# Akiane Kramprik, my gosh, look at the paintings this kid has done **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 16, 2018, 10:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/akiane-kramprik-my-gosh-look-at-the-paintings-this-kid-has-done/806745 "2018-01-16T10:24:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Starving\_Artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2018, 10:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/akiane-kramprik-my-gosh-look-at-the-paintings-this-kid-has-done/806745/1 "2018-01-16T10:24:18Z")
Religious overtones to some but still… [The Amazing True Story of Akiane Kramarik - YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ealRd0XJUq0) (Check out the angel at 1:53, the black woman at 2:27 and the horse in snow at 5:03) Picasso was painting [very good realistic paintings](https://www.pablopicasso.org/images/paintings/first-communion.jpg) at 14 and 15 years old and I believe this young girl surpasses him. Good stuff. Judging by the age of the clip, she’s around 22 or 23 years old now. What a future lies ahead. ---
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2018, 11:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/akiane-kramprik-my-gosh-look-at-the-paintings-this-kid-has-done/806745/2 "2018-01-16T11:15:01Z")
Technically competent but it does nothing for me. Only noteworthy previously because of her age but it is one thing to be able to make accurate reproductions and another entirely to have anything worth saying. She’s now in her 20’s and it[hasn’t really improved](https://art-soulworks.com/collections/akiane-gallery). ---
**Author:** ![Starving\_Artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2018, 11:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/akiane-kramprik-my-gosh-look-at-the-paintings-this-kid-has-done/806745/3 "2018-01-16T11:36:43Z")
Hard to tell from that site which were painted when. But really the point of my post was that she could paint so incredibly well at such a young age. And in fact was painting shockingly well from the age of six or so. I just found that she has a website and it shows paintings she’s done at different ages and by ten she was pretty much an old hand at it. I agree that there hasn’t been a lot of progrssion as she’s reached adulthood, but I would expect improvements to be pretty much incremental at her stage and her more recent paintings do appear more finished, so maybe she’s continuing to improve but at a slower and more subtle way. Here’s a link to her website: > **[Official Akiane Gallery](https://akiane.com/)** > > Official Akiane Gallery ---
**Author:** ![Art\_Rock](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/art_rock/32/525_2.png) [@Art\_Rock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Art_Rock)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2018, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/akiane-kramprik-my-gosh-look-at-the-paintings-this-kid-has-done/806745/4 "2018-01-16T13:56:24Z")
I agree with Novelty Bobble - technique and nothing more. China is turning out ‘artists’ like this thousands at a time. That she is showing nothing more than (slightly improved) technique about 10 years later shows she does not have what it takes to be a real artist, rather than a crafts(wo)man. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2018, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/akiane-kramprik-my-gosh-look-at-the-paintings-this-kid-has-done/806745/5 "2018-01-16T19:00:25Z")
> [@Novelty\_Bobble](#): > > She’s now in her 20’s and it[hasn’t really improved](https://art-soulworks.com/collections/akiane-gallery). Judging from the “art” on this site, I’d say she has a great future painting custom vans when they come back in style. ---
**Author:** ![Enter\_the\_Flagon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Enter\_the\_Flagon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enter_the_Flagon)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2018, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/akiane-kramprik-my-gosh-look-at-the-paintings-this-kid-has-done/806745/6 "2018-01-16T21:56:13Z")
So nobody liked the Jesus Flying on a Unicorn Over the American Flag? Tough crowd. Judging by the website, seems like she peaked in her teens. ---
**Author:** ![Eonwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eonwe/32/240_2.png) [@Eonwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eonwe)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2018, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/akiane-kramprik-my-gosh-look-at-the-paintings-this-kid-has-done/806745/7 "2018-01-16T22:06:05Z")
I think people are being overly harsh for the fun of it. True, she did not turn out to be some revolutionary artist who pushed the form forward, but her paintings at a young age were remarkable, and as a young adult show skill and proficiency (though not an extreme level of mastery). The “not a true artist” argument does nothing but denigrate someone based on ill-defined and arbitrary criteria of the insulter. I mean, let me dig out my Magic cards, and they’re covered with art, much of which is better than Akiane’s, and much of which is on par or worse. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2018, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/akiane-kramprik-my-gosh-look-at-the-paintings-this-kid-has-done/806745/8 "2018-01-16T22:15:36Z")
She’ll do well as a commercial artist, that’s for sure. My favorite stuff of hers, though, looking through the website, is some of the work she was producing when she was 6. The rest of the stuff doesn’t really do anything for me, but her talent definitely has commercial potential. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2018, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/akiane-kramprik-my-gosh-look-at-the-paintings-this-kid-has-done/806745/9 "2018-01-16T22:16:58Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > Religious overtones to some but still… > > [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ealRd0XJUq0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ealRd0XJUq0) (Check out the angel at 1:53, the black woman at 2:27 I was really struck by this. The figure in the picture looks human. There are feeling in that face. It’s a hell of a work. Yeah, she’s become a painting factory, but oh well. ---
**Author:** ![Starving\_Artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2018, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/akiane-kramprik-my-gosh-look-at-the-paintings-this-kid-has-done/806745/10 "2018-01-16T22:27:06Z")
> [@Enter the Flagon](#): > > So nobody liked the Jesus Flying on a Unicorn Over the American Flag? Tough crowd. > > Judging by the website, seems like she peaked in her teens. > [@Eonwe](#): > > I think people are being overly harsh for the fun of it. True, she did not turn out to be some revolutionary artist who pushed the form forward, but her paintings at a young age were remarkable, and as a young adult show skill and proficiency (though not an extreme level of mastery). > > The “not a true artist” argument does nothing but denigrate someone based on ill-defined and arbitrary criteria of the insulter. Yeah, I should probably have known better than to have posted anything with Christian overtones on this site. The point was to highlight the extraordinary talent this young woman had as a very young girl but that doesn’t seem to matter because Jesus and vans. Oh well, ces’t la vie. I’m curious about the peaking comments a couple of posters have made. It seems that most of the artists who’ve become famous paint at pretty much the same level they attained when young. I’m not aware of any great progression on the part of Renoir, Monet, Dali, O’Keefe, etc. Apart from Picasso, that is, who veered off into art that strikes many people as something a child could do even though in reality they can’t). But still, the work he did then doesn’t show any improvement in painterly or technical skill and goes more toward an attempt to provoke thought, create emotion, or get a message across. Unfortunately most of what he attempted to convey is lost on most because one has to be educated in how to view the work in question in order to interpret it. The young woman who is the subject of this thread is creating paintings that a great many people enjoy and she’s getting paid lots of money for them. And while the same could be said of Thomas Kincade, etc., I’m not necessarily of the school that thinks the purpose of art is to stretch boundaries or be controversial. If people enjoy art because it’s pretty to look at, that’s fine with me. ---
**Author:** ![KRC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/45deac/32.png) [@KRC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KRC)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2018, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/akiane-kramprik-my-gosh-look-at-the-paintings-this-kid-has-done/806745/11 "2018-01-17T02:33:16Z")
I don’t believe that art has to be shocking or “in your face” or beat you with a heavy handed political message to be good. I’m an artist and I sometimes paint things just because I think they are pretty. I do believe that more than technical skill is involved. I would say these paintings didn’t do much for me, but then I looked at the pictures of Jesus and wondered who did his hair. Now I’m going to have to research hairdressing in the ancient mid east. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2018, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/akiane-kramprik-my-gosh-look-at-the-paintings-this-kid-has-done/806745/12 "2018-01-17T02:39:09Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > Yeah, I should probably have known better than to have posted anything with Christian overtones on this site. The point was to highlight the extraordinary talent this young woman had as a very young girl but that doesn’t seem to matter because Jesus and vans. Heh. I didn’t even realize that was supposed to be Jesus on her webpage. I just assumed it was her father for some reason. ---
**Author:** ![Penfeather](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penfeather/32/384_2.png) [@Penfeather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Penfeather)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2018, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/akiane-kramprik-my-gosh-look-at-the-paintings-this-kid-has-done/806745/13 "2018-01-17T04:54:37Z")
[If I could paint that well, I’d like to think I wouldn’t paint such rubbish](https://akiane.com/product/together/) ---
**Author:** ![Starving\_Artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2018, 6:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/akiane-kramprik-my-gosh-look-at-the-paintings-this-kid-has-done/806745/14 "2018-01-17T06:41:30Z")
There’s some really savvy marketing going on behind the scenes to facilitate the sale of her prints and paintings, and part of this is the creation of a story of some sort to behind each painting, which serves to make it more desirable on a personal basis for the viewer. The story behind the guy who looks like Jesus is that Akiane had this vision in mind of a man who looked the version of Christ that she had in her mind but could never find him. Then one day this guy showed up at her family’s house. He was seven feet tall and looked exactly like the person in her mind, and just by coincidence he was a carpenter too. A video was made purporting to tell the tale of those two wolves or huskies, with the implication being that they were the inspiration for her painting, complete with music that calls to mind Cirque du Soleil’s Alegria. The video is interesting because it also shows her painting that picture, albeit in stop motion and at a fast clip. It’s fun to watch nevertheless. Here it is: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/5K8_TLPMb6Y/hqdefault.jpg "''TOGETHER'' by Akiane") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5K8_TLPMb6Y) ---
**Author:** ![Penfeather](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penfeather/32/384_2.png) [@Penfeather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Penfeather)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2018, 8:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/akiane-kramprik-my-gosh-look-at-the-paintings-this-kid-has-done/806745/15 "2018-01-17T08:02:47Z")
Thanks, but I can go to the mall and look at Tshirts it I want to see pictures of wolves. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2018, 8:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/akiane-kramprik-my-gosh-look-at-the-paintings-this-kid-has-done/806745/16 "2018-01-17T08:25:31Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > I’m not aware of any great progression on the part of Renoir, Monet, Dali, O’Keefe, etc. You don’t think there’s a progression from [this](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8e/Untitled%2C_dead_rabbit_with_the_copper_pot_by_O%27Keeffe_1908.jpg) to [this](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/f8/O%27Keeffe_Georgia_Ram%27s_Head.jpg)? Or from [this](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vilabertran_(Dal%C3%AD)#/media/File:Vilabertrin.jpg) to [this](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Persistence_of_Memory#/media/File:The_Persistence_of_Memory.jpg)? Or [this](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claude_Monet#/media/File:Claude_Monet_-_Mouth_of_the_Seine.jpg) to [this](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impression,_Sunrise#/media/File:Monet_-_Impression,_Sunrise.jpg)? How, exactly, are you defining “progression”? ---
**Author:** ![Penfeather](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penfeather/32/384_2.png) [@Penfeather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Penfeather)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2018, 8:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/akiane-kramprik-my-gosh-look-at-the-paintings-this-kid-has-done/806745/17 "2018-01-17T08:54:10Z")
[Padawan Holodeck Teenage Jesus has seen things you people wouldn’t believe.](https://art-soulworks.com/collections/akiane-gallery/products/yeshua-jesus-the-missing-years-fine-art-canvas) ---
**Author:** ![Penfeather](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penfeather/32/384_2.png) [@Penfeather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Penfeather)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2018, 9:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/akiane-kramprik-my-gosh-look-at-the-paintings-this-kid-has-done/806745/18 "2018-01-17T09:03:09Z")
> [@KRC](#): > > I would say these paintings didn’t do much for me, but then I looked at the pictures of Jesus and wondered who did his hair. Now I’m going to have to research hairdressing in the ancient mid east. Check out some [mummy portraits from Roman Egypt](https://ancientworldsmanchester.wordpress.com/tag/mummy-portraits/): they’re beautiful and fascinating, [and you feel like you’ve seen these people in the street.](https://allthingsencaustic.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/British-Museum-Mummy-Portraits-from-Roman-Egypt-0-0.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![GreenWyvern](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/greenwyvern/32/2834_2.png) [@GreenWyvern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreenWyvern)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2018, 9:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/akiane-kramprik-my-gosh-look-at-the-paintings-this-kid-has-done/806745/19 "2018-01-17T09:20:33Z")
If you want a really talented young artist, how about **Kieron Williamson**? Google images [https://www.google.com/search?q=Kieron+Williamson&tbm=isch](https://www.google.com/search?q=Kieron+Williamson&tbm=isch) Here are some of his paintings, aged 8-9. [http://www.kieronwilliamson.com/2010/](http://www.kieronwilliamson.com/2010/) And you can see how he’s changed and improved up to last year, aged 15-16. [http://www.kieronwilliamson.com/2016/](http://www.kieronwilliamson.com/2016/)