These paintings are actually, surprisingly, kind of nice. Actually, a LOT of work by small children is formally excellent, when you think about it… In this case, the artist parents are helping their budding genius in a significant way.
The parents are providing the red canvasses and the tools. The parents are marketing the work. It seems like a great publicity stunt – one that is working and paying off, however, if we want to be completely honest, these paintings seem more like collaborations than original works.
Also, important to note: the Agora Gallery in Chelsea is a pay-to-show situation. Pretty much anyone can show there as long as they cough up a few thousand dollars. It seems that the toddler has made her investment back tenfold, but the whole rah-rah about a Chelsea show isn’t as prestigious when it’s a vanity gallery.
The work is beautiful and I love watching the video of Aelita creating in her studio. To me, this whole thing smacks of exploitation and it makes it a lot less cute.
From the Huffington Post: Four Year-Old Aelita Andre Opens Solo Exhibition At New York’s Agora Gallery (VIDEO)
A little girl made a big splash in the New York art world this week.
Four year-old Aelita Andre, of Australia, opened her first solo exhibition at the Agora gallery in Chelsea, but she’s already sold some of her paintings for more than $30,000 on the side, according to NBC News.
“I saw great colors, great movement, great composition and very playful, and I thought, ‘This is fantastic,'” Agora gallery director Anglea Di Bello told NBC. “Who is this person? Only to find out, she’s a child.”
Di Bello even goes as far to tell The Telegraph that tiny Aelita’s work is “abstract expressionism” and also “surrealist”.
Aelita started painting before she was two years old. Michael Andre, the girl’s father, said that at as early as nine-months, Aelita would crawl onto her parents’ canvasses (both are artists) and begin to paint.
Aelita “often incorporates bark, twigs, children’s toys, bird feathers, and other found objects into her paintings, lending depth and texture to the overall effect. ” according to The Agora Gallery’s website. (see photos of the paintings here). Three paintings have already been sold for $27,000.
The precocious painter seems to relish the spotlight and on a recent trip to the Metropolitan Museum of Art with her family, amid works by Picasso and Monet, asked her parents “Where are my paintings?’, according to NBC.
“The Prodigy of Color” will show at the Agora Gallery until the end of June.
