Aelita Andre Australian abstract artist Date of Birth: 09.01.2007 Country: Australia

Biography of Aelita Andre

Aelita Andre is an Australian abstract artist, known not only for her surrealist paintings but also for being perhaps the youngest professional artist in the world. She was born on January 9, 2007 in Australia and currently resides in Melbourne with her family. Her father, Michael Andre, is an Australian artist, while her mother, Nikka Kalashnikova, is a Russian photographer.

From a young age, Aelita observed her parents painting on canvases spread out on the floor, as it was their shared hobby. When her father laid out another canvas, Aelita crawled over to it and began smearing paint on it with such conviction and passion that her father allowed her to continue. He set up another canvas next to his and let her paint however she wanted. According to her mother, Aelita learned to paint before she started walking – at the age of nine months. Just after turning two years old, some of her works were already featured in a group exhibition.

Aelita's first solo exhibition, 'The Prodigy of Color', opened in New York City in June 2011, just after she turned four years old. The curator of one of the Melbourne galleries, impressed by her paintings, included some of Aelita's works in a group exhibition at the 'Brunswick Street Gallery' and even featured some of them in the event's advertisements before learning about the young artist's age. Despite the surprise, the curator kept his promise to showcase Aelita's works to the public. The exhibition opened shortly after her second birthday, with photographs by Nikka Kalashnikova also participating.

A few months later, Aelita and her parents visited Hong Kong, where one of her paintings sold for the highest price to date - $24,000. The exhibition in New York City featured 24 of her paintings, each priced between $4,400 and $10,000. The media referred to her as 'Pee-wee Picasso' after nine of her paintings were sold for a total of over $30,000. According to the BBC, these sales made the four-year-old girl the youngest professional artist on the planet.

Critics and art experts also took notice of Aelita Andre's works, attributing them to abstract expressionism due to her use of surrealistic techniques such as automatic writing and accidentism, in other words - 'unconscious' and improvisational methods. She paints with acrylics and often adds three-dimensional objects to her canvases, including bark, branches, and feathers, enjoying the mixing of colors and textures. Buyers in New York City praised the simplicity and richness of texture in her paintings.

Several major news sources, including Time, BBC, The Washington Post, The Sydney Morning Herald, ABC News, and New York Post, responded favorably to Aelita's works and early successes. She has been compared to masters such as Jackson Pollock, Salvador Dalí, and Pablo Picasso. However, some critics have doubts that Aelita Andre's works are solely her own, suggesting that her parents may have had a hand in them. Additionally, while the Melbourne exhibition took place in a regular gallery, the one in New York City was funded by the artist.

Despite her unusual love for painting at her age, Aelita remains an ordinary little girl. She speaks English and Russian, but is more fluent in Russian. She is learning to play the piano, enjoys singing, crafting various artworks, and practicing gymnastics. She watches TV shows like 'Baby Einstein,' 'French for Kids,' the animated series 'My Little Pony,' and BBC documentaries called 'Eyewitness' about animals, oceans, and space. Aelita also has a strong love for chocolate.