Steve’s disappointing Mona Lisa
As Steve approaches Alex in the middle of the field, he imitates an angry farmer, yelling “Get off my land!”.
Having read the task brief, he starts by repeating to himself the mantra “Don’t do a cock and balls.” He is then shown claiming “This is gonna have art lovers everywhere creaming over their easels.”
He is later seen stating “They think I’ve gone mad, but they can’t see what I see”, while laying dots (presumably addressed at the art establishment, rather than the herd of horses in the field).
Having completed his work of art, Steve then smugly comments to Alex that he hopes there will eventually be “a red dot in the bottom corner” (referencing the traditional use, in art galleries, of red dots to indicate that a piece of art had been sold). As he then begins to walk away from the scene, he immediately steps in some horse shit, exclaiming “Oh, shit! Oh, you’re kidding!”.
In the studio, Greg observes that “Never has anyone been so swiftly punished for being cocky”.
Steve’s join-the-dots picture is revealed in the studio fourth, and initially appears to be very concentrated in one area, but it soon becomes apparent that the central portion of the image is actually surrounded by a much larger, square ‘frame’. It also becomes apparent that Steve has made use of breaks in his line to separate the subject matter of the image from the frame itself, and has added a separate signature in the bottom-right corner, in the form of his initials, ‘SP’.
After all of the dots have been connected, a single yellow dot then appears in the bottom-right corner of the ‘painting’. After Steve points out that his painting has not sold (i.e. there’s no red dot), Alex explains that the yellow dot means that someone has put an offer in on it.
The audience is clearly impressed with his work, and so is Greg, who comments “I mean, you framed and signed it. Such showboating.” However, Greg is not actually sure what the subject matter of Steve’s painting is, and he initially guesses that it is meant to represent Edvard Munch’s The Scream. Alex helpfully suggests that Greg squint at it, “and then think of a different picture”. After Steve hints that “the eyes follow you around the room”, Sophie identifies his artwork as a recreation of Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa. Greg’s response to this is “not to be overly vulgar, but how the fuck is that the Mona Lisa?”, leading Steve to suggest that once he’s bought it, the piece can be “whatever you want it to be”.
When awarding points, Greg acknowledges that he’s being “very mean… given the effort that went into it”, but awards Steve 3 points, on the basis that it does not resemble the Mona Lisa.
(Written by Karl Craven)
(Illustrations collected by Jenny R and adjusted by David Fuller)
