2 Artists

Two art stories caught my eye this week. The first (NY Times June 11, 2011)was about the youngest professional painter in the world named Aelita Andre and the other article (NY Times June 14, 2011)was about Ben Wilson, a London based artist who paints chewing gum left on the pavement. Each story seems diametrically opposite of each other. On the one hand, there is this child "genius" who paints abstractly and whose paintings have gone for $24,000. She is currently showing at the Agora Gallery in New York, a notorious vanity gallery that charges $3,000 up front to show the work. I am saddened to hear that there are people willing to spend that much money on hype (what else could it be?). And then there is Ben Wilson, an outsider artist, who paints tiny pictures on flattened blobs of discarded chewing gum on the sidewalks of London.

Mr. Wilson is not compensated for his work. However, he practices his art, creates interesting images, brings joy to people and turns garbage into miniature paintings. What's not to like about Mr. Wilson's work? One gets a sneaking suspicion that Ms. Andre's parents have a heavy hand in her art making and certainly in her promotion. I think that is art at it's worst...when promotion and hype are the major emphases. Mr. Wilson's work represents some of the best things in art...he works and thinks deeply about the subject, in his case about waste as an integral part of urban society, and he is not motivated by money.

I couldn't find Ms Andre's images that could be posted on this blog. If you want to see her work, go to her website.