Friday, March 20, 2009

A Poseur In Our Midst

Another child prodigy artist has washed ashore in Tampa Bay. This time, it’s the now twenty-three year old Romanian artist, Alexandra Nechita, whose work is being exhibited in a Tampa gallery.

Called a young master when she burst onto the California art scene at the tender age of eight, Nechita’s colorful creations were soon being snapped up by the likes of Oprah Winfrey, Whoopi Goldberg, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush. The media took notice and began calling her the ‘Petite Picasso.’

A close look at her work (http://www.alexandranechita.net/) shows what a terrible disservice this is to Picasso and his genius. Garish colors and distorted figures do not make one a masterful artist. Picasso and others like him first mastered the many nuances of realism before feeling accomplished enough to take liberties with form and color. They all started out drawing the right way. Nechita’s early teachers chided her for not drawing the “right way.”

Apparently not content to learn basic technique and composition like most artists, Nechita took advantage, instead, of a hype-based marketing strategy. Blessed by Oprah, Rosie, and others, her art became wildly popular, with original pieces now selling upwards of $95,000.

This makes Miss Nechita a famous and wealthy artist. It does not make her a great one.

3 comments:

Sheree Rensel said...

"hype-based marketing strategy"

I can't agree more. Also, I cannot justify the energy it will take to explain why I feel this way.

All I can say is B.S. lives.

Unknown said...

"B.S. lives." Well said Sheree! I am all for bright colors and vibrancy but this girl ...well i suppose she's a woman now, needs to pay her dues to the art world and use all that money she's making to train and invest in herself and her so called craft. These pictures I've seen of hers look like Lisa Frank vomited on someone's art 101 homework.

VJ Ryan said...

Oh boy, I don't know whether I am completely irritated or just jealous. This speaks to the notion that people will believe anything. I looked at her site and one of those gawdy acrylics for $150,000....okay, now I'm crying. This is not about good art or bad art because its irrelevant to any reputable art market stream....it is its own little entity and it is a commodity disguised as fine art. I'm sure there are legions who will disagree...most likely because they paid retail for one.