The man in the double-breasted jacket with sideswept gray hair has a French accent as smooth as brie. He’s got a definite air of nobility to him — but then, he’s also a real-life baron. He tends to stand back and let other people talk, his thick-rimmed glasses dangling from his hands, before he swoops in with a spirited Gallic, “Go for it!” “Be brave” or “Mmm, yes.” Meet Simon de Pury, the Tim Gunn of the art world.
He’s the newly minted reality-TV star of Bravo’s “Work of Art: The Next Great Artist,” which airs its finale on Wednesday. It’s like “Project Runway,” Picasso-style. In his mentor role, de Pury inspires and critiques the 14 contestants vying for the artistic big time — a solo show at the Brooklyn Museum and a $100,000 cash prize.
But he doesn’t talk like your typical reality star. “I think that art is something that we all need. We don’t need it to live, yet we can’t live without art,” the 59-year-old says.
De Pury, who was born and raised in Switzerland and splits his time between London and here, is chairman of NYC-based auction house Phillips de Pury, and, prior to that, he spent 16 years working at Sotheby’s. In March, the BBC profiled him with the documentary, “The Man With the Golden Gavel,” where it showed how he brought life to an ancient auction house, attracting a boldfaced crowd.
So why would someone so well established in the art world take his turn at reality television?
Danielle Staub of “The Real Housewives” is one thing, but de Pury is legit — he’s even an artist himself. A framed image from his “Purepury-graphy” collection of travel photos (featuring everything from tiled showers in Miami to fences in Tokyo) sells for 6,000 euros.
“I always felt that there was a misconception that art was elitist, and I like the fact that a reality TV show would allow a lot of audiences to familiarize themselves to what it is to be an artist,” he says.
For his part, de Pury tries to be a good cop when surveying the contestants’ works in progress. “I have no idea whether the French accent changes anything,” he says when asked if his je ne sais quoi helps to soften some of the harsher blows. “But you know, I always try to give constructive criticism.”
“With that accent and enthusiasm, he’s like the Tony the Tiger of contemporary art,” says one of four “Work of Art” judges, Bill Powers, who is also co-owner of Half Gallery in New York and editor-at-large of Purple Fashion magazine.
“Simon always trie[s] to give the artists a little shot of energy.”
De Pury’s own artistic energy has been bubbling since the age of 12 or 13.
“I would paint and spend time going to galleries and museums. The interest never went. It grew and grew.” Nowadays, de Pury, a father of four, travels incessantly, spending weeks at a time hitting up a different city daily, bouncing among openings, auctions and friends. (Last week he was in Monte Carlo.)
His travels and love of art have resulted in his own eclectic collection. In addition to owning pieces by some of his favorite artists, including Kelley Walker, Rembrandt and Juergen Teller, de Pury boasts an impressive set of ceramic mugs in the shape of cartoon characters. “Batman or Superman, you know? You used to be able to buy those in airports — now you can only buy them on eBay,” he says. They go well with de Pury’s expertly assembled assortment of Godzilla figures and skateboards.
In a way, de Pury lives for such juxtapositions. Just take his deejaying. (Yes, he moonlights as a deejay.) While the acclaimed auctioneer doesn’t take to the turntables too often, he did recently participate in a deejaying competition in Vienna hosted by Francesca von Habsburg. (And yes, one of those Habsburgs.)
Powers is trying to convince Bravo to let de Pury deejay the party for the “Work of Art” finale, but there’s no word yet on a decision.
“When I deejay, I wear my suit,” says de Pury. “I think it makes for a stronger contrast between the music and appearance.” He plays mainly house music, but is a fan of current chart-toppers such as Ke$ha and Katy Perry: “I listen a lot to them!”
And who wears a suit better, he or Tim Gunn?
“I have no idea,” he says with a laugh. De Pury watched his first and only episode of “Project Runway” the night before taping began for “Work of Art,” and declared himself “very impressed” with the “Project Runway” cast.
“I didn’t expect them to be as funny,” he says.
Although his hectic travel schedule prevents him from watching much television, he has caught an episode of “The Real Housewives of New York,” in which his friend, Countess Luann de Lesseps, appears.
“I just watched her on YouTube singing,” he says. “I thought she was very good.” In fact, so good that de Pury doesn’t rule out a future deejay/songstress collaboration. “Anything is possible!” he laughs.