I recently watched a documentary on four- year old Marla. The purpose of the film was to try to uncover the truth about Marla’s paintings- whether she herself painted them or if her very artistic father helped to touch them up. Critics claim that her work is far too polished for her to be so young; the art world compares her to Picasso. According to Marla Olmstead’s father, she began painting before she was two years old with him and her has enjoyed doing it ever since.
In this documentary, they set up cameras in the kitchen, where Marla often paints hoping to record her completing a painting from start to finish proving that she is a young prodigy. However, in the film, Marla did not seem too interested in painting with cameras all around her so the directed put in hidden cameras that only the parents knew about. The finish painting was considered her worst painting because it was so different than the other she had created. It was clearly not as polished. Because of this critics now have serious doubts about her artistic abilities and the demand of her work has thus declined.
After watching another clip on YouTube.com showing Marla painting a canvas from start to finish by herself, I am inclined to believe she is a prodigy. I do not think her father helped to polish her work, if anything he may have given her advice on how to execute it but he did not physically help her. There is nothing wrong with coach. If your child is passionate about something then you get them the best person you can find that specializes in it. For example, if your child is passionate about basketball, wouldn't you put him or her on a team where they are taught by a coach?! I think this is no different. Yes, in her videos it shows her just pushing paint around on a canvas but not all art in my opinion can be considered art unless it is polished and I beleive this child's work is very polished.
Marla
Marla
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Hi, this is Denise from your class. I saw this documentary as well! Although it was a while ago, I just remember feeling bad for her because everyone was pushing her to paint, and it didn't seem like she really wanted too after a while. I think that she probably did paint them, but just felt shy around the cameras. Very interesting though!
ReplyDeleteVery interesting post. I think it is highly possible that her father helped tweak the final results. As a parent, you can't help but get in there and guide your kids to make it the best it can be. I do think the essence of it is hers though.-- Stacey G.
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