Strollerderby

Two-Year-Old Painter Pushed Into Limelight

Posted by on March 2nd, 2009 at 2:20 pm

After seeing the abstract paintings of an amateur artist
named Aelita Andre
, a Sydney, Australia
gallery owner decided that the work showed real promise and deserved its own
exhibition. Only then did he learn that Aelita was just under two years-old.

This may simply be a marvelous story of child genius, but
looking deeper into Aelita

Go Back To Strollerderby

11 Comments

Famewhore parents, they should be ashamed of pimping their kid like that…

Anonymous commented on Jan 01 70 at 12:00 am

The parents have obviously primed the canvases with a solid color before the baby gets to it. This is what makes the paintings look “professional”. If they had just given her a blank canvas and some paint, it would have looked like fingerpaints. Yes, it looks like the parents are playing a joke on the art industry. I don’t think she’s any savant. Cute kid though.

Anonymous commented on Jan 01 70 at 12:00 am

The other fake kid artist’s paintings were better than these. Her parents were clearly more talented.

Anonymous commented on Jan 01 70 at 12:00 am

Our preschool teacher told us to save our daughter’s work, because there is a “growing market” for “early works.” Snort. These are really nice fingerpaintings.

cryitout commented on Jan 01 70 at 12:00 am

One must admit, however, that the Eagle and Grasshoppers Fighting paintings are pretty impressive. I’m curious about how many paintings she has done altogether and whether these two paintings were based on something she has actually seen, or whether they really were paint splatters that happened to randomly appear that way.

If they are based on something she had seen (like a model or another picture), then I’d say that’s some impressive talent. If random, however, then I say kudos to her parents for their marketing savvy. No doubt the money should be in the bank, though.

Anonymous commented on Jan 01 70 at 12:00 am

I believe children who enjoy an activity should be free to pursue it – even at a professional level.

I also believe that families should not exploit their children to raise there standard of living. If a kid is making a large bunch of money most of that should be in the bank.

Finally, children should be free to decide when they are done with something and not forced to continue for either financial or talent reasons.

Anonymous commented on Jan 01 70 at 12:00 am

I agree with khickman760 about this. If they can make some money from their kid’s finger painting, then why not? I doubt very much that it will have a negative effect on Aelita. I think this is much more harmless than children being in the limelight for other reasons (acting, pageants, etc.). Maybe she will even feel more proud of her artwork. My kids get pretty excited when I hang theirs on the fridge. If anything, they are suckering art collectors, as khickman760 said.

Anonymous commented on Jan 01 70 at 12:00 am

I think that more than exploiting their daughter, these parents are exploiting the suckers of the art buying world. I took a look at the paintings and they don’t seem to be any more exceptional than what an average 2 year old can do. Finger paintings tend to be like Rorschach inkblot tests- you can see almost anything in them. The cleverness lies in the “interpretation” of the paintings’ subject matter, which is done by the parents. I also noticed that some of the works seemed to be assembled out of multiple paintings, did Aelita do that? I kind of doubt it. The art market is filled with people with more money than sense, so if Aelita’s parents can set up a nice little college fund for her by exploiting suckers, than why not, especially if she enjoys painting as much as they say she does.

khickman760 commented on Jan 01 70 at 12:00 am

Aww! She is adorable with those curls and those big cheeks. I dont want to see her paintings but more of her!

Anonymous commented on Jan 01 70 at 12:00 am

There’s a fascinating documentary about a kid painter called “My Kid Could Paint That” which reveals so much about the potential motives behind this kind of thing.

Anonymous commented on Jan 01 70 at 12:00 am

In this case the work really does look like a 2 year old did it. Her parents picked out lovely colors for her to work with though.

TolaniLucia commented on Jan 01 70 at 12:00 am

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