The Two-Year-Old With Her Own Art Show

She may be a fan of Hi-5 and the Care Bears, but Aelita Andre is not like any other toddler.

The two-year-old is currently exhibiting her paintings in a Melbourne art gallery after her mother passed on some samples to the gallery curator. She neglected to mention, however, that the works were by a child, reports The Age.

“Nikka Kalashnikova says she and her husband, Michael Andre, did not set out to mislead the gallery. They simply wanted Aelita’s work to be judged on its merits. “Of course, every mother is proud of their child. I didn’t tell him [the curator] because I had all these feelings going through my head — fear, embarrassment.”

Art critic Robert Nelson also examined the paintings without knowing Aelita’s age and described them as “credible abstractions, maybe playing on Asian screens with their reds. They’re heavily reliant on figure/ground relations.”

Nelson also said that he could go to any primary school and pick out some credible work from among the portfolios.

So does that mean that kids should get more respect in the art world? Or that your child really could do a better job than some established adult artists? 

The fact is most children probably aren’t the next Picasso. But with Aelita’s paintings are priced between $350 and $2000, if you suspect your child may be a halfway decent artist, it wouldn’t hurt to get a professional opinion.