I’m sorry for how late this post is. I’ll blame it on jetlag.

This episode of WOA was brought to you by Fiat. I don’t know about you, but I’m getting mighty annoyed with all the product sponsorships on this show. And my ire is not necessarily with having an episode sponsor per se but with having the challenges be so product driven.

For the NYT challenge, NYT newspapers had to be integrated into the works. For this challenge, Fiat car parts had to be present. How about going to a car junk yard and having the artists recycle and repurpose? Maybe I’m cranky because I’m not much of a car person. And I hate having the artistic process tied so closely with a consumerist mindset. Having said that, some pretty decent art came out of the process.

Maybe I’m being unusually naive in dealing with this episode, but I’m somewhat surprised that no one took the opportunity to make an explicit environmental statement. If Lola were not completely absorbed in Lola, she could be the rebel and take an iconoclastic approach to all of these challenges since she doesn’t seem that interested in winning. But some of the pieces did have a subversive message that the judges, of course, did not address in their critiques.

Sara’s winning piece, Backfire, could be read as an environmental statement with the tailpipe being used not to emit CO2 but as an elaborate vase for these wintry vines. Or do the vines represent frozen exhaust due to the inevitable dénouement of our planet with its changing climate? But the judges eschewed trading in deeper meanings – after all what would Fiat think of such effrontery? The critique of Backfire primarily dealt with the piece’s striking aesthetics and transformative nature, both of which are valid points.

Sarah’s Hide presented a raw, even visceral, view of the automobile. As several compared it aptly to a Rorshach inkblot, it allows each viewer to perceive something personal.

This may be Sarah’s strongest piece yet. Of all of the works this week, this is the one piece that I keep returning to see again. For me, a great work of art – whether painting or film or music – is one that stays with you to reveal its depth and complexity slowly over time. Unfortunately, the judges had to make a decision relatively quickly and so the most visually compelling piece – Backfire – was the winner. And I can’t say that I disagree with the outcome given the nature of Hide’s effect on the viewer.

Dusty’s piece, Daily Commute, is also not a celebration of car culture but focuses on the mind-numbing monotony that our commuter culture represents and by far had the most challenging message for the judges (and sponsor). There was no way this was going to win or even be discussed on camera even though I think this was as strong as either of the top two.

Lola it seems is the new Sucklord in that she continues to benefit from having another artist having a slightly worse performance than she. This week it was Michelle’s ridiculously bad Scenic Overlook that spared Lola. This was one time when the artist should have ignored Simon, who is not on the judging panel, and gone with her original idea. Even her back-up idea – the fogged windows – would have likely been good enough for her to stay. Instead, we get this:

I thought it was odd that the judges implied that Michelle was somehow avoiding dealing with her car crash ordeal in this challenge since she has had no problem exploring her brush with mortality – and even her physical scars – in other challenges. I just think she got caught up in worrying too much about Simon’s opinion, which is a shame because I think she was definitely one of the most talented members of the group.

I don’t care enough to discuss Lola’s piece. I will echo the judges in saying she’s falling back on gimmicks and a quantity-over-quality approach that illustrate her lack of depth as an artist. Chalk it up to age (she’s now the youngest left) or general lack of life experience.

So I sadly say, “Goodbye, Michelle.” I hope you know you are a talented artist with a strong voice and will be missed.

And then there were six.