Posted on 06/16/2010 4:14:36 AM PDT by Loyalist
The painter of light has entered a dark period. Thomas Kinkade, the self-proclaimed (and trademarked) Painter of Light™, is beset with legal troubles. Several years ago, art gallery owners successfully sued his Kinkade’s Media Arts Group for millions after it was revealed that he and company officials used invoked God and their “higher calling” to hide the financial risks of the investments.
The settlement put such a strain on his company that earlier this month, he filed for bankruptcy protection from his hundreds of other creditors. Adding to his woes, the artist was arrested on a DUI charge outside his home in Carmel, California.
What sets this news apart from similarly tragic human interest stories is that Kinkade is one of the most financially successful artists in the world. As his website proclaims, Kinkade is “America’s most collected living artist.” He has sold over ten million works and his art or licensed product (which includes wallpaper, tableware, stationary, and La-Z-Boy chairs and sofas) is estimated to be in one in ten homes in the United States. He has even “inspired” a novel (Cape Light), a TV-movie (“Home for Christmas”), and planned communities (“The Gates of Coeur d’Alene” in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, and “The Village at Hiddenbrooke” outside of San Francisco, and others).
His admirers are legion, especially among evangelical Christians. As an evangelical, I was aware that he was popular but had no idea how much religious devotion he inspired until I expressed my disapproval of the artist’s oeuvre.
....
No doubt many people who would praise a rich, popular, establishment-approved hack like Andy Warhol despise Kinkade for being a rich, popular, evangelical-approved hack. But I think a solid case against Kinkade can be made on purely aesthetic criteria, especially when you compare his work to a superior artist.
(Excerpt) Read more at firstthings.com ...
This article critiques Kinkade for having done just that, to devastating effect.
I’m looking forward to his “View from the Prison Cell” series.
Thomas Kinkade arrested for drunk driving
http://entertainment.blogs.foxnews.com/2010/06/15/landscape-painter-thomas-kinkade-busted-for-drunk-driving/
Kinkade’s works are giclées..............the process of making prints from a digital source using ink-jet printing. Painters then dab on brushstrokes to fashion the illusion of an actual painting.
Sac/Bee reported Kinkade’s company owes 1,000-5,000 creditors a total of $10-50 million, according to bankruptcy documents. A list of creditors more than 100 pages long was appended to the bankruptcy filing. It included a cardboard-box company in Sacramento, the state Board of Equalization and small art galleries in Folsom, Auburn and Elk Grove.
At the top of the list were Karen Hazelwood and Jeff Spinello, Virginia gallery owners to whom Kinkade’s company said it owed almost $2.4 million. The debt stemmed from a fraud claim the couple won in arbitration in 2006. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the award last June.
CBS’ 60 Minutes segment said Kinkade sells more than art. There is a whole array of Kinkade-branded items on the market. “Thomas Kinkade is a multi-dimensional lifestyle brand, similar to Martha Stewart or Ralph Lauren,” says Kinkade. “You can put a Thomas Kinkade couch beneath your Thomas Kinkade painting. Next to the Thomas Kinkade couch goes the Thomas Kinkade end table. On top of that goes your collection of Thomas Kinkade books, Thomas Kinkade collectibles, Thomas Kinkade throw rugs. You can snuggle your Thomas Kinkade teddy bear.”
And, he adds, “You can put all of that inside your new Thomas Kinkade home in the Thomas Kinkade subdivision.” More than 100 homes, all modeled on his cutesy, cozy cottages, have been built in Vallejo, Calif., outside San Francisco.
Jesse Barnes was the original light painter. Kincaid’s style is almost identical and for whatever reason he to surpass JB. I never purchased any of his art because he seemed to be a knock off of JB.
It’s sad though that he is in this predicament.
http://www.christcenteredmall.com/stores/art/barnes/barnes_biography.htm
You are likely correct in Kinkade’s inspiration. Jesse Barnes seems to have been developing this *light* technique years before Kinkade was born.
I guess I’m not much of an art critic. In the article, he compares two paintings, praising the first one while exchoriating the second. They were both done by Kinkaide. I happen to like the second one and not the first. What do I know, not much....
I like his paintings and am sad to see that he is in the trouble he’s in. When you reach the heights, the fall is long and hard...
I saw you post this exact post the other day. Do you have a source?
Actually John Plummer Ludlum was the original light painter. He created the luminescent school.
Is he a contemporary? Haven’t heard of him.
Read it again-—I posted the sources.
It’s amazing how very successful can figure out how to screw up the whole thing.
Kind of the reverse of a radio commercial I hear all the time:
“If I had the talent to earn millions of dollars, I realized I could also use that same talent to get millions of dollars in debt! I’m Steve Stump. Send for my free report, “Getting Heavily into Debt!” You’ve got nothing to lose but all that money.”
You can buy copies of his work to complete with numbered color pencils from the Mary Maxim catalogue.
Right next to the wall hangings you can glue sequins onto.
What? No Elvis on velvet do-it-yourself kits?
Night Nativity
Geertgen tot Sint Jans (about 1490)
(nothing new under the sun)
I’m sure I’m in the minority, but I actually like Kincaid’s work. I’ve got several framed works of his in my home.
It’s too bad he’s taken the path he’s on. What a shame.
Elvis is not so popular anymore. But you can still get wild animals and adorable kittens and puppies on velvet.
You can also find Christmas tree ornaments made from plastic beads and safety pins. (Not recommended for children under the age of 10).
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