Event

My Kid Could Paint That

Guest Speaker:Dr. Kenneth Wayne, Chief Curator, Heckscher Museum of Art

Includes Reception.

At age four, Marla Olmstead became an art-world sensation when a gallery in her home town devoted a solo show to her abstract paintings. Soon collectors were paying up to $15,000 a canvas. Was this pint-sized Pollock a genuine prodigy or just a pawn of a manipulative market? My Kid Could Paint That explores complex questions about art, media, and family. We witness journalists on a feeding frenzy with Marla from the fluffy couch of The Today Show to the investigation of 60 Minutes. Her parents are overwhelmed. Mark, a manager at a Frito Lay plant, is thrilled by the attention. Laura, a dental hygienist, is more wary. Journalist Elizabeth Cohen, the first to write about Marla, wonders if the coverage did more harm than good. NY Times art critic Michael Kimmelman places the Marla phenomenon in the context of an art world that trades on cynicism and irony. As the tensions grow, the film asks: What defines the value of a painting? The value of news? The value of friendship? These questions are bound to spur vigorous debate, just as good art should.Thom Powers

USA, 2007, 82 min, color, rated PG-13 Director: Amir Bar-Lev