One of my favorite daily internet rituals is to check for new movie trailers on the Apple website. Most are met with groans or sighs, but sometimes I come across movies that I actually want to see.
One such movie is the documentary, My Kid Could Paint That
. The movie follows the story of Marla Olmstead, a four year old girl from Binghamton, New York who skyrocketed to international fame when her abstract paintings began to sell for thousands of dollars. Her work has been compared to that of Kandinsky, Pollack, and Picasso. She became a sensation of the art world, a child prodigy of epic proportions. Then, 60 minutes ran a piece on Marla that aimed to cast doubt on the authenticity of Marla’s work, and whether or not her parents were exploiting her for financial gain.
In the beginning of the trailer, we hear New York Times art critic Michael Kimmelman discuss one of the more hotly debated topics in art… if a child can do it, what does that say about modern art? What is art? (On a side note, if you want the “answer” to that question, Michael Kimmelman’s book “The Accidental Masterpiece” is a great read !)
I love art, it has been and always will be my greatest passion. I consider myself an amateur painter. Art is wonderful. It can convey thought and emotion, freeze moments in time. Art is magic. I must be honest though, I don’t care for most modern art. Last month, on a visit to Williamstown, Massachusetts, I visited the Massachusetts Museum of Modern Art (or MASS MoCA) and I have to tell you, I hated almost everything in the place. I came in there with high hopes… the main entryway is illuminated by the coolest light installation .
I thought I was in for quite a treat. Then I looked at everything else. A stack of fans that go on and off. Apples that fall from a gutter to an astro-turf square on the floor. Crumpled up cellophane. And my favorite, blank paper. I’m sorry, but I’m allowed to look at a blank peice of paper with writing on it and think, “Wow, this person is just really lazy.” I point and laugh. Maybe that makes me dense or unsophisticated, but I can’t help myself. I’m reduced to giggles and jeers, because to me, that art is nothing but kitschy. It’s the reason that word exists. Hey, how about I staple a gym sock on my wall and say its a statement about world poverty. Will I get a showing at MASS MoCA?
I think that this movie is a perfect illustration of what I’m talking about. Is Marla a genius? Or is she merely a child that has a knack for color? Either way, what does that say about modern art? The movie blurb says it best :
Others felt her work was, in fact, comparable to the great Abstract Expressionists – but saw this as emblematic of the meaninglessness of Modern Art. “She is painting exactly as all the adult paintings have been in the past 50 years, but painting like a child, too. That is what everybody thinks but they don’t dare to say it,” said Oggi, the leading Italian weekly.
For the record, I think her paintings are a thousand times better than anything I saw at MASS MoCA. She is immensely talented, and has that “it” factor that some artists strive to achieve and most never find. I’m actually considering buying one of her prints. You can buy them on her website, AND her parents have posted videos of her painting (see below), which put to rest any doubt over whether or not she’s really the artist behind the work. There’s also a gallery of all the work she’s sold and paintings that are still available. After seeing her paint, I’m definitely going to invest in some large canvases when I have kids and let them go to town. Sometimes its all about materials! I doubt they’ll be anything more than handprints and smiley faces, but anything that means something to you can be art. I guess that’s the moral of the story. Art is subjective. If you like it, then its art. If you don’t, then it sucks.
That’s all I have to say about that.
If you’d like to see more pictures of Marla painting, look here.
Here’s a video of her painting:
Footage of her painting, as seen on the Jane Pauley Show:
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