Posted on 03/24/2006 6:35:10 PM PST by aculeus
Entrepreneur artist who hangs in one in 20 US homes accused of fraud and drunken antics
"There's over 40 walls in the average American home," a business manager for the artist Thomas Kinkade once said, "and Thom says our job is to figure out how to populate every single wall in every single home and every single business throughout the world with his paintings."
Kinkade's luridly idyllic landscapes, full of quaint cottages and glowing firelight, already hang in an estimated one in 20 US homes. "In the often hurried, unsympathetic and complex world we live in, the images Thomas Kinkade paints offer a place of refuge," his company's literature purrs. "A place where the transient things of life give way to the things that matter most ... faith and family, a loving home and the people who know and love us."
Art critics have long dismissed his work as a kitsch crime against aesthetics. But now the world has grown even more "unsympathetic and complex" for the artist, who describes himself as a devout Christian and has trademarked his "Painter of Light" soubriquet. In court documents and other testimony, he has been accused of sexual harassment, fraudulent business practices and bizarre incidents of drunkenness including a habit of "ritual territory marking" that involves urinating in public places.
'Misleading picture'
A court-appointed arbitration panel has ruled in favour of two former owners of Kinkade-branded galleries, ordering his company to pay them $860,000 (£500,000) for breaching "the covenant of good faith and dealing" and failing to disclose pertinent business information.
(Excerpt) Read more at arts.guardian.co.uk ...
Oh, I have that bottom one! A signed lithograph. Don't you just love it?
OMG, that is hilarious.
This is a good thread. Nice, isn't it?
This is a pretty arty crowd
Uhhh, no one on this thread is discussing the contents of the article. Only the body of Kinkade's work is being discussed, and nothing the Guardian says or doesn't say about him makes his paintings any better.
I agree; I have three of his signed lithographs that I bought in the little shop in Sturbridge years ago.
What a wonderful place; it will always be one of my fondest memories. That, and how damn C O L D it was there.
Look at the looter guy in the Thomas Kinkaid painting in post 119!
As to the guts of the article
"If during this period I ever offended anybody, I am sorry. Anyone who knows me knows I always try my best to be loving ... the good news is I learned many valuable lessons from that phase of my life," he wrote in an email to gallery owners this month.
What does one learn from all this? not to drink?
Now, that is a scream ... )))
Only they will truly appreciate your work of art."
Great site!
Looks like the walls in my house! I usually pay for my stuff, though not very much. In addition to fishing stuff out of junk stores, I believe in supporting local "Artists." Anyone with enough nerve to try to make a buck like that deserves my money. Usually, for much less than the cost of a "Limited Edition" print by one of the Name Brand artists, you can keep some kid in Paints, Canvas and Peanut Butter for a couple of weeks. And get an original painting by a real person. Like this...
+
I got a signed Miro print at a Church art sale for $2.00.Its value is around $500 to $1000.
In the '60s Sears hired Vincent Price to be an art expert for its stores. He selected some good contemporary art and it was reasonably affordable..I saw the Sears label on the back and took a chance. Sure enough it was original
My goodness, such vitriol. What's with the bashing?
And for the record, I happen to like Thomas Kinkaide's art.
Wow!!! Good find!!!
I love Miro. But my wife hates him, EOS. Did you ever see the LARGE Miro mural in the Cincinnati Art Museum that used to line the walls of a high class Cincy eatery?
Still has the food splatters!
An aquaintance of mine found a folio of signed Thomas Hart Benton lithos at a used book store in Cincinnati for five dollars!
Never went to Cincinnati but I have been to France... Saw a lot of Miro's work there...I like the fiid spatter Idea...
unusual tidbit: Jackson Pollock studied under Thomas Hart Benton
should read food spatter
I think I like that one...
Miro's my favorite abstract artist. His paintings are so cheerful, and great use of color.
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