Posted on 03/06/2006 8:18:41 PM PST by tbird5
Christian-themed artist Thomas Kinkade is accused of ruthless tactics and seamy personal conduct. He disputes the allegations.
Thomas Kinkade is famous for his luminous landscapes and street scenes, those dreamy, deliberately inspirational images he says have brought "God's light" into people's lives, even as they have made him one of America's most collected artists.
A devout Christian who calls himself the "Painter of Light," Kinkade trades heavily on his beliefs and says God has guided his brush — and his life — for the last 20 years.
"When I got saved, God became my art agent," he said in a 2004 video biography, genteel in tone and rich in the themes of faith and family values that have helped win him legions of fans, albeit few among art critics.
But some former Kinkade employees, gallery operators and others contend that the Painter of Light has a decidedly dark side.
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
His art has no intrinsic meaning, anyway. That's one of the reasons it sucks as art.
Art, at it's basis, is a means of communication, a transfer of message and evoked emotion from the artist to the viewer. Pollack and the rest if the trendy of his time strove to remove all message from their art, and leave it up to the viewer to get whatever he could out of it.
Pollock's works are art at about the level of a teenager screaming "You just don't understand me!!!!" is a conversation. Trite, shallow, repetitive, unproductive, masturbatory and one-sided.
But the hostility is less directed at Pollack than at the waste of time and dead end pursuits it has sent the "Fine Art" world off in for 70 years.
"contrived" Perfect word for this subject matter.
Rothko was also somewhat of a failure as a painter, in that his paintings deteriorated badly over a period of about ten years. I was fortunate enough to see the Rothko Chapel before the red of the paintings turned to black, as they are now.
In one sense, my comparison of Kincaide to Rothko is unfortunate. Kincaide is primarily a businessman, and I think he has little emotional attachment to his paintings. Rothko was deadly serious, but also a deeply flawed man. If you understand what he was doing, and I think I might, as I went through a depressive period when I was younger, the paintings, when taken in series, are the unconscious result of a mind descending into madness. What is most chilling to me is that in the final paintings, hanging at the chapel in Houston, he was beyond even romanticizing suicide. Like Pollock, who died in a fiery car crash, Rothko chose an end that mimicked his art, by hanging his clothes in an orderly fashion, slitting the arteries in his arms, and sitting quietly as the blood ran into the basins of water. The wreck was Pollock's last splatter painting; the dark reds swirling in the basin of water was Rothko's last painting of his "colors" series: dark red, without hope, and made in a very temporary medium. (note, these are my beliefs and are universally laughed at by most art critics.)
Then you definitely should not buy any of his pieces. Problem solved.
They sure were,and I enjoy working on them. I have a 1966 GT350 Shelby Mustang.
"the paintings, when taken in series, are the unconscious result of a mind descending into madness. What is most chilling to me is that in the final paintings, hanging at the chapel in Houston, he was beyond even romanticizing suicide."
Many years ago, I went to a full retrospective of Rothko at the Guggenheim. You followed the spiral of the gallery all the way down - and his paintings, literally, all the way down - chronologically. Toward the end, you could feel the despair, see what was going to happen.
I am one who loved Kincaide, Bob Ross and Precious Moments. Some of the other art works posted are not my style.
If people have the money to pay what the artist sells, then I will not complain. It is the holier than thou attitude on some of the posts that really bother me. What a sad world it would be if everyone liked the same things.
There was another TV painter, a German or Austrian guy who Bob Ross "borrowed" his technique from that used to "fire it into zie booshes" (the paint or whatever). That was a running joke between my ex wife and me.
Kincaide is just worthless sentimental, embarrassing crap. It's a joke.
You are not the only one who thinks this is very odd. I love his art. Our daughter, Jan, and I would go in a store here that sold his paintings. She liked his work, too. I really, really miss her.
May Spiny Norman track you down and eat your smarmy little a**. ;>)
Agreed. Meanwhile, I know where you can get a beef heart and some cheap Pakistani surgical instruments, so you can have a copy of the art you like for your collection.
Sorry, we only buy originals. :)
If you like Kincade, I bet there are other artists whose work you would like just as much and would also be Christian in theme and beautiful. Check some of the links that people have provided on this thread.
Hurry, before it rots.
I had never heard of him. He seems to be the Rod McKuen of painting. Interesting that he "paints light." What are other people painting?
There is a lot of Hudson River stuff in Washington, DC, where I live, and every visitor's favorite is the voyage of life series by Cole.
If you liked Dumbo or Sleeping Beauty - does it matter that Walt Disney could hardly say three words in a row with out one of them being f@ck? (He only referred to Donald Duck as "that f@cking duck" - never by "Donald".)
So what? Do you care? I don't. I still laugh at Donald Duck, no matter what Walt called him.
I see. Then you would also agree that Adolf Hitler has no blame for what those pesky executioners at Auschwitz were doing, huh?
Then it is the buyer who is to blame. He/she should have done homework before spending a lot of money for something. I collect dolls but I buy them for how they look not what they will sell for in the next 50 years. Some have been expensive for me but Jan and I loved them. I am trying to find some way to sell or give away a few. We probably have about 100 or more. I even took one in a Christening dress down to my mom in MS after Jan died. She loves it as do the others in the nursing home. There is just something about a baby doll! BTW, my mom will be 102 in April.
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