Our visit to MoMA really opened up my mind to a connection. While Drew, Lara and I were exploring the paintings I noticed Drew and Lara making all of these connections to the art. “This painting evokes ______ emotion”, “This gives me a sense of ______” etc. I turned to them in disbelief and said sarcastically “My kid could paint that”.
Of course I have no children to compare to the artists but I was quoting a documentary I once saw called “My Kid Could Paint That”. The documentary follows a little girl, Marla, whom her father one day sat down to a canvas and some paint. Soon after, Marla’s abstract expressionist paintings were selling for thousands of dollars.
Below is a trailer for the documentary, but the trailer doesn’t include my favorite scene. In this scene an acclaimed art critic is examining one of Marla’s paintings and sees a man emerging from a door of light and she said she felt some very powerful emotions behind that image. When the critic turned to Marla and asked her what she saw in that corner of the painting, Marla shrugged and responded “blue?”
Sorry to be the cynic of the group, but if a three year old could paint it, I have a hard time calling it art.
Not great art, but art….