"Does it matter that she has no knowledge of these artistic precedents, and most likely, no clear concept of "art" itself? Is Marla a prodigy or a primitive? Can a work of art transcend the intentions of its maker? If a child can make great abstract paintings, does this mean that modern art is itself a hoax, a high-culture con game?" - Mia Fineman
Her first piece was complete when she was just shy of two years old. Marla Olmstead has taken the world by surprise with her captivating abstract paintings. Soon after her parents realized what kind of a natural talent their three year old daughter had, they threw together a small show at a friends coffee shop in Binghamton NY just to see what happened. The response was unreal and her career took off. She booked show after show, sold over 300,000 worth of paintings, but that all came to an abrupt halt when 60 Minutes aired a report done by Charlie Rose. Mr.Rose implied that her paintings had been guided by her father who just happened to be an amateur painter. In February 2005 when the show aired for the first time, her parents sat on their couch , horrified by what they were seeing. Her sales plummeted just like that. "The New York Post gleefully piled on the puns, reporting that "the juvenile Jackson Pollock may actually be a full-fledged Willem de Frauding." To get the story straight, the Olmsteads signed on to do a documentary film later titled " My Kid Could Paint That". Their main goal was to get Marla to paint an entire piece on video so the hate mail and accusations would stop. The tape proved the media wrong and Marla was able to stand on her own again.
Abstract work is hard to justify and I know it's important for me to be able to defend my work. I fear with my photography that people won't appreciate my style. For me it's becoming more and more about abstraction and I want to make sure my objects stay unrecognizable. I believe Marla is extremely talented and I do not think just any kid could paint that way. She will have a life long battle of defending herself and staying up with the standard of a "child prodigy"
Fineman, Mia. " My Kid Could Paint that : Does Malra Olmstead's Work Belong in a Museum or on the Fridge?" Slate.com. 5 October 2007.<>
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