Showcased a piece at the art walk, got roasted by one kid
Last Friday I hung three digital paintings at the local art walk in Santa Fe, spent like 40 bucks on prints and frames. A kid maybe 12 years old walked up, stared at my favorite piece for a solid minute, then told me the colors looked like a melted crayon box. I laughed it off but honestly it stung more than any adult critique I've gotten. Has anyone else had a random stranger or kid say something that completely caught you off guard at a show?
Have you ever read those stories where little kids just say whatever pops into their heads and it cuts deeper than a real review? I saw a thing once about a teacher who let her students critique her own paintings and one kid said her sky looked like dirty dishwater. She laughed at first but then couldn't stop thinking about it for weeks. Kids don't have filters yet, so they just blurt out the first thing they see, and somehow that makes it hit harder than some art critic being polite. Honestly your melted crayon comment would probably live in my head rent free for a year. At least the kid actually stopped and looked at your piece for a whole minute, that's more than most people do at those things.