Marla Olmstead Documentary - My Kid Could Paint That
I finally watched the Marla Olmstead documentary that people recommending - courtesy of NetFlix.
For those that don't know, Marla Olmstead is a child painter that quickly rose to fame at the ripe old age of 4, before a 60 Minutes episode doubted the authenticity of Marla's work. Some of the doubt has since disappeared for some people and she is back in demand with art collectors, selling original paintings for tens of thousands of dollars. UT - and this is a big BUT- I don't know about her current work. But if you look at the pieces in the movie, except for the one they filmed her painting, she is not tall or big enough to make many of the rhythmic strokes or lines in the painting. Nice painting dad. Nevertheless, the pieces have a flair and creative verve that a lot of abstract art lacks. Is it worth the money? Ah well, not in my opinion but that's for the buyer to decide.
The documentary called "My Kid Could Paint That" by director Amir Bar-Lev seems like a fair and balanced portrayal of Marla and the Olmstead family. The filmmaker seemed to become very attached to the family and struggled to confront them when his suspicions were aroused about who painted the more "polished" works, but he generally let's the viewer come to their own conclusion.
I felt uncomfortable through a lot of it, especially when Marla's father was around (most of the film). His performance just wasn't convincing for me. I think Marla's an adorable little child, but I didn't see a child prodigy in the film. Hopefully Marla's mother will step in when it looks like her child is losing too much of her childhood, as she seemed to have the interests of her child before the money and fame, which is not the same impression that I got from the father.
Here's a quote from the director Amir Bar-Lev..
"If Marla wasn’t doing the paintings, why would Mark and Laura ever have allowed 60 Minutes to do a piece? Why would they have invited me to make a documentary? Especially given my “deeper truth” speech upon our agreement? Marla had done one sub-par painting - what did that prove? Was it really conceivable that Marla had been propped up in front of a bunch of paintings that she hadn’t done - and hadn’t ever said anything about it? And was it really possible that Mark could hide this from his wife - it would mean that, mysteriously, every time a painting was completed, Laura was out of the house? I had to conclude that the Olmsteads’ version of events was the most likely - or rather, in retrospect, I chose to conclude that - it was far more comfortable than the other, darker scenarios."
Many people still do not see the merit in abstract painting or they think that composing it is easy. Which is probably one of the reasons the media ran away with this Marla story. I do think her parents have over exposed her to the media, she's only four years old. If she still wants to paint when she's an adult then that's another situation. B
http://www.marlaolmstead.com/
www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=15811817
http://www.artbusiness.com/childart.html
http://www.slate.com/id/2175311
For those that don't know, Marla Olmstead is a child painter that quickly rose to fame at the ripe old age of 4, before a 60 Minutes episode doubted the authenticity of Marla's work. Some of the doubt has since disappeared for some people and she is back in demand with art collectors, selling original paintings for tens of thousands of dollars. UT - and this is a big BUT- I don't know about her current work. But if you look at the pieces in the movie, except for the one they filmed her painting, she is not tall or big enough to make many of the rhythmic strokes or lines in the painting. Nice painting dad. Nevertheless, the pieces have a flair and creative verve that a lot of abstract art lacks. Is it worth the money? Ah well, not in my opinion but that's for the buyer to decide.
The documentary called "My Kid Could Paint That" by director Amir Bar-Lev seems like a fair and balanced portrayal of Marla and the Olmstead family. The filmmaker seemed to become very attached to the family and struggled to confront them when his suspicions were aroused about who painted the more "polished" works, but he generally let's the viewer come to their own conclusion.
I felt uncomfortable through a lot of it, especially when Marla's father was around (most of the film). His performance just wasn't convincing for me. I think Marla's an adorable little child, but I didn't see a child prodigy in the film. Hopefully Marla's mother will step in when it looks like her child is losing too much of her childhood, as she seemed to have the interests of her child before the money and fame, which is not the same impression that I got from the father.
Here's a quote from the director Amir Bar-Lev..
"If Marla wasn’t doing the paintings, why would Mark and Laura ever have allowed 60 Minutes to do a piece? Why would they have invited me to make a documentary? Especially given my “deeper truth” speech upon our agreement? Marla had done one sub-par painting - what did that prove? Was it really conceivable that Marla had been propped up in front of a bunch of paintings that she hadn’t done - and hadn’t ever said anything about it? And was it really possible that Mark could hide this from his wife - it would mean that, mysteriously, every time a painting was completed, Laura was out of the house? I had to conclude that the Olmsteads’ version of events was the most likely - or rather, in retrospect, I chose to conclude that - it was far more comfortable than the other, darker scenarios."
Many people still do not see the merit in abstract painting or they think that composing it is easy. Which is probably one of the reasons the media ran away with this Marla story. I do think her parents have over exposed her to the media, she's only four years old. If she still wants to paint when she's an adult then that's another situation. B
http://www.marlaolmstead.com/
www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=15811817
http://www.artbusiness.com/childart.html
http://www.slate.com/id/2175311