Local artist Miles Mendenhall to compete on new Bravo art reality show

OMG! Exciting news, ya'll! A local artist is competing on the first season of the Bravo reality show for visual artists, Work of Art. We heard rumors of this months ago but now the evidence has been confirmed! 23 year old Miles Mendenhall, a U of M grad -- and an artist we've been following for quite some time now (and an artist we're happy to say we own work by!) -- will show off his creative prowess on the new Sarah Jessica Parker produced reality show. News is already spreading locally via Facebook tonight, but we're sure this will be a major topic tomorrow!

The show's premise? Fourteen aspiring artists will compete for a solo show at a nationally recognized museum plus a cash prize. Hosting the show will be art enthusiast China Chow, who will also judge the artists along with a pretty cool panel of judges including Bill Powers, a New York Gallery owner and literary art contributor; Jerry Saltz, current art critic for New York Magazine; and Jeanne Greenberg Rohatyn, curator and owner of Salon94 gallery. World-renowned art auctioneer Simon de Pury acts as the series Tim Gunn, mentoring the artists along the way. We like!

Mendenhall's past work has ranged from surreal pop art with a twisted sense of humor to minimal installation art, so we're not quite sure what to expect from him on Work of Art. However, if we know Miles' boundless creativity and amazing talent, we're quite sure he'll make an impact! Preliminary intel indicates that he's got some wild tricks up his sleeve, and we can't wait to watch!

The show premieres on June 9th on the Bravo network. And before you even ask, yes, there will be a premiere party in Minneapolis, and duh, of course l'etoile is involved -- but we're keeping that info under wraps for the moment!!!

Miles lookin' fly.

A previous piece by Miles, circa 2009. We hear his work on the show, however, takes a quite a different spin.

Submitted by @letoilemagazine