Sarah Jessica Parker and Bravo TV join forces in new art-based reality show

NEW YORK (ACNI) - Golden Globe and Emmy Award winner Sarah Jessica Parker, best known for her starring role as Carrie Bradshaw in TV's smash hit Sex and the City, is bringing contemporary art to reality television in the form of a new TV series on Bravo. In developing the as-yet-unnamed weekly show, Parker's production company, Pretty Matches, is teaming up with writer Eli Holzman and Magical Elves - the creative minds behind Top Chef and Project Runway - to find and commercially expose the next Warhol or Basquiat.

The hour-long show, whose working title is "American Artist," will bring together 13 aspiring artists to compete for the top prize of a gallery show, cash and a sponsored national tour.

In each episode, contestants will create unique works emphasizing the role of art in everyday life. Versatility will count. Competitors will be asked to dabble in a range of disciplines that includes sculpture, painting, photography and industrial design. In working outside their own personal comfort zones, artists will have to adapt quickly in order to succeed.

Completed works of art will be appraised by a panel of top art world figures including fellow artists, gallery owners, collectors, curators and critics. Bravo has not yet revealed who those judges will be, with the exception of one: Simon de Pury, chairman of the international auction company Phillips de Pury.

Mr. de Pury had no hesitations about accepting the invitation to become involved in the production, telling the New York Times that his hope for the program is that it will help penetrate the air of "hermetic inapproachability" surrounding contemporary art.

Bravo held open casting calls for the new reality show earlier this month in Los Angeles, Miami, Chicago and New York. The latter tryouts, held at the White Columns gallery in Manhattan's West Village, attracted nearly 400 hopefuls coming from as far away as Thailand.

Airdates for the new series have not yet been announced.