Writing Art History Since 2002

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“My five-year-old could’ve painted that.” We all know someone who says this sort of thing. They usually sell insurance for a living and have peach leather sofas in their lounge. They think nothing of dismissing the career of many a degreed, revered painter as juvenile freewheeling. They are awful, and we take comfort in the thought that they are simply wrong – no one would be fooled by the doodlings of their (equally awful) offspring.

Today, however, is a bad day for grownup artists. Someone put the cliché to the test, and it worked. Australian Aelita Andre is a professional artist whose paintings sell for upward of USD 9000. Last week she opened her second solo exhibition, titled “Secret Universe”, at Manhattan’s Agora Gallery. She is also five years old.

Andre began painting at 20 months of age, and first received attention from art collectors in Australia when she was two.

A press release from the Agora Gallery describes her practice as follows:

“Aelita conveys her message through a bright, bursting palette and energetic splashes and dashes of paint. She works in acrylic, with occasional added objects such as toys like plastic dinosaurs, butterflies and penguins, and various other items, including even a microscope. Aelita creates swirling layers of paint splatters and uses iridescent neon glitter to form an intricate, kinetic whole. The structural rhythms are unmistakable and completely instinctive, reflecting an understanding of composition far beyond her years.”

According to the gallery, Andre is of Russian heritage, and still (thankfully) lives with her parents in Melbourne.

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