This Precocious Painter Sells His Works for $150,000. He’s 11 Years Old

Remember four-year-old Marla Olmstead, subject of the 2007 film
My Kid Could Do That, whose paintings were going for
$300,000? Or Aelita Andre, the seven-year-old whose acrylic
paintings sold for as much as $50,000? How about Akiane Kramarik,
who said her visions drove her to paint, landing her on the Oprah
Winfrey Show at age 10? Every time, questions arise: Did the kid
really do that? Are the parents exploiting their children?
Do paintings by a kid not yet in high school simply pull back the
veil, revealing abstract art as nothing more than a giant scam?

Enter Vietnam’s Xeo Chu, now 11, who first picked up a brush at
just four years old and is today opening his first New York solo
show. In “Big World, Little Eyes,” at George Bergès Gallery in
SoHo, you’ll find colorful abstractions and landscapes measuring as
much as 15 feet wide and tagged at upwards of $150,000, a price
that would make even a successful midcareer artist sit up and take
notice. Bergès discovered the artist, he told Artnet News, through
clients in Singapore and Vietnam, where Xeo has had shows
before.

To Bergès, this is not so much a commercial endeavor as it is a
metaphysical one.

“To me it was very interesting to work with an artist who’s
before puberty, because it challenged my notions about art and how
life experience has to go into it,” he said in a phone interview.
“I’m very spiritual, so the idea of reincarnation or what Jung
called the collective unconscious really resonates, and you can see
it more purely in a child. If there is depth and complexity in a
piece of work from someone who has very limited life experience, it
gives you a glimpse of the universal unconscious that we all have
and can tap into.”

There is a special responsibility, he acknowledged, in working
with someone so young. “Although we can be excited about everything
that’s going on, and we can encourage him, we should also shelter
him from the press,” he said. “At the end of the day he’s a child,
and I don’t lose sight of that. It’s tough. It’s a tightrope.”

Bergès planned the show, open only through January 2, to take
place during the holidays.

“It’s a special time of the year, and I wanted kids to see that
they’re important and can play a role in the discourse of art,” he
says. “My eight-year-old daughter’s school is going.”

All the same, it’s still a business proposition too, and Bergès
said he’d just sold two paintings for $80,000 each.

And if you’re skeptical about whether the child actually created
them, well, there is video evidence.

In a phone interview, Xeo talked about what he’s going to do
with the money, how he approached the biggest painting he’s ever
created, and how his work has evolved over his seven-year
career.

How do you feel on the occasion of your first New York solo?
Excited? Nervous? 

It’s kind of in the middle.

How does it feel to have your paintings go for such high
prices?

It’s mostly for charity. I donate it for children my age,
because I feel like, I have school and my mom and a lot of care and
support, but other kids don’t, so I want to help them. The money
goes to Heartbeat Vietnam.

What’s it like when you’re in the studio?

I feel lonely sometimes so I listen to music and sometimes my
mom helps me. But I also have a teacher who is an artist, so he
shares his experience with me. He lets me choose what I want to
draw and what colors to use. Sometimes he makes suggestions.
Sometimes we go outside to paint, too.

How has your art changed over the seven years you’ve been
working?

When I started, I painted what I saw. In my house I saw flowers,
so I would paint that. But now I travel more. Last year I went to
Canada in autumn, so I painted that. I recently went to Hạ Long
Bay, in Vietnam and it was really cool, really unique.

Have you seen anything in New York that you think you’ll
paint? 

So far, all I’ve seen is buildings. But maybe, if I see an
interesting topic that’s surprising.

How do the abstract paintings arise? 

It’s also from what I see. For example I went to Canada in
autumn, so I saw sunlight through the trees. I tried to make that
through an abstract painting.

What do your friends think of you being an artist?

I don’t really tell my friends, because I thought it would be
weird to come up to them and tell them I’m an artist.

How does your mother work with you?

She supports me a lot. She helps me, and she also owns an art
gallery.

What is your painting process like?

For example, the Hạ Long Bay painting that I did, I put water on
the canvas to make an effect, to make it look better, and then I
will use my brush. I will put paint on the canvas from the bottle
to make leaves or flowers. Sometimes I paint trees. I make lines in
different directions to make a tree, and then I just keep
going.

Tell me more about how you made Hạ Long
Bay, the 15-foot-long painting in the show.

I heard I was going to have an exhibition in New York, and it
took me, like, three months to do it, because it was really big, It
was the first time I’ve done something so big, but for this show I
wanted to do something special. At first it was really hard,
because I had to work differently. There’s mountains on the water,
and caves, that was the inspiration. I kind of draw things out on a
notebook so I know what I’m doing. It took a lot of time.

What other artists inspire you?

When I started I didn’t really look into lots of artists. I hope
I can look at other artists in the future. Right now I’m just doing
my own thing.

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