Marla

Marla Olmstead has been surrounded with artistic hype from a very young age. My heart goes out to this little girl and her little brother Zane. This family has been dragged through the media spotlight; through prodigy to fraud. I believe that Marla’s work is genuine and those who are pulling apart this four year old need to take a step back from this story.

“Everyone’s trying to shape the story into what they want it to be and not let it be what it is”

I think the constant search for this possession of art is wrong. Art is not a definable thing as it differs between hosts but is also constantly changing as new ideas are integrated into it. The artist is the only one who can define the work he or she creates and to begin with Marla’s work was just her personal studies. The attention was not to sell the work but due to the vibrancy of it naturally drew attention. Her parents claimed that she was never a child prodigy and those who were ahead of the criticism had no substantial involvement in the art world; scientists and journalists.

It seems very natural for us to dismiss a young child’s work, if it excels what we perceive as natural, because it seems to be threatening almost. But who is to say that more children couldn’t do this with the right environment? Marla was never forced into painting and it is clear that it was her interest was self driven and remained enjoyable to her. I believe that in this case that is all that is happening here. The collectors of her work are well aware that they are buying the work of a child and that’s the essence of it.

I won’t dwell on why this is but it made me contemplate why we obsess with a constant search for possession of a definition of art. Surely if artwork is something so personal then anyone can be an artist? Many of her main collectors state that their fascination is with the true spirit of being a child the naive happy and exploration of paint. I had an art lesson not long ago when my art teacher expressed how this connection with the media should resonate in any artists work. It made me rethink why I paint.

For a child to put a place or sensation into a painting is actually incredibly advanced and I will keep following her on her website because how she develops as an artist will be very interesting. Her audience will change as she grows.

Her work can be easily compared to that of Jackson Pollock, but also every other artist I know of. The dismissal of the abstract has become fashionable to the masses, much how previous movements had to their contemporary audiences. I am by no means an abstract artist myself but I love it as a movement. The ideas in it are completely raw and it appears that that is overlooked. Today we are very much surrounded by imagery and therefore you could argue that we are forced into a very different perspective of visual media. Graphic Designers like Allan Fletcher embody the need for simplicity and fast communication; because the contemporary audience can’t see this instant visual story it seems to become meaningless but the story needs to be contemplated and unravelled.