Art: A child could do it

I'm always partial to works by Fiona, my three-year-old granddaughter.

Friday my wife was given a piece of art. It was a blank sheet of white paper with four little, green lines drawn in the middle of each of the sheet's four sides. My wife thought it was rather "cute."

Think of Nothing To Be Afraid Of V 22.8.69

I didn't know what to think. Heck, when I was in art school back in the '60s, this would have been a brilliant piece of minimalist art. Think of Nothing To Be Afraid Of V 22.8.69 by British artist Bob Law.

Law, who died aged 70 in 2004, was one of the founding fathers of British minimalist painting. When he died he left his 9ft by 7ft “painting” (white apart from the date and a black border drawn with a marker pen).

So, who was the creative artist that gave my wife the gift? It was a little girl not quite five at the school where my wife works.

I told my wife that if that piece had been eight feet by ten feet and not eight inches by ten inches, it would have been a totally different art piece. Size matters in art. She wasn't buying it.

This wasn't art that a child could do, this was a child's art.

If I can find the piece, I'll iron it (my wife let it get wrinkled) and I'll post the work of the little genius. I wonder if the kid needs an agent.