Guysssssss we’ve reached the end!  Our group of fourteen has been whittled to three: Sara J. Young Sun, and Kymia (who I want to win).  Last week the final five were sent to a picturesque little town in the Hudson River Valley and they had to select a townsperson and do a portrait.  Kymia won with her whimsical portrait of an antique-shop owning couple, and Young Sun came in second with his meta-portrait of an artist.  Lola, Dusty, and Sara J. were in the bottom.  Sara J. squeaked by with her portrait of an older firefighter, while Lola was eliminated for her portrait that wasn’t really a portrait at all and Dusty was sent home because of his candy-constructed and candy-colored portrait of a little girl.  That was falling apart.  Anyways, I totally agree with the final three (although I wish Michelle had stuck around, sigh) and I am super thrilled that Lola is out, I couldn’t stand her.  As you probably realized.

This week: FINALE.  The final three have three months to make art exhibits and then they will BATTLE IT OUT in the ARENA OF ART and guyssss I am so excited!  I hope you are too!

9:00:  YAY!  FINALE!  China says the artists have $75,000 and three months to make a giant exhibit to wow the judges.  Each artist gets a little bio, starting with Young Sun.  We see a montage of him on the show, and all the money he won, and his tendency toward politics.  Bill Powers tells Young to leave the P.C. stuff behind when he returns.

9:01:  Sara J. is next.  She started strong, and then she had a breakdown in the childhood piece, and then she did better again!  Yay!  Jerry tells her not to be afraid of anything.

9:02:  Kymia is nervous and anxious and emotional and I really hope she wins!  Yay!  The three artists pack up and leave the loft.  They wish each other luck and say farewell–well, sort of, Young gets in a cab to go to the airport but Sara J. and Kymia live in NYC so, you know, they aren’t going anywhere.  And CHINA’S STUPID DRESS FOR THE LAST TIME Y’ALL.

9:03:  Two months pass.  Simon drives a Fiat (duh) through Chicago to visit Young Sun.  Simon sees Young’s apartment and meet’s his mother and boyfriend, Mark, who is a stock analyst.  Mark says that Young is his “long term investment,” ha.

9:04:  Aw, Young’s mom has been battling cancer and her husband passed away recently, and she’s been sad, but she is happy now because Young is doing so well!  And now we’re at show and tell!  Young Sun brings out his childhood art to show Simon.  Adorable.  Young and Simon then head off to Young’s studio to see his work.

9:05:  Young has found himself a beautiful studio–and thank the lord it is summer in Chicago.  Young has been doing photos with this structural piece, moving the piece around and taking pictures of it in various locations.  Simon calls it dry and boring and man, I totally agree!  Wow.  also, Young’s growing this totally ironic mullet, wow.  Maybe it isn’t ironic?

9:06:  in the meantime, Simon is drawn to some shirts hanging on the wall.  They belong to Young’s late father and he has set up sort of an unintentional shrine to his father and it is WAY BETTER than the weird moving structure photo project.  Simon suggests that Young should us that emotionalism and connection in his exhibit.

9:07:  Young states that he thinks the judges are expecting something really fantastic from him (duh) and he doesn’t want to disappoint them.  Simon returns to Manhattan to visit Kymia.  We meet Kymia’s boyfriend, Devin; they met at a Turkish restaurant.  They live in a nice apartment…but it is Devin’s parents’ apartment so, that makes me feel a little better, ha.

9:08:  Kymia is of course freaking out but her boyfriend is trying to make her feel better.  Good man.  Kymia shows some family photos; her mother was gorgeous wowzers.  She shows some pictures of a lake where her family used to jet ski; her father died in a jet skiing accident on said lake, and Kymia was there, that’s a bummer.  Kymia and Simon head out to her studio to see her work.

9:09:  Kymia has a cute little studio and she is doing some multi-media 2-d drawing-lookign pieces with afterlives and ghosts.  She also has some creepy 3-D ghost figures that i find sort of lovely and eerie and whimsical and man I love Kymia so much.  Kymia plans to have fifteen works in the show and has finished seven.

9:10:  Simon likes some of her works but hates her sculptures.  He even calls one of them, this girl with diamond eyes, horrendous.  WOW.  That’s harsh.  Kymia of course freaks out and starts crying.  The editors are really loving the tears this season, aren’t they.

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