Some are born great…and some have greatness thrust upon ’em. The parents of a young English boy must be learning the truth of the Bard’s words as people from around the world queue to snap up the lad’s paintings as fast as he can produce them.
Seven-year-old Kieron Williamson of Norfolk, U.K., known in the British media as “Mini Monet,” has impressionist style and impressive impact: All 33 works in his latest collection sold in 27 minutes, earning $236,850.
People from as far away as South Africa, Arizona and New Jersey showed up at the Picturecraft Art Gallery to purchase the prodigy’s prized work. Many camped outside the gallery for two days awaiting the 9 o’clock sale, gallery owner Adrian Hill said.
“Kieron is painting so far in advance of his own years,” Hill said. “There are many talented artists out there, but I can’t think of one that’s made such an impact at such a young age.”
The youngster has innocently tapped a neglected market: people who like scenic paintings — rather than arrangements of nuts and bolts and representations of the artist’s latest nightmare.
“They’re impressionist without being abstract and realistic without being photographic,” he said.
That impressionist
style is rare in an age in which many art students become abstract or
contemporary artists, gallery employee and art student Charlotte Hoar
said.“It’s fantastic to see a style that was around hundreds of years ago
brought back by a seven-year-old living in Norfolk,” she said.
If you watch the video young Kieron seems a typically buttoned-up young Brit. But they say he gets excited every time he sells a painting. And there are 700 people waiting to buy.
Asked (in the video) how he feels about being compared to Picasso, Kieron says after a moment’s thought, “It’s all right.”
And his favourite painting? “I don’t have a favourite one because they are all good.”
Oh, and he only picked up a paintbrush for the first time when he was six. That’s talent for you; it must be something innate.
Kieron’s website: kieronwilliamson.com
