NEATORAMA HOME | LITE/MOBILE VERSION | BEST OF NEATORAMA

Marla Olmstead, Child Genius.

By Alex in Arts & Crafts, World Records on Jan 31, 2006 at 2:04 am


Marla Olmstead is an up and coming young artist in New York – she paints vibrant, colorful, abstract art.

She has already sold $50,000 worth of paintings. And oh yeah, she’s four years old.

Link (via Militantplatypus)


Share


COMMENT
  1. Needcoffee.com
    Jan 31st, 2006 at 4:28 am

    Odds and Ends for 1-31-2006

    Four ideas for individual posts that didn't quite make it. Doomed to wander Wordpress Limbo until...until...AH! SHAZAM! And they're here!
    We would like to humbly add our names alongside Engadget and state that we too want that freaking robot ele...

  2. Billy
    Jan 31st, 2006 at 10:03 am

    Interesting discussion about Marla here:
    http://www.artnewsblog.com/2005/01/4-year-old-marla-olmstead.htm

  3. Dave LaMorte
    Jan 31st, 2006 at 10:54 am

    I saw a few TV interviews with Marla and her parents and it seems that her work becomes a lot less sofisticated when her father(a painter himself) isn't there to help her paint. I think this girl is totally talented but I have a feeling that her dad is totally pushing his aesthetic on her tiny little hands.

  4. Erik
    Jan 31st, 2006 at 2:53 pm

    And how is this girl a "genius-child". Some rich folks just let her spatter paint and paid a lot of money for a high-class website. Absolutely stupid.

  5. Alex
    Feb 6th, 2006 at 1:10 am

    Maybe so, but almost all child geniuses have parents pushing hard. The young tennis prodigy wouldn't be so if the mom and dad hadn't paid for those lessons, so what's so different about this particular case?

  6. katie
    Dec 18th, 2006 at 7:46 am

    Please, whenever something truly good comes around in life it sickens me that people....like the people who blogged before me, have nothing but negative things to say. Find something good in your life you can focus on, so you can leave this little girl alone.

  7. matt
    Jul 15th, 2007 at 11:35 pm

    Katie, I think you'll find that there would be a lot less cynicism if there was just one of these so-called genius kids (that 9 times out of 10 happen to be American, hmmm, wonder why, U.S. media?) actually painted some figurative art which would prove with no room for doubt their wunderkind status. Abstract can be faked, or to be fair 'appropriated' far more easily that say, lifedrawing. Any artist knows this.

    Don't misunderstand, I'm not saying the child isn't advanced or wonderful and so-on. I'm saying that maybe people are reacting to the way the word 'genius' is abused these days (even Alex seems confused). The same way as 'hero' is misused (hint: a survivor is NOT a hero, onlt the person who risked their life to save them) Your comment comes off as incredibly naive.

  8. Alex
    Jul 16th, 2007 at 12:54 am

    Confusion is my general state of mind these days, mat ...

PLEASE LEAVE A COMMENT

Neatorama Comment Policy
You don't have to register or login to comment, but it's easier if you do so. Comments aren't censored, but those that are abusive or off-topic may be edited or deleted.


Keep track of the comments with Comment RSS

Lijit Search

T-SHIRTS FROM THE NEATORAMA SHOP

WRITE YOUR OWN NEATORAMA POST
Got a neat story? Share it with the world by writing your very own Neatorama blog post with the Upcoming Queue. Who knows, you might just win something ...

Here's how to get started:
FAQ | Tips