Blog 9/14

 

 

Does coaching take away from the accomplishments of the performer?

This week, as I began to write my summary and analysis of My Kid Could Paint That, I toggled with the idea of coaching versus micromanaging. One of the major plot points of the documentary is the debate on authenticity of Marla a 4-year-old artist. Marla's father is heard and seen coaching her through paintings in the videos they have of her process. When this was shown to 60 minutes people began to question. you can hear the father tell marla to continue with her red paint basically making the choices for her. It is later questioned whether he finished or polished up marlas artwork before selling them.

When  I first watched the documentary I believed the father was just trying to keep a child on task. That in itself is extremely hard. The more I think about it the harder it is for me to decide whether he's helping or micromanaging. Marla could just be a vessel for her father's image of abstract paintings. This is very unlikely but still interesting. 

In sports, coaching is looked highly upon whereas in art you are judged based on individualism. In sense of a 4-year-old making abstract paintings, her father must interject in order for the piece to get done. Based solely off of a father's push the art world began to think of him as a fraud almost and a lot of speculation of Marla's art as a whole.

What is the line where helping in art is less of an inspiration and more of a collaboration.