Found this in one of art forums: Nail to the coffin of another myth.
Here is my list of red flags on the whole Akiane thing:
1. Her mother is also an artist, with a similar style to Akiane's.
2. Her mother writes in her book that the family was very, very poor, living in a shack and struggling for money in the beginning. (Desperate times......)
3. They exploited Akiane's artistic abilities since she was a small child, at one point their only income being the money Akiane made from giving other kids sketching lessons.
4. They have 3 other children, and each of them are equally as "gifted," and called a "prodigy," in their poetry and artwork. I can understand it happening once, but all 4 of your children? Aren't prodigies supposed to be rare? And what are the odds of them all living in the same place and time, belonging to the same parents?
5. If Akiane is receiving profound images of heaven, creation, other dimensions, and the quantum world, wouldn't they be like nothing mankind has ever seen? And yet her paintings bear a strong resemblance to most New Age art I've seen (i.e. Josephine Wall, the artwork in Doreen Virtue's "oracle cards").
6. If you read what Akiane allegedly said about God, and her poetry... there's no way a child could have said or written any of that. Really...
7. It's one thing to be a gifted child artist. There are many of those, but they don't often reach fame and fortune. But to claim visions and voices from God influenced the art? That the child is seeing and hearing God and painting the results? That is sure to sell!!!
8. This is the big kicker: I saw Akiane, now 18, on Katie Couric's talkshow (yes, I'm from the U.S.) the other day, and Akiane said God has been telling her for some time now that the visions are going to stop, and "to be prepared not to receive anymore". This could influence her art, even make it stop, and she's not sure what she'll do when that time comes. *Gasp!* Oh no! It's all gonna magically go away now that she's 18! ... Or possibly, is she through with the facade, with her parents exploiting and making outrageous claims about her work? They've already made their millions after all, and the inspired artwork of an 18 or 20-something is nowhere near as amazing (and sellable) as that of an 8 or 10 year old.
My conclusion? I think she is a gifted artist, but she is probably helped out by her mom, and the God stuff is delusion or hogwash, invented by the parents in order to exploit her and lift themselves out of poverty
