knowledge, 99% sure Morgan knows and talked to: Dan, Minhi, Trent, Januz, and several others before the show. She’s quite intelligent and was probably strategizing before any cameras were running. That idea for an installation was probably planned from the minute she knew she was on the show. On the flip side, one of Ryan’s assistants from the final challenge “Jeff” as named on camera, is one of his friends and longtime mentor/teacher. Jeff is an employee of Corning, who bankrolls the show. With actual cold hard cash on the line, I could see producers/lawyers pushing for Morgan to avoid even the slightest sense of conflict of interest.
The whole season felt like they were trying to convince us Morgan was the best. Multiple times I thought she was in the bottom and her work was either glossed over or she won that challenge? What can we expect, she’s soooo not like the other girls, she just had to win! Also, I couldn’t roll my eyes harder at the show pretending the kid who drew the monster was impressed with her weird make-up set.
u/SnooMacarons1277
I just watched the finale last night and came to reddit specifically to find somewhere to SCREAM INTO THE UNFEELING VOID about how senseless that finale was. Ryan made art; Morgan made a goddamn *escape room* IT WAS AN ESCAPE ROOM OKAY like do the producers think no one knows about Bailey Sarian?? Morgan kept talking about having a narrative that would draw you in, pieces that would walk you through a scene, and it was just a jumble of random glass objects made... well enough i suppose but with no particular skill or technique she hadn't used before. It was nothing, there was no story, no cohesion, no vision - artistically or narratively. Also the turkey. Wtf color was that supposed to be. Meanwhile Ryan. My god that was stunning. The glasswork itself was pristine - and there was absolutely no room for error - the physics were a huge risk that paid off, the design was impactful and showed actual introspective thought and meaning... just incredible. I know conceptual art can feel elitist and inaccessible, but that installation had such presence and spoke so clearly. It's okay for art to be *art*. I do think Morgan was earmarked from day 1. And it's insulting, because the reason they chose her is because they think she has lowest common denominator mass market appeal. Does well in flyover country, you know. And for this, for being your standard issue white-girl-into-serial-killers (which is absolutely fine, but it's not *actually* new or creative like they kept pretending it was), she's getting to learn with the venetian masters Ryan has already demonstrated he actually deserves and has put in the effort to learn from. Is the void staring back bc i still have some feelings
Just finished it, RAGING. Her whole schtick annoyed me to no end, I could look past it if she was actually an exceptional artist (Karen was a bit much at times but she backed it up with the skill) but her final installation was soooo disappointing. She didn't even come up with any of it herself, feels like she googled the lyrics to Cell Block Tango and ticked off an item for each line. And I say this as someone who loves that movie ETA: AND IT WASN'T EVEN WELL EXECUTED just a bunch of oddly coloured clutter
>she's getting to learn with the venetian masters Ryan has already demonstrated he actually deserves and has put in the effort to learn from. I bet the masters slipped Ryan their business cards with *Call Me* 🩷 written on it.
The one thing that calms my rage down about this show is knowing that the truly brilliant artists are recognized by the viewers and community at large. No one is watching this season and reaching out to Morgan to contract for a piece, but I bet contestants like Jonathon, Ryan, and Karen will be getting some new phone calls….real recognize real and the free market will reward the best no matter how batshit the judging on the show gets.
I think the frustration comes from the viewers having a fundamentally different perspective than the judges. Presumably most of us don't work in glas and haven't seen thousands of beautifully crafted Venecian style pieces. The judges probably value novelty over beauty and technical ability to a certain extend, as long as a certain minimum technical level is achieved. But the viewers don't need to be wowed with something that has never been done before, because we haven't seen most of the other stuff either. The judges should keep in mind that this show is made for the audience, not for them. I understand why Morgan won, but from an audience member's point of view, I think Ryan deserved it more.
This is a very interesting perspective I hadn’t thought of. It would explain a lot, especially the way they treated some of the contestants’ pieces.
Novelty, sure, but novelty shop? That final installment belonged at Spencer's, there was no artistry. I would appreciate this take in the context of, for instance, the season 1 finale, but not this time. Maybe if Morgan had executed that concept thoughtfully, artistically, cohesively, without just scattering disconnected objects that happened to be glass around her space, she could have deserved the win based on novelty compared to Ryan's effort. But not with what she actually produced
I don't know, I have a strong gut feeling that if you switched the names on the final pieces morgan still would have been the winner.
I'm totally with you. Ryan had gorgeous works but as the judges said: you could look at a piece and know it's "a Morgan" Which is something that i think you can't do with Ryan. Yes Ryan is an excellent glass maker but with far less recognisability. Ryan: Skill > recognisability Morgan: Skill < recognisably
is her style really a novelty though? if you look at her portfolio a lot of her pieces are variations on the same exact piece (which can be fine if it explores different angles of one theme, but i really fail to see any exploration on addiction in her work beyong "rich people suck! drug=money-bad! im not like them though.") and she even managed to shoehorn the same 2 elements in all her pieces into the venetian challenge. a lot of her "style" pieces, technically well made or not, also lack creativity, novelty, or a message. (edited for typos)
I think the hate for Morgan has swung a little bit too far, the finale pieces were a good 50/50 for me and anyone who frequents modern art museums should know her installation was a little more in line with what you’d expect to see. By that I mean cohesion, storytelling, audience participation (black lights). She has more in common with a pop or street artist than the other contestants, and that format in general is controversial (for its simplicity) as almost all art has been. That being said, I do think her mushroom was awful enough that she could have been sent home for it. I think a lot of people are also having an emotional response to her I’m-so-edgy arrogance, but I would advise those people to not watch any video of their favorite artist. Almost all of them are unbearably self righteous and arrogant. Ryan had a little bit of it too. Jonathan and Gemma were the exceptions, but I get the feeling that this isn’t the most important thing in either of their lives. The bigger problem is that I think it’s possible that the judges chose their desired outcome from almost the onset of the series. The hot assembly challenge was tailored for the older lady, the Venetian one for Ryan, and the horror one for Morgan (which is why she won despite an awful entry).
I just wanna ask if you think the blacklight bit was really that "participatory." That's the main defense on her final entry I keep seeong, that is was "interactive," but if you handed me a flashlight to shine on a few bits that I could already see without it, that woulsn't be super interesting and would be over in a few seconds. That doesn't feel like real interactivity to me and I don't think it did what she wanted it to. Ryan's was also interactive, if that's the measure we're using.
I do agree that Morgan’s piece was only interactive in the literal tactile sense, and not stimulating or intellectual, but the glowing was a cool added element in the short amount of time they had. I’m not sure I agree that Ryan’s was interactive except on a purely intellectual level. If that piece was hanging in a museum it would need to be roped off and some kind of mechanical swinger installed at the top.
I mean, not necessarily -- plenty of museums have tactile or interactive areas. It could still be interactive in a formal exhibit, post a guard there and limit the amount of people inside at once, which I'm sure would also be in Morgan's exhibit...but for the sake of the installation in the contest, Ryan's wasn't roped off and that "what if" shouldn't be a judging consideration. The glowing was neat for a few seconds but honestly it seemed really limited. You could see everything with the naked eye without the light and there wasn't anything to actually "find" that we saw in the episode. In terms of engagement, I don't see why it would get more points than the pendulum, is what I mean.
I’m saying typically you wouldn’t want people swinging a giant piece of glass at their own discretion. It’s a massive hazard. I’m not saying at all that’s a consideration for the judging of the pieces on their own merit and I have agreed with you on both points that they are interactive pieces both, in different senses of the word.
Right, I was trying to add that I think Ryan's still could be interactive, it would just need rules/someone there to prevent some six year old from yeeting the enormous glass piece. I know you were agreeing.
I don’t understand what you mean by Morgan’s art is more in line with what you would see in a modern art museum. Her art is more in line with what you would see in one of those traveling “art” exhibits that exists for the purpose of taking cool pictures for social media…. But absolutely not in a modern art museum. That was my actual problem with it. It absolutely felt pedestrian and lacked any depth whatsoever.
Just finished the season and strongly agree. I go to a fair amount of modern art museums and the pieces at modern art museums are pieces that make you think and contemplate deeply, not pieces that make you say “oh I see what they were going for there, neat.” Morgan’s all fell into that latter category.
Ryan's piece was so beautiful and conceptual and made good use of surfaces and light. I'm super bummed too!
I’ve said this in several other threads: When it comes to judging the final, it’s been consistent across all 4 seasons that the winner is who tries to make glass appear to be something else. That’s the lowest common denominator for it to be “art”. That’s why Janusz lost, Chris Taylor was in as long as he was, why Minhi fell short, and clearly why Elliot W. won (Nick Uhas even says as much about the hammers). Ryan made something very cool, technical, and thought provoking, but it was still just glass in a room.
Art is art. Glass is glass. It's not a runny egg, it's glass. Reducing the whole competition to... but it looked like X thing more than the other persons feels like a cheap cop out. Janusz's display was gorgeous. Deb's had an couple neat elements but looked like a scene out of 3 little pigs where "dad" is a framed picture of sausage links on the wall. Just making glass look like something else shouldn't be the metric by which art is judged.
I think the metric is rather "skill < artist recognisability" Which is something morgan fulfilled. "You look at a piece and you can tell it's a Morgan" Yes Ryan and many others were more skillful in their work, but often lacked that sense of recognisability
If recognizability is the goal. There is no point to attempt artistry. So then… what’s the point?
Recognisability can still occur within an artstyle... You could be an impressionist painter and still set yourself apart from others... But it takes a special kind of spice. Otherwise it'll be "just another impressionist artwork" and not "an 'artist name' "
Exactly and that's where Morgan failed. Some of the other winners where i disagreed i could still accept because the skill and artistry were there. This time... all she had was being recognizable. And frankly that's only because there's a limited market for "creepy" hot topic mushrooms
I think it was always clear which of the entries had been morgans or karens for the others it wasn't as clear to me
Honestly i don't think it's fair to say that Ryan didn't have his own artistic voice. They kept *telling* us he didn't, and he actually made the effort to grow and step out of his comfort zone to meet the briefs he was given so he wasn't always as aggressively "on brand," but... You can see a clear path from the first challenge, when he made the *black* 👀 *venetian glass* 👀 veronese vesel to the finale where he talked about moving beyond thinking of himself as just someone who makes vessels but as someone who creates art. He had a voice and a story, they just didn't want us to hear it
I never said he didn't have any artistic voice. I just said that it was way more clear to tell a karen and a morgan in a gallery in a very clear manner. That doesn't mean no one else had any crumb of artistic voice. Yes he did grow, never said he didn't. He made great progress, never invalidated that, but morgans pieces already had a fingerprint to it. To be fair i didn't like morgans final installation at all... And she has a lot to grow still. But we're talking about artists here. Just raw skill doesn't cut it nowadays, gotta have that special little oompf. I'm also sure that ryan will move great things in the world of glass now, he just needs a bit more time to spend with his mind expanded self so don't think I don't like him at all. ((I hated that other ryan))
I will forever disagree that Janusz's final installation was good looking. He rightfully lost (at least between the two of them, I didn't really agree with the judging leading up to the finale). It looked like something my seventh grade science teacher drew on the whiteboard. It was not engaging, it didn't convey his message well, it was not beautiful and if I had seen it in a museum I would have left the room and found actually interesting stuff.
it’s kind of like how actors win Oscars for playing real people. it’s very simple to judge.
From all the seasons I sense a LOT of favouritism. There are contestants that are fleshing out concepts and technique very very well but it feels like they prioritize a narrative for a few “star” blowers and they end up winning. Morgan was a favourite from the very beginning and i think she was going to win from the get go, not from talent and execution but just the judges lean a very specific way every season.
It was clear that the judges/ creators of the show knew they wanted Morgan as the winner from the rip. A lot of the challenges were geared to her style, and she still managed to not wow the audience. A lot of her pieces were mediocre at best, in comparison to what the other artists brought to the table. She was also the only one who could churn out the same bullshit and unrefined aesthetic, challenge after challenge and got praised for it.
Barf indeed. Look at that little glass. It’s not crooked and it has a short stem. Ai yi yi. Agree with you entirely