Child art prodigy wows New York

Marla Olmstead seems oblivious to the attention (Agencies)

A four-year-old girl is wowing the New York art world with paintings that are
drawing comparisons with Jackson Pollock and Wassily Kandinsky.

Marla Olmstead, from Binghampton, in New York state, has been painting since
just before she was two years old.

Using brushes, spatulas , her
fingers and even ketchup bottles, she is creating canvases of six by six foot.

The prodigy(非凡的人、奇才) has already sold about 25 paintings, raising
$40,000 and a new exhibition opens this week.

一个四岁的小女孩凭借自己的油画作品震惊了整个纽约艺术界，人们把她的画和杰克逊·波洛克和瓦西里·康定斯基的作品相提并论。

来自纽约州宾厄姆顿的玛勒·奥姆斯戴德还不到两岁就开始画画。

她用画笔、调色刀、手指、甚至是装蕃茄酱的瓶子在6英尺见方的画布上做画。


这个小神童已经卖出了大约25幅画，共计4万美元。本周她又要举行一场作品展。

Father Mark, speaking to reporters while on a trip to New York city to do
television interviews, said: "She does her own thing, she uses a lot of
paint but is oblivious to the whole thing."

He said she had first started painting shortly before her second birthday as
her father tried to stop her distracting him from his own amateur art.

"It was me attempting to paint. I painted my wife's portrait and I gave
her the paint as a diversionary tactic.

"She went at it with all colours. Initially she directed me, and then it
evolved to the canvas.

"I'm her assistant, I hand her the brushes. She doesn't appreciate that
most artists have to wait longer to have an assistant," he joked.

她的父亲马克在去纽约接受电视采访的途中告诉记者说：“她按自己的想法画画。她用很多颜料，却对整体布局并不在意。”


他说女儿在两岁生日前不久开始画画，让女儿画画是为了不让她妨碍自己的业余绘画。

“最初是我尝试绘画。我为妻子画肖像画，然后把画送给玛勒，来转移她的注意力。”

“她用各种颜色的颜料在上面画画。一开始她盯着我，后来她的注意力就转移到油画上了。”

他开玩笑说：“我是她的助手，我给她递画笔。她不知道大多数画家需要等待更长的时间才会有助手帮忙。”

Mr Olmstead said his daughter's work was evolving as she developed into a
mature artist.

"She is evolving with technique and her handling of the brush. She seems
a little more cautious."

Gallery owner Anthony Brunelli said of 10 pieces about to go on show, six
were already sold, and that the remaining four could fetch between $8-10,000.

He said Marla's work was unbelievable for a child.

"Her paintings have vibrant colours. They're very expressive in the way
the paint is applied, brush, spatula, her fingers. Some are Kandinskyesque and
some are Pollockesque.

Mr Brunelli's assessment of Marla's prospects as an adult artist are
cautious.

"You never can tell. I've seen her progressing over the past year. The
four she just did, each one gets better."  

奥姆斯戴德先生说他的女儿逐渐成为一名业余画家，她的作品也在不断进步。

“她在技巧和运笔上都有所进步。她看上去更加细致小心了。”


美术馆经理安东尼·布鲁内利说（展览会）将会展出玛勒的10幅画，其中6幅已经售出了，其余四幅预计可以卖到8000到10000美元。

他说作为一个孩子，玛勒的作品是不可思议的。

“她的画色彩明快。她用画笔、调色刀和手指着色的风格使这些画非常富有表现力。一些画像康定斯基的作品，还有一些像波洛克。”

布鲁内利对玛勒将来是否会成为一名画家持保守态度。

“你永远没法预见。在过去的一年里我看着她成长。她最近画的四幅画，一幅比一幅好。”