Go here:
http://www.artakiane.com/home.htm

Look at the paintings. See the age the painting were done. Realize there are video demonstrations of her doing them. Cry.



Amazing. Her paintings are probably going to be so good when she's 30yrs old- our heads will explode when looking at them.

She's a witch!! BURN HER!

Man, if I had only half of her skills...

...

;_;

I'm jealous, so I'm gonna have to say that her paintings can't get THAT much better when she's 30... Just doesn't happen.

Must... steal... her talent...

But yeah, that kid is seriously good. Wonder if it's natural, excessive practice brought on by pushy parents or a really good teacher

I'll admit that she has skill, but her site reads like nothing but the world's biggest ego circus. Just the way they word things makes it sound horribly pretentious and over-hyped.

I also just noted that it makes no mention whatsoever about how long each piece took her to paint. It just gives an age that she did it at.

lba
I'll admit that she has skill, but her site reads like nothing but the world's biggest ego circus. Just the way they word things makes it sound horribly pretentious and over-hyped.

I also just noted that it makes no mention whatsoever about how long each piece took her to paint. It just gives an age that she did it at.

Yup.

What's also sad is that I bet the "visions of heaven" she's talking about in the website video are really "auras ", which are what I had before I was diagnosed with juvenile myoclonic epilepsy [en.wikipedia.org] back when I was a kid. Basically, before you fall asleep, you have these incredible visions of bright colors, and it feels like you can go anywhere and do anything, like a vivid dream with the sense of being awake. Kind of like an out-of-body experience.

I dunno, that's just the first thing I thought of as soon as that kid started talking about "vivid colors" and "crystal clear flowers", because that's exactly how my auras were before I was diagnosed with epilepsy. I bet this kid is gonna have a seizure real soon. ...The sucky part is, once she starts taking medicine for the seizures, her paintings won't be as great. Because most epilepsy medication slows down your brainwaves and is known to make "creative" people....well, less creative. I tried to get off of my epilepsy medication so I could draw better and they told me I couldn't--I would basically be on it for the rest of my life.

D0m
I'm jealous, so I'm gonna have to say that her paintings can't get THAT much better when she's 30... Just doesn't happen.

That's true of most "prodigies." She is pretty exceptional for her age, but she'll probably plateau early. It would be amazing if she actually could improve and become spectacular but that is almost never the case.

lastcall
I dunno, that's just the first thing I thought of as soon as that kid started talking about "vivid colors" and "crystal clear flowers", because that's exactly how my auras were before I was diagnosed with epilepsy.

Interesting... And a little scary. I wonder if she's had any medical tests. The brain does weird things, and it is wise to consider any unusual sensations (visions or whatever) a possible symptom of a physiological problem. (I'm not really a terrible cynic/skeptic. It's just better to be cautious, especially when it comes to the health and future of a child.)

Kitty, do your stuff.

I have some doubts on the skill level, was it was all her own at every stage... I mean, skill by itself though is pretty banal stuff; you train up your hand eye coordination and your brain to think in certain ways and that's all it is: nothing special, amazing, or even interesting (you can even make robots that can do it), but it normally takes time for a human to learn.

What interests me is the style and subject matter- look at those pics, uniformly they're the kind of dross that clapped out 40 year-olds will paint for cheap religious posters and sample art for picture frames and gift-shops. Why would a little kid want to paint what are basically a whole lot of Elvis pics on velvet? (that sort of thing). It's bizarre. o_O
It's suspicious.

What that means is that a high level of skill is on display but a VERY small level of artistic ability/inspiration /thinking etc. which is EXTREMELY weird because that is the 180 reverse of what happens with people: The inspiration and the great ideas are what you start out with, the potential to do brilliant things, but you can't achieve them until you gain the experience and ability, which comes with age: As you gain that, the drive and inspiration decreases until as a painter you end up doing work like her for money. lol!

So, she is either a strange little backwards girl, or something else is happening... If it's genuine though, she has a bright future in making sample art for cheap picture-frames. I don't mean to sound overly down on her, but that's the reality of that sort of thing.

@Ozone
She's 8 years old man ^^ Even genius brains then have trouble grasping abstract thought concepts-which usually start to develop in the teens.

BBC news watched her paint one start to finish, and she's been on oprah, and has real demonstrations on the net. :0 I'll admit I don't care for god or religious paintings- but she says that why she does them on her site. And she sells them for over 10k a piece! lol!


@lba
It takes her 200 or so hours to do a piece. Which is amazing because; a kid spending more than 2 hours on art is crazy, most cannot get to this skill with 200hrs even if they pretend so. ;)

@Aussie
She's self taught ._. Which sounds kinda fishy...but either way: ._.



Goddamn this kida going to be a knock-out when she gets older, she's really pretty too. (I'm no pedo....I'll wait till' she's Jailbait >:D )

lba
I'll admit that she has skill, but her site reads like nothing but the world's biggest ego circus. Just the way they word things makes it sound horribly pretentious and over-hyped.

That's exactly what I thought when I saw the website. What ever happened to being a humble child prodigy? =P

Baconators

lba
I'll admit that she has skill, but her site reads like nothing but the world's biggest ego circus. Just the way they word things makes it sound horribly pretentious and over-hyped.

That's exactly what I thought when I saw the website. What ever happened to being a humble child prodigy? =P

I don't know if it's true in this case, but if I had to make a guess based on other things I've seen, I'd say her parents probably have a hand in the site's content. Parents like to parade talented children around like livestock at a county fair.

To be honest, I feel sorry for her. She'll have recognition now for displaying talent at a young age, but it's very likely that it will all pass and she'll be well out of the "spotlight" as an adult. Even if she isn't, it will be too late to enjoy her childhood. I'm not saying painting can't be fun in its way, but I'm quite happy to have dedicated as much of my childhood as possible to climbing trees, playing dress-up, and generally having the type of fun that doesn't have to have any purpose or product.

Skullbie
She's 8 years old man ^^ Even genius brains then have trouble grasping abstract thought concepts-which usually start to develop in the teens.

I saw the sight, she started at 8 and now she's 13. Apparentlly.
I don't mean abstract thought,, I mean interesting and creative ideas, they come from the very beginning ;)
The plain robotic skill like that is just basic stuff that develops as you go.
-as I say, she's got it in total reverse which is why it's fishy.

As for how much someone would pay for dross like that: Never underestimate the power of novelty.

She's lucky in that and the publicity would help. Without that though, taken as paintings like that usually are for what they are- you would have them set up in a stall in a flea market. Seriously. Totally serious here.

It's impressive now, but sad to say, she will most likely reach a plateau pretty quick, in my opinion.
I mean, if you start at the top, where else is there to go?

And please, "humble child prodigy"? I always got a little bit of ego in high school when people would say my crappy doodles where so "cool" and good. And I'm not as skilled as she appears to be now, and I'm years older. Humility is for people inside the works of fiction.

(I'm so cynical.)

They're incredibly dull.

lastcall
What's also sad is that I bet the "visions of heaven" she's talking about in the website video are really "auras ", which are what I had before I was diagnosed with juvenile myoclonic epilepsy [en.wikipedia.org] back when I was a kid. Basically, before you fall asleep, you have these incredible visions of bright colors, and it feels like you can go anywhere and do anything, like a vivid dream with the sense of being awake. Kind of like an out-of-body experience.

I had similar "visions" to that when I was a kid too. But I never told anyone about them. It wasn't near as dramatic as epilepsy,that's for sure, but I would wake up screaming before I even fall asleep... and still do actually.
But during one of the interviews I watched she was talking about how when she was still going to school. I want to know why they pulled her out. I can guess on various levels her exploded ego might have been a downer on all of the other children, but she's only 10 years old. She needs to have friends who aren't worshiping her art at every step and who can be with her on a more hopefully equal level.
Also... she's 10 years old. She paints things with horses and animals in them. And Jesus. Because it's what she knows-- mostly 10 year old, optimistic stuff. I'm still trying to find at least an excerpt of poetry by her but there's none that I can find without having to buy her book and I'd prefer not to until I've read some of what she can do. The reason being is that she's 10 years old and what pain or emotions has she experienced to write about. It's like that band of young boys who sing about wanting to play video games because they're too old to play with Tonka trucks anymore and too young to go after love or at least experience some real heartache.

But what annoyed me in the interview is that she acted like she hadn't put any real work into it and attributing all her skill to god. She should at least take her credit where she deserves it. It may seem like humility, but it's really not. It makes all the kids around her trying and trying to get better, who may or may not also believe in god, feel like crap.

You know, it's funny in a stupid way nevertheless. lol!
It would be like a kid who could make perfect paster statues of the virgin Mary in the awful kitschy style and people falling over themselves in awe.

Skill without taste, creativity, or interesting ideas... that's actually one of my own personal fears- that'll end up that way. I fear it like people fear baldness or varicose veins. :(

It's a nightmare for all artists.

mechanical_lullaby
Also... she's 10 years old. She paints things with horses and animals in them. And Jesus. Because it's what she knows-- mostly 10 year old, optimistic stuff.

The site says 13 now ;)

But regardless, most kids I've known, 8 and up would draw and paint more interesting ideas in interesting ways. Hey, I can even look back on the stuff I did when I was 6 and think "that looks like crap, but I must have been pretty clever, that's really creative."

ozoneocean
It's a nightmare for all artists.

mechanical_lullaby
Also... she's 10 years old. She paints things with horses and animals in them. And Jesus. Because it's what she knows-- mostly 10 year old, optimistic stuff.

The site says 13 now ;)

ummmm...
You diiiidn't seee that.
(lol I thought she looked rather old for 10)
Regardless... I was watching things on youtube from when she was a bit younger so I was under the influence that she was.

But speaking of Youtube...
When she was 4...
(this is what I was going off on, Oz... lol)

What makes me mad is that her parents (and most likely a lawyer) made an LLC business to capitalize off of her talent: Art Akiane, LLC. (LLC stands for "Limited Liability Company [en.wikipedia.org]," which basically means if Akiane suddenly stops painting and people don't buy her art anymore and her family becomes broke, their assets such as their house and car will not be repossessed).

It also looks like her parents decided to make her publish two books and open an art studio, too (Akiane Original Artworks Gallery
). ....Is that even allowed for a thirteen-year-old?

lastcall
What makes me mad is that her parents (and most likely a lawyer) made an LLC business to capitalize off of her talent: Art Akiane, LLC. (LLC stands for "Limited Liability Company [en.wikipedia.org]," which basically means if Akiane suddenly stops painting and people don't buy her art anymore and her family becomes broke, their assets such as their house and car will not be repossessed).

It also looks like her parents decided to make her publish two books and open an art studio, too (Akiane Original Artworks Gallery
). ....Is that even allowed for a thirteen-year-old?

....This is probably going to end in a shitstorm but your reply seaps of jealousy. Alot of posts in this thread do. It's fine. it's natural to feel this way about someone half our age selling 'generic' paintings for 10k, having 2 books, a genius, and has been on oprah-

Everyone's blaming this on her parents, but fuck, I'd kill to have this publicized childhood! What kind of kid doesn't want attention? It creeps me out she's giving all this credit to god- What humans can't have natural talent on there own?



BTW, this ego fest website was created by her 40-something male lawyer who's probly a lolita. ;)

Skullbie
I'd kill to have this publicized childhood! What kind of kid doesn't want attention?

As a kid, I would have, but now I am SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO glad I didn't.

I really do feel sorry for her -- not for the moment (though who knows what kind of life she has) but for the future. Because I've seen how these scenarios play out.

Though I'm into this thread a bit late, I would still like to touch on several points.

@Ozone: You keep talking about creativity, but what does creativity mean? To me being creative means doing what you want, not because it is original or because it is different, but because it is yours. And while I agree that her work isn't original, I don't think that means she doesn't have creativity. Cripes, when I was a kid all I wanted to do was something involving dinosaurs and ninjas; she's been raised, from what it sounds like, in a very religious home, and thus you get this. Now I have matured into a, hopefully, deep mind that can grasp a number of concepts, and creative some pretty good pieces of fiction on occasion. I would hope that she too could do the same. Personally I don't think she'll go very far, but I don't know if she has any creativity or not hidden deep inside her.

And to those that complain that the pictures are cheap and shouldn't count as art (was that you again, Ozone?), I have to disagree highly. These are art, and they're damn fine art. They're religious art, but so what? She does some pretty good stuff. If, instead of Christ, she had chosen to do a picture of, say, William Wallace, would you all be complaining quite so much? I doubt it.

Personally, I agree with Usedbooks here. This girl is not going to have a normal childhood, and that is the biggest deal here. It's sad on a pretty big scale.

Skullbie
....This is probably going to end in a shitstorm but your reply seeps of jealousy.

Acutally, I feel sorry for her; and quite angry of the fact that her parents are capitalizing off of her talent and not their own. They should feel ashamed of doing that; it reminds me of those "stage moms" and whatnot. Very selfish.

Skullbie
Everyone's blaming this on her parents, but fuck, I'd kill to have this publicized childhood! What kind of kid doesn't want attention?

I know I hated attention when I was a kid. I just wanted to be left alone with my art; I didn't want compliments. ....I didn't have this level of publicized childhood, but I did get quite a number of awards and whatnot for my art as a kid (I lived in a small town so they didn't have anything else to do with their time I guess), and I hated all the attention. I can't imagine the media hell she's going through; although, perhaps she likes it. Who knows.

she's been raised, from what it sounds like, in a very religious home

Actually if you watch the video, she was raised in an agnostic environment. It wasn't until she had her own "visions of god" did she start painting him, and then her mother saw the paintings and decided to be all faithy-like herself.

lastcall
I can't imagine the media hell she's going through; although, perhaps she likes it. Who knows.

Nice save. ;)

I can't feel sorry for her, from the site it's for god that she's doing all this, which describes the typical self-righteous Christian drive she's got. And because of it she's raking in 10k a piece. Most artists don't make that, even professional.

On another note to add to all the assumptions in this thread: There was another genius who wanted to be an artist-Hitler lol! ALL HAIL FURER AKAINE

Skullbie
And because of it she's raking in 10k a piece. Most artists don't make that, even professional.

Sure they do; if you Google around you can find a few. Most of them are dead, like Picasso and Matisse, but they're there. I'm sure a lot of them don't have Internet presence and keep to the auction houses and such, and don't even need to advertise.

Skullbie
On another note to add to all the assumptions in this thread: There was another genius who wanted to be an artist-Hitler lol! ALL HAIL FURER AKAINE

Hey buddy, you started this thread, so we have the right to make all the so-called "assumptions" we want. If you're not willing to let us call out our own opinions, then perhaps this thread should be moved to the Debate area. ...And sorry, but I don't label Hitler as a "genius." I think of him more as a dumbass with a stupid mustache.

lastcall
Sure they do; if you Google around you can find a few. Most of them are dead, like Picasso and Matisse, but they're there.

That's why I said 'most don't'.

last call
Hey buddy, you started this thread, so we have the right to make all the so-called "assumptions" we want. If you're not willing to let us call out our own opinions,

Uh I never said that, I was stating my opinions as well, settle down now. I never intended this to be a discussion thread, sorry you wanted it to be that way.


I didn't think people would get so up-tight about some 13 yr old artist. :/ So far Steely Gaze brings up the best points. (but that's okay, that's in my opinion lol! )

Skullbie
@lba
It takes her 200 or so hours to do a piece. Which is amazing because; a kid spending more than 2 hours on art is crazy, most cannot get to this skill with 200hrs even if they pretend so. ;)

200 hours? Meh, everyone with a little bit of skills could paint something good in 200 hours :P
The longest I EVER spent on one image was 40-50 hours on a christmas gift for a friend. In photoshop of course as I can't paint with normal paint to save my life :P
I just get the paint everywhere EXCEPT where it's supposed to go... most of it on my hands, haha.

Anyway, I just hope she doesn't end up messed up like most of famous kids do.

Skullbie
@lba
It takes her 200 or so hours to do a piece. Which is amazing because; a kid spending more than 2 hours on art is crazy, most cannot get to this skill with 200hrs even if they pretend so. ;)

That does sound a bit long for the level of skill you see in the images. It sounds like her big talent is having an ultra long attention span, not necessarily amazing painting skills.

Going back over her images, she needs to open an anatomy book. The proportions are off in a number of them and the features are all cherubic. while the childlike features can be dismissed as a stylistic thing, the proportions are another issue. Not to say that she isn't talented, but she still could improve a lot and I'm beginning to get the impression that a good part of this image of a prodigy is being cultivated and created by someone.

As someone else said, 200+ hours is long enough for anyone with the basics of artistic talent to create something good looking. I can say from experience that an older, more experienced artist would not need that much time to create a portrait of Jesus.

As for the child star thing, I can't think of too many child stars who retain their stardom long after high school. Especially having been taken out of school like she was.

I never knew you could get "paint by numbers" in those sizes!


also this is general discussion, right?