Most 10-year-olds are earning money in the form of doing chores for mom and dad.
And most artists are starving.
Yet, one 10-year-old has shocked everyone with his impressive work that sells for a quarter of a million dollars. Andres Valencia hasn’t even started middle school yet and he’s being discussed as the art world’s newest child prodigy.
He’s got a surrealist approach to his art and some of the paintings can go as high as $230,000. His work has earned him an auction in Hong Kong as well as a solo show in New York.
Valencia caught up with the New York Times and said, “If you see a kid doing sketches on paper with a marker, a lot of people think that those drawings should not be put in a gallery. Sometimes, older people just don’t get it.”
Luckily for everyone who has had the pleasure of seeing his work, people have most certainly seen his talent.
Valencia is based in San Diego, California and has been painting since he was five. He works with oil and acrylic paint as well as oil sticks. His art teachers quickly recognized his talent. Today, he’s being compared to such artists as Picasso and George Condo.
While his work is getting him a lot of attention, he’s not working alone at all times. He has actually been collaborating with a few renowned artists including Raphael Mazzucco, Bradley Theodore, and Retna. He’s also been studying art history and has started to sculpt at home.
If you haven’t heard of him before, you have now. And if you want to see some of his incredible work before it shows up in a gallery, you can follow him on Instagram.
