Prodigy: Alexandra Nechita, "The Petite Picasso"

A brilliant child prodigy whose work was a sort of girly Picasso / Chagall style life-affirming calendar-ready form of figurative neo-cubism, Alexandra Nechita has grown into a hottie, but the question is, has her gift vanished?

I believe prodigies are proof of reincarnation, but as believers know, the 'previous' self tends to disappear slowly under the waves of the new by seven or eight years-old. Has Nechita managed to hold onto her vision? We all, even Picasso, wind up imitating ourselves after awhile. Whatever gracious spirit inhabited our brush, it sooner or later departs, and we hope we've retained enough of its secrets to carry on in whatever limited capacity.

The odd thing is to learn on her website that she is now an art school graduate. What off earth could they teach her?  How did her less successful teachers cope with a prodigy? Imagine a high school music teacher trying to instruct Mozart in a class of average little Austrian shlubs!

I first stumbled on her work at a Soho art gallery on West Broadway, the name of which escapes me. Blew my mind, man.

If you decide to check out her work, maybe you can decide for yourself, what is the mystery of artistic prodigies. Surely there is something more than than just 'a gift' at work. If anything is proof of the divine, of talents and skills passed on from one life to another, maybe Alexandra is it. Could she be either Chagall or Picasso reincarnated?

I say yes...




I worry even based on this 2008 lithograph, (left) that she is starting to lose that prodigy gift, due in some small part to maturity, the invariably inescapable narrowing of the scope of perception that comes with the loss of childhood, and the no doubt counterproductive 'instruction' of her chosen art school. But I'm maybe wrong, I don't wish her anything but the best yet at the same time I want my theory borne out!

That said, you look over at this thing on the left and while interesting, its coloring scheme and loose curves reminds me too much of a new age self help book cover. Of course she's a working artist and it probably is. Her prints do well and she gets good gigs. Maybe that's the compromise. She's tired of the "petite Picasso" label, but how do you escape that? She needs to go deep. That's my prescription. Get out and go to a rave, go to Burning Man.... you know what I mean. Tune in, drop out - go to Brazil and do ayuhusca, don't go to art school and unlearn your innate gifts. I've seen so many great artists go from brilliant work to stick figures thanks to theory getting in their brains.