Yes, But Is It Art?

Interesting little feature from ABC News today. Did 4-year old Marla Olmstead actually paint abstract art that was favorably compared to the work of Picasso or did she get help from her father? Nobody can answer that definitively, least of all the guy who just filmed a documentary about Marla and her art. Titled My Kid Could Paint That, the film was released Friday.

Marla Olmstead was only 4 years old when she took the art world by storm — exalted as a painting prodigy, she was compared by some to Picasso.

Documentary filmmaker Amir Bar-Lev set out to tell the young painter's story and explore what constitutes abstract art. He spent countless hours with Marla and her parents, Laura and Mark, at their home in Binghamton, N.Y.

"We don't actively promote her art at all. The only venue to see her art work is a website […] as far as us being here today, it's really just because we feel like we don't want 'My Kid Could Paint That' to be the last true and only word about our family," Marla's mother Laura Olmstead told Kate Snow in an Exclusive, live interview on Good Morning America Weekend.

The film, "My Kid Could Paint That," which was released Friday, did not turn out quite like anyone had expected, including Bar-Lev or the Olmsteads.

"The reality is it's a simple story. The media takes a story and does what they will with it. Ultimately, there are regrets […]I felt very much like the pressure that was put on us and the pressure I put upon Marla I regret that and I feel a lot to blame," Marla's father, Mark Olmstead said.

While he takes the blame for the pressure, Olmstead vehemently denies painting the pictures on his daughter's behalf.

60 Minutes ran a story on Marla which quoted art experts saying that there was no way she could have painted the pictures. Bar-Lev himself is torn. He has a hard time believing that the pictures are hers, but also that the Olmsteads would exploit their daughter. This is one of those media circus events where you end up feeling bad for the kid no matter what the story actually is.

On a brighter note, you too can be a Picasso! Yes, folks, even people with no artistic talent at all can paint their very own Picasso with Mister PicassoHead!