Abstract Art

Abstract Art

When you think of famous artists you might think of old dead guys like Picasso or Leonardo da Vinci. Well that might not be the case anymore. A four year old from Melbourne is getting rave reviews for her artwork at the moment and she's just been given her first solo exhibition in New York. For some she's the next Picasso. But for others her work looks just like any other young kid's. Kirsty takes a look.

KIRSTY BENNETT, REPORTER: Colour and creativity, expression and emotion. When it comes to art, one person's masterpiece can be another person's mess. So how can we tell if it really is art?

This is what most people think of when it comes to art, beautiful paintings from artists a long time ago. Or even grand sculptures. Many of these can be seen in huge galleries and are often worth millions of dollars. Today's art isn't just paintings or sculptures! Artists can use different materials or even things that we see in everyday life. And the pictures don't even have to look like anything! It can be the colour, lines and texture that make the piece.

This is a style known as abstract art. It's all about representing things that you can't see like an emotion, sound or experience. Some well known abstract artists are Wassily Kandinsky, Piet Mondrian and Jackson Pollock. Aussie kid Aelita Andre is also described as an abstract artist. Last year she sold one of her pictures for $24,000, and now has her own exhibition in New York. Some people are saying she's a gifted artist but just as many think that her paintings are nothing more than a kid messing around. So, even amongst artists there can be a disagreement about what art really is. Nona paints and teaches abstract art so has a good eye for it.

NONA: Some people will like a painting and others won't. It's incredibly personal but what's important is that it puts across an emotion or idea and I'd question whether a 4 year old would be capable of that.

KIRSTY: Voila my first abstract art piece!

Let's see if people can tell the difference between my piece and this by world famous abstract painter Jackson Pollock.

BOY 1: This one is really just scribbles and someone's gone through it with an eraser.

GIRL 1: I like them but most people can splat some paint on a canvas.

BOY 2: The blood symbolises red and the gold symbolises heart and because it's all messed up it means the heart is like broken.

KIRSTY: Now what if I were to say one of these is worth a lot of money and the other is worthless. Which one would you pick to be the expensive one? It was my picture that they picked to be the most expensive! So I might've convinced them but back at Nona's studio I was getting the real critique.

NONA: You went extremely well I think Kirsty. Doing it quite quickly too I think shows some natural ability here. But my first comment is that you've got complimentary colours here and you don't even probably know what a complimentary colour is.

KIRSTY: No I don't actually!

NONA: So there you are!

So if it's about expressing your feelings and emotions then value can be found in all art work.

The main thing is that you enjoy it and you never know someone else might enjoy your creation too.

[an error occurred while processing this directive]