MY KID COULD PAINT THAT is a documentary on child artist Marla Olmstead (aka pint sized Jackson Pollack) which is a work of art as the artist herself. Art that raises questions and debate is usually art that gains the most interest and leaves an impression. Marla Olmstead began playing with paint in her diapers and began to sell paintings by age 4. To me she is not the first child painter to gain success and probably not the last. Alexandra Nechita is one that I can remember from my lifetime. She was deemed the pint size Picasso. Now in her 20s she is still an active artist. I do not recollect Nechita ever being questioned on creating her own paintings.
This brings us to the toddler Olmstead. Can a 4 year old create a work of art?
"Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up." ~ Pablo Picasso
As a potential artist myself, I do believe that a child has more freedom to paint. A child's mind is not corrupted by the crippling fear that prevents adults from getting ideas down on a canvas or piece of paper.
The documentary shows two sides of the world of Marla Olmstead. It starts off very supportive and later shows areas where there are doubts whether little Olmstead created her paintings without help from her father. Both sides of the story were pretty convincing. So it left me not only debating the artist but also debating what I saw in the documentary in my head.
My thoughts. Is this a gimmick? A prodigy painter has already been established (now grown but still established). A new one (Olmstead) comes in. How do they differentiate between the two? Create a scandal. Would this additional drama of questioning authenticity feed the popularity or interest of her paintings or distract from it? If she grows up and continues to paint, perhaps she will always be questioned on her abilities. But as the novelty of her age wears and her talent is possibly proven, where does that leave her in the future?
There are some things that irked me in this documentary. The parents passed on an offer for Marla to do a project with Crayola but entered her into a Rude and Bold Women art show which was clearly geared to adults. (The latter was revealed in the DVD bonus section). What kid does not want to play with Crayolas? Hell, I still love to use them. This extreme is telling me they could be hindering her childhood (or childlike form of expression) by forcing her to become an adult with her art. I guess I didn't see the harm in letting her be "a kid" for once. It seemed mindless for them to enter her into a show that she would be too young to attend or understand.
I would recommend checking this documentary out. It importantly raises the question - what is art? And can a child really paint a masterpiece. As I said before, only time will tell.
