California College of the Arts professor Glen Helfand chalks it up to (shocker) high-minded disdain for reality-TV tackiness:

Just hearing people on television discuss "the work" in art-world lingo, makes us art-world denizens shudder: In the context of highly formatted cable entertainment, it sounds put on and pretentious. The judges on "Work of Art," for example, look for art that makes them "feel" ("Your art didn't make us feel anything" being one of host China Chow's steely dismissal lines), and then there are the clownish, obviously expensive designer clothes they wear to their so-called crits.

Sure, there's that precious aesthetic purity--"clownish" clothes! Heaven forfend! But more importantly: the art world's failure to ironically appreciate Work of Art betrays a disappointing lack of humor. It seems to us that ArtInfo's Emma Allen has about the right idea.