‘Work of Art’ Winner’s Exhibit on Display at Brooklyn Museum

“Work of Art: Kymia Nawabi,” an exhibition by the second season winner of Bravo's “Work of Art: The Next Great Artist,” opened today at the , and will be on view through February 5, 2012.

The reality competition series followed 14 contemporary artists in New York City who battled it out over ten episodes for the Brooklyn Museum solo show.

Nawabi, 30, is a New York-based artist, and has received several residencies and awards for her work. She earned a BFA from East Carolina University and an MFA from the University of Florida.

Nawabi’s exhibit at the Brooklyn Museum features 12 paintings and two sculptures, inspired by the Egyptian deity Thoth. According to a release, Nawabi’s work “appropriates for her own mythology the idea of Thoth as the god who holds the universe in balance and who greets the deceased in the afterlife.”

Nawabi’s work also features use of the Orouboros, an ancient symbol of eternity,  depicted in the shape of a snake eating its own tail. For the artist, the snake is a positive motif, and the shedding of skin acts as a metaphor for death and rebirth. Burials and burial mounds are also common in Nawabi’s work.

“Work of Art: The Next Great Artist,” aired it’s finale last night, revealing Nawabi as the winner of the one-person exhibition, a cash award, and the cover of an art publication, Blue Canvas magazine. Nawabi and the two other finalists was given three months to prepare for the final episode.