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Thomas Kinkade dead at 54

monarch64

monarch64

Super_Ideal_Rock
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When I first read about his death last night, I was thinking of Hallmark stores in the '90's, the decorating fad of hunter green and burgundy with lots of brass, and piano teachers.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/08/arts/design/thomas-kinkade-artist-to-mass-market-dies-at-54.html

Intrigued, I delved further and found that he was quite the interesting character, and not always in good ways!

http://www.artinfo.com/news/story/34908/thomas-kinkade-arrested-for-alleged-drunk-driving/

My, how people do vary.
 
I never celebrate any death, but I do celebrate the end of new gratuitous kitsch for his multimillion dollar "art" factory.

I'd rather put a painting of Elvis on black velvet in my home

But what do I know? Clearly million$$$$$$$$$$ of people love his work.
 
kenny|1333916342|3166298 said:
I never celebrate any death, but I do celebrate the end of new gratuitous kitsch for his multimillion dollar "art" factory.

I'd rather put a painting of Elvis on black velvet in my home

But what do I know? Clearly million$$$$$$$$$$ of people love his work.
Click to expand...


Considering that the man just died, this seems rather uglier than necessary. How 'bout we speak with compassion for his grieving family and leave it at that?
 
kenny|1333916342|3166298 said:
I never celebrate any death, but I do celebrate the end of new gratuitous kitsch for his multimillion dollar "art" factory.

I'd rather put a painting of Elvis on black velvet in my home

But what do I know? Clearly million$$$$$$$$$$ of people love his work.
Click to expand...

So...you're glad he's dead so he can't paint anymore?

You sound a little hostile and jealous Kenny.

I don't really understand the point to this thread. A man has died at 54 - I think that is a sad thing and I'm sure his family mourns him and misses him.
 
Junebug, I posted it because I never knew anything about the painter himself until yesterday, and I found some of his life choices to be in fascinating contrast with what his art represented to many. This was definitely not a thread intended to celebrate his death. I thought perhaps it would make for an interesting conversation.
 
And Kenny, I think you mentioned some time ago that you own a black velvet painting or two? Seems like you started a thread about it once, please refresh us. My dad had a couple of those, in fact my parents still have them although my mom would never let my dad hang them in their house they did keep them just in case they were worth money someday, ha! (Maybe they are now!)

One of the interesting things I read about Mr. Kinkade was that he thought he had something in common with Walt Disney--to make people happy--and then I found several sources who cited an incident in which Mr. Kinkade urinated on a statue of Winnie the Pooh at a Disney theme park and stated "this one's for you, Walt." So, he (Mr. K., that is) was clearly a storied individual. Not just some name behind a billion popular prints and calendars!
 
monarch64|1333923019|3166345 said:
Junebug, I posted it because I never knew anything about the painter himself until yesterday, and I found some of his life choices to be in fascinating contrast with what his art represented to many. This was definitely not a thread intended to celebrate his death. I thought perhaps it would make for an interesting conversation.
Click to expand...

Ok monarch, I see. I don't really have anything to contribute to the conversation, so I guess I'll bow out!
 
kenny|1333916342|3166298 said:
I never celebrate any death, but I do celebrate the end of new gratuitous kitsch for his multimillion dollar "art" factory.

I'd rather put a painting of Elvis on black velvet in my home

But what do I know? Clearly million$$$$$$$$$$ of people love his work.
Click to expand...

Clearly, a lot of people were happy with his paintings. Good for them and for him. Does it really harm any of us if a lot of people enjoy something we consider kitsch? A lot of people think our fascination with diamonds, coloured stones and jewelry is frivolous and that we are throwing our money away to make mine owners and diamond conglomerates rich.

I try not to judge people's taste. I enjoy what I enjoy. You enjoy what you enjoy. Let us all be happy and less judgmental.
 
How sad for anyone to die so young these days.

His style of painting is not one that I would wish to own, but there is a huge market for a very similar genre here in the UK and I guess he brought pleasure to millions of people - which is a pretty amazing and laudable achievement for anyone.
 
Yes, a very sad loss for his family and fans.
 
many artists have troubled lives....compared to some, he was angelic [jackson pollack for instance].

not my kind of art....but some of it ended up on jigsaw puzzles and i bought them for my mother as she likes that "style".....

each to their own.

turns out he lived in Los Gatos which is very near us. RIP Thomas Kinkade.
 
I live within spittin' distance of Kinkaide country so I've seen a lot of his work, including a few originals and a lot of his "enhanced" prints. In frames, I mean, as opposed to on tea towels and in Hallmark snow globes. :wink2: Generally it's not my cup of tea - I've only seen one image that I really would have enjoyed hanging in my house. However, I've also been to a few fundraisers for local groups ( volunteer fire departments, schools, etc.) to which Mr. Kinkaide had donated works. It seems he never forgot the communities that provided his early inspiration.

Thomas Kinkaide made no secret of the fact that he was consciously making an multi-million dollar industry out of his art. I also found that a bit of a turn-off, but when it comes down to it, Van Gogh and Klimpt and Tiffany images have also have also been reproduced in thousands of ways and generated billions of dollars for someone - just not for the artists that actually created the images. I guess I can't really blame Kinkaide for wanting to build his brand in a way that would allow him and his family to enjoy the results... in his case, for a very short time.

ETA ditto Pandora - his art did bring pleasure to a lot of people, and that is quite an achievement in itself.
 
People die young and that is sad. Dying young or living tragically does not give validation to one's art works. I read this thread back when no one had yet responded to it, but didn't join in then. I looked him up, looked at his work and that was about all. I did think specifically that I would rather have an Elvis painting on black velvet than anything this guy had done. Kenny when I read your post I was shocked that you wrote absolutely verbatim what I thought to myself. Very spooky. I never heard of him until today. I don't expect to hear of him again. His death seems to be the only thing that has made his work noteworthy to those who did not know him personally. Since his work seems to be the focus of all these obits (they don't talk much about his 54 years and what a great dad, friend and neighbor and colleague he was) I think it is ok to respond to his work with an obit too.
 
VRBeauty|1333939740|3166470 said:
I live within spittin' distance of Kinkaide country so I've seen a lot of his work, including a few originals and a lot of his "enhanced" prints. In frames, I mean, as opposed to on tea towels and in Hallmark snow globes. :wink2: Generally it's not my cup of tea - I've only seen one image that I really would have enjoyed hanging in my house. However, I've also been to a few fundraisers for local groups ( volunteer fire departments, schools, etc.) to which Mr. Kinkaide had donated works. It seems he never forgot the communities that provided his early inspiration.

Thomas Kinkaide made no secret of the fact that he was consciously making an multi-million dollar industry out of his art. I also found that a bit of a turn-off, but when it comes down to it, Van Gogh and Klimpt and Tiffany images have also have also been reproduced in thousands of ways and generated billions of dollars for someone - just not for the artists that actually created the images. I guess I can't really blame Kinkaide for wanting to build his brand in a way that would allow him and his family to enjoy the results... in his case, for a very short time.

ETA ditto Pandora - his art did bring pleasure to a lot of people, and that is quite an achievement in itself.
Click to expand...

I'm not happy he is dead, certainly, but I really despised his work, or at least his commonly available stuff. It did indeed have a message, and under the puppy farts and rainbows, was something darker, to my mind. I found his work claustrophobic and trite.

While I understand that artists need to make a living, and many have do so doing stuff they aren't that fond of - Alphonse Mucha comes to mind - he came under fire for screwing over quite a few of the people who invested in his mall gallery concept. (I couldn't find anything right off, but as I recall, people would basically buy what they thought were exclusive distrubution rights, and then pulled a fast one on them and started dealing with WalMart, or some such. Screwed the mom-and-pop galleries to the wall. How many of those places are left? The one or two that were here are long gone.) His overt religiosity seemed at odds with his business practices, that's for sure.
 
Not like I'd wish anyone dead, but he is someone who rubbed me the wrong way. Reminds me of L Ron Hubbard.
 
The difference with Monet, IMO, is that he (and others at the time) were doing something truly new. Their view of the world was novel, and as such, was likely to get negative reactions from that aspect alone. Kinkade on the other hand, all his stuff reminds me of a 1970's LOTR calendar that I had. Tom Bombadil's cottage, the Last Homely House, Hobbiton, ad nauseum.

Now, if he had a secret artistic passion that he indulged in that was not so commercial perhaps, but showed more complexity, or mastery of a totally different style, then I'd give the man a bit more credit. I really don't mind art that is decorative, my house has much of it since I've been collecting since I was 18, and my mother was a master of floral watercolors. No message but the beauty of the subject itself. But if art is going to HAVE a message or a feel, I prefer that kind of art to reflect the complexity of real life, not be endless scenes from Hobbiton.
 
I think that his art is so grating for many of us, because it is all backward-gazing, and furthermore, backward in a manner that never really existed. Especially not here in the US. Here is an interesting analysis...

http://www.salon.com/2002/03/18/kinkade_village/
 
"I really despised his work, or at least his commonly available stuff. It did indeed have a message, and under the puppy farts and rainbows, was something darker, to my mind. I found his work claustrophobic and trite." (ksinger)


You may be right. Why else would he be drinking so excessively that it may have contributed to his death? Just another example of how money and fame won't necessarily make you happy. . . ?
 
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