child prodigy painter

[tattuchu]

Well here's something you don't see every day. This kid is amazing!
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100813/ap_ ... ng_prodigy

HOLT, England – He's Britain's most talked-about young artist. His paintings fetch hefty sums and there's a long waiting list for his eagerly anticipated new works.

It has all happened so quickly — he's still getting used to the spotlight — and Kieron Williamson fidgets a little when he's asked to share his thoughts on art.

"Cows are the easiest thing to paint," said Kieron, who has just turned 8. "You don't have to worry about doing so much detail."

Horses, he says, are "a lot harder. You have to get their legs right, and you have to make their back legs much bigger than their front."

etc

This quote at the end of the article bothers me, though:
Michelle Williamson says she and her husband won't be disappointed if Kieron one day stops painting, as long as he is happy.

"We fully expect Kieron to change his mind," she said. "But we know that whatever he ends up doing, Kieron is going to give it 200 percent."


The fuck

[Trolldor]

I'd very much like an independant to actually watch him paint.

[mistermack]

This is hardly surprising. Who doesn't look at virtually all modern art without the little voice in their head saying, "any child could do that!" ?
We've had art critics praising paintings done by three-year-olds, when they didn't know who painted them. And even animals.
Art pretty much stopped with the invention of the camera. Cameras can do it so much better, all the artists could do in reply was bullshit. (and they do that very well).
.

[tattuchu]

I'd very much like an independant to actually watch him paint.

Well there is this from the article:
His parents are happy for people to watch him work — it disproves any suspicions that the paintings are not his own.

They encountered that kind of skepticism at first, though Michelle Williamson says it has abated.

He seems like the real deal.

This is hardly surprising. Who doesn't look at virtually all modern art without the little voice in their head saying, "any child could do that!" ?
We've had art critics praising paintings done by three-year-olds, when they didn't know who painted them. And even animals.
Art pretty much stopped with the invention of the camera. Cameras can do it so much better, all the artists could do in reply was bullshit. (and they do that very well).
.

LOL I agree that quite a bit of modern art is rubbish. And my niece (actually a gifted artist) produced some abstract watercolor painting when she was five or six. They were pretty cool, actually. So we put them on display at a local art fair, and it was funny to watch people's reactions as they first oohed aahed over the paintings, but then witness a constipated look come over their faces as they were introduced to the young artist. Of course they felt as if they'd been hoodwinked. But we weren't trying to trick anyone. We thought the paintings were cool, and the young artist was right there to proudly show them off.
Anyway, the kid in this article isn't producing so-called modern art at all, if you look at the examples of his work.

[Animavore]

The kid's art is more like impressionist.
I agree about most modern art being shite. Complete, want-to-smash-the-canvas crap. Of course, those pretentious pricks would try tell me that good art is supposed to evoke emotion or some bollox. They're just a bunch of whores selling themselves. They remind me of those smug religious types who smile when you get angry and say, "Why so angry?" The best thing to do is not give them the time of day or even acknowledge them.
Fuck! I just realised.... they're trolls.

[RuleBritannia]

8-years-old and already on the downward spiral.

[tattuchu]

The kid's art is more like impressionist.
I agree about most modern art being shite. Complete, want-to-smash-the-canvas crap. Of course, those pretentious pricks would try tell me that good art is supposed to evoke emotion or some bollox. They're just a bunch of whores selling themselves. They remind me of those smug religious types who smile when you get angry and say, "Why so angry?" The best thing to do is not give them the time of day or even acknowledge them.
Fuck! I just realised.... they're trolls.

I went to a Modern Art museum once, years ago. I were absolutely gobsmacked. I felt the same way, now that you mention it, that I felt when I was in church. I looked around, incredulous, and wondered how anyone could take this shit seriously I thought to myself, "This is a joke, right? It's a fucking joke. It must be. It has to be. There's gotta be some hidden camera filming our reactions or something. It's all a gag. Surely?"

[tattuchu]

8-years-old and already on the downward spiral.

LOL

I wonder is his skill will improve with age. He's amazing now, of course. But that's because he's 8. If his ability kinda plateaus at one point, and by the time he's an adult he's just the same as everybody else, at the same level, then that'd be kinda sad.
I remember I was always a wimp as a kid, for instance, but then I matured faster than the others. All of a sudden I was faster and stronger than everyone else. I felt like a superhero. It was fucking awesome! But then in a year or two, everyone caught up to me, got ahead of me even, and I was a pussy again

[mistermack]

I looked at his gallery pictures and a very horrible thought popped into my head, so of course I had to share it.
His pictures reminded me of the pictures that Adolf Hitler painted. Very similar style. Of course, Hitler did most of his painting before his atrocities, so they are in a sense the work of an innocent man.
The art critics like to say that Hitler had very little talent, so what do I know?
I think it's all shite, so at least I can claim to be consistent.
Look at my avatar, even blind nature can be a sculptor, given enough tries.
.

[Faithfree]

Someone who paints child prodigies. Is that so unusual?

[maiforpeace]

This quote at the end of the article bothers me, though:
Michelle Williamson says she and her husband won't be disappointed if Kieron one day stops painting, as long as he is happy.

"We fully expect Kieron to change his mind," she said. "But we know that whatever he ends up doing, Kieron is going to give it 200 percent."


The fuck

Why does that bother you? Many child prodigies burn out and have very unhappy lives as teens, and often end up as unremarkable adults and worse (the unibomber was a child prodigy) because their parents pushed them too hard... all a parent should ever wish for their child is that they are happy.

[Ronja]

all a parent should ever wish for their child is that they are happy.

Amen.

[hadespussercats]

This is hardly surprising. Who doesn't look at virtually all modern art without the little voice in their head saying, "any child could do that!" ?
We've had art critics praising paintings done by three-year-olds, when they didn't know who painted them. And even animals.
Art pretty much stopped with the invention of the camera. Cameras can do it so much better, all the artists could do in reply was bullshit. (and they do that very well).
.

Cameras can certainly depict what we recognize as reality better than most paiters can-- and there are photographic artists who push the medium even further, with the help of computers. But to write off an entire artistic medium because of its most mediocre practitioners, or a few well-publicized whack-jobs, shows that you don't have much familiarity at all with the best of modern painting.

And I don't think it lessens the value of the work if a very young person executed it. Consider Mozart.

[mistermack]

Cameras can certainly depict what we recognize as reality better than most paiters can-- and there are photographic artists who push the medium even further, with the help of computers. But to write off an entire artistic medium because of its most mediocre practitioners, or a few well-publicized whack-jobs, shows that you don't have much familiarity at all with the best of modern painting.

I don't write it off. It's just that the priorities have changed. It used to be to represent a scene, now it's to take money off mugs. And they do it brilliantly.
But people equate prices with quality. If something fetches millions, it must be brilliant. That's absolut crap.

People pay vast amounts for rare stamps, or rare diamonds. Not for the quality of the item, but for the rarity, and the history. They can make fake diamonds that even experts can't tell from the real thing, without special equipment.
Are they worth the same? Nothing like.
It's rarity that counts. The other thing is people have an almost religious craving for objects that connect to famous people. In the middle ages, it was the bones of saints. Now it's paintings.
You could make a perfect copy of a famous painting, it wouldn't be worth a tiny fraction of the price.
It's not the quality of the art, it's what goes with it that they crave.
.

[tattuchu]

This quote at the end of the article bothers me, though:
Michelle Williamson says she and her husband won't be disappointed if Kieron one day stops painting, as long as he is happy.

"We fully expect Kieron to change his mind," she said. "But we know that whatever he ends up doing, Kieron is going to give it 200 percent."


The fuck

Why does that bother you? Many child prodigies burn out and have very unhappy lives as teens, and often end up as unremarkable adults and worse (the unibomber was a child prodigy) because their parents pushed them too hard... all a parent should ever wish for their child is that they are happy.

Sorry, I should been clearer. The first part of the quote, I agree with 100%. The second part is what puzzles me. "We fully expect Kieron to change his mind." Why on earth would he change his mind? Why would you want him to change his mind? He has an extraordinary gift that he seems to quite enjoy. I'm glad they aren't pushing him hard to do this, and taking a more relaxed approach. I think that's great. But it's not like this is some passing fancy of little or no consequence, like he parts his hair on one side but then, who knows, later on he may decide to part it on the other side, or perhaps not part it at all.