On the surface, the cutthroat reputation of reality shows and the ponderous nature of portraiture don’t mix. Add three-time World Figure Skating champion Elvis Stojko to the mix, and you’ll likely be even more perplexed.
No, it’s not some Mad Libs game gone wrong – it’s the premise of Bravo’s new series Star Portraits, which is based on the like-named BBC series and blends each element with a brush-stroke of inspiration.
In each of the show’s 13 half-hour episodes, three Canadian artists are challenged to paint three portraits of one Canadian icon in two weeks.
The celebrities are a motley and accomplished bunch: Alex Trebek, The Amazing Kreskin, Ashley MacIsaac, Colin Mochrie, Debbie Travis, Elvis Stojko, Enrico Colantoni, George Chuvalo, Margaret Trudeau, Measha Brueggergosman, Pamela Wallin, Dr. Roberta Bondar and General Romeo Dallaire all make appearances.
After the artists have a brief interview with their subject and quality time alone with their canvases, the works are unveiled and the subject chooses one portrait for his or her personal collection.
Six artists whose works aren’t chosen will see their paintings join the permanent collection of the Portrait Gallery of Canada; the rest will be auctioned at Joyner Waddington's Auction of Important Canadian Art, with the proceeds going to the celebrities' charity of choice.
Though it may seem like the natural successor to the network’s Bathroom Divas (in which aspiring opera singers competed for a chance to make it big), Star Portraits shies away from the ruthless gameplay and trumped-up drama that can plague reality TV.
“I didn’t want it to be like those bad reality shows where it’s all about which painting the celebrity is going to choose – who won, who lost. And they didn’t do that. All the artists were happy, no matter what,” says host Louise Pitre. “It’s what speaks to a certain person.”
Stojko was also pleasantly surprised, and found it difficult to choose just one painting: “All three were fantastic, so it was tough to decide. One of them spoke to me a little bit more, but it took me a while to figure it out. I had to look at them and mull it over and spend some time with them.”
Because the craft of portraiture seeks to capture the not-so-obvious qualities of the subjects, artists Daniel Hughes, Laurie McGaw and Alan Harding Mackay chose to delve beneath Stojko’s storied skating career – much to his delight.
“I didn’t know what to expect. They realized that martial arts is the warrior within me, and they were trying to connect with that. It wasn’t so much the skating side, which was interesting,” confides Stojko, who has done martial arts for 27 years and names Chinese kung fu as his secret weapon off-ice.
“What’s cool about the show is that you get an in-depth interview – for me, it wasn’t just about skating, but they really want to know about the person they’re doing a portrait of.”
The easy back-and-forth banter sets the Canadian version of the show apart from the U.K. one, says Pitre. “I find this one to be more casual and conversational and personal. It’s not stiff or scripted,” she explains.
“Some [artists] were feeling under the gun because a lot of them normally take a lot longer than two weeks to do a painting. I expected them to be freaking out about the time, but they were pretty cool.”
Stojko hints that although celebrities are the subjects of the paintings, the real stars of Star Portraits are the artists: “I think it's a way to see how the artists see different people, regardless of whether they’re celebrities or not. It gets the artists more exposure, which they rightly deserve because they have such an amazing gift.”
High praise from an Olympic-grade athlete, to be sure. Though we’re curious about whether his stint on the show has inspired some artistic aspirations in him, it looks like Stojko’s leaving the painting to the painters: “I’ve played around," he says, but I’m terrible.”
Star Portraits kicks off with its Elvis Stojko episode Saturday, Sept. 12, at 8 p.m. ET, Bravo.
melissa@tvguide.ca
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