Documentary Review

I watched the "My Kid Could Paint That" Documentary, directed by Amir Bar-Lev . As an art student I really enjoyed it and found it  inspiring. I do a lot of realism, what you see is what you get, art. I like architecture and shoes and faces; I have never even tried my hand abstract art.

Marla's story is so sweet. She was only three when she started painting and sold her first painting for $250. I loved the one picture of her sitting on the dinning room table in her diaper painting. I loved the home videos of her painting, not only to see how she creates her work, but to see this very small person painting on a huge canvas! It's adorable seeing her choosing her paint color and brushes and creating. 

Abstract art to me has always been a little intimidating because I can never imagine how to begin. Where on the canvas? What color? And an even bigger question to me, when can you tell when the piece is complete? When I create my art I like to visualize it. Some people can visualize abstract; I am not one of those people.

One of the journalists that covered Marla's story, Elizabeth Cohen, made an amazing comment at the end of the documentary. She said, 

 "The whole story is really about grownups. She's just a little girl painting in her house"

Ahhh I loved that quote because it's so true. If you take away all of the money and the news articles and all of the speculation, you just have a girl who loves to paint-and paints very well. She's also four years old and has way more success than almost any other artist alive. All artists are waiting for their big break and for the public to acknowledge their work. Marla had the art work in a frenzy for her work, and I think had a lot of artists, who have been working for years and years, very jealous. She's a four year old, doing abstract art. She has not been practicing for years and she really has not  sacrificed anything, other than her privacy during the end of the documentary, and she's doing it for fun. People are coming to her and paying thousands of dollars. Who wouldn't be jealous of her? 

Even though I am not an abstract artist, I would like to try a piece or two this semester. Maybe I will post them to my blog, if I like how they turn out. 

-Kayla Audrey 

2018