Defend the indefensible - Thomas Kinkade

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TS: Adolf Hitler the artist vs. Thomas Kinkade the artist

Maxwell von Bismarck (maxwell von bismarck), Thursday, 15 September 2005 19:18 (7 years ago) Permalink

"A white unicorn would never assist in the maiming of Iraqi kids or the abandonment of flood victims!"

A bird that craps lightning probably would, though.

Austin Still (Austin, Still), Thursday, 15 September 2005 22:22 (7 years ago) Permalink

An entry from Donald Urquhart's Top Ten in this month's Artforum:

7. THOMAS KINKADE Top print-selling U.S. artist Thomas Kinkade ("Painter of Light") paints the American dream deluxe in jaw-dropping color. Thankfully absent from his rustic scenes are poverty, hunger, disease, and horror—we get enough of that elsewhere. Here, American hometown life of the good old days is rendered painstakingly pretty, illuminated with a gaslight-and-sunset glow, and I believe you can even add customized highlighting (should you prefer) when you buy a print. Like Kathleen Turner's character says in John Waters's Serial Mom, "Life doesn't have to be ugly."

dr gary busey (dr g), Friday, 16 September 2005 03:26 (7 years ago) Permalink

painstakingly pretty,

two words that probably don't go too well together...

kingfish superman ice cream (kingfish 2.0), Friday, 16 September 2005 04:52 (7 years ago) Permalink


illuminated with a gaslight-and-sunset glow,

yeah, those houses look like they're on fire.

simian (dymaxia), Friday, 16 September 2005 15:48 (7 years ago) Permalink

he's got a good racket going. no other defense. shit's ugly as fuck and could never look cool on a t shirt.

AaronK (AaronK), Friday, 16 September 2005 16:03 (7 years ago) Permalink

5 months pass...
In sworn testimony and interviews, they recount incidents in which an allegedly drunken Kinkade heckled illusionists Siegfried & Roy in Las Vegas, cursed a former employee's wife who came to his aid when he fell off a barstool, and palmed a startled woman's breasts at a signing party in South Bend, Ind.

And then there is Kinkade's proclivity for "ritual territory marking," as he called it, which allegedly manifested itself in the late 1990s outside the Disneyland Hotel in Anaheim.

"This one's for you, Walt," the artist quipped late one night as he urinated on a Winnie the Pooh figure, said Terry Sheppard, a former vice president for Kinkade's company, in an interview.

latebloomer: keeping his reputation for an intense on-set presence (latebloomer), Monday, 6 March 2006 22:27 (7 years ago) Permalink

WHERE THE TITTAYS AT?!!?

Austin Still (Austin, Still), Monday, 6 March 2006 22:31 (7 years ago) Permalink

Kinkade? Josephine Wall? Amateurs...
I give you the (sadly) late C John Taylor!

Ned T.Rifle (nedtrifle), Monday, 6 March 2006 22:53 (7 years ago) Permalink

At least Taylor attempts something besides landscapes, even just for that he's better.

Rotgutt (Rotgutt), Monday, 6 March 2006 23:53 (7 years ago) Permalink

I can understand if your granny likes this shite, but what bothers me is the fact that some young people are into him (young meaning under 35). I have met 2 guys who were arbiters of taste in many ways, but who had TK prints and a TK COFFEE TABLE BOOK!

They had these things not for any kitsch value, but because it was pretty stuff. While their appreciation of good food seemed geniune and refined, their concept of art was based in its being a commodity, another decorative aspect of their home, like wall paper.

Bleh.

unclejessjess, Monday, 6 March 2006 23:59 (7 years ago) Permalink

I would not put Taylor in the same class as Kinkade. Taylor's paintings are pretty bad all around, but they are at least showing some interest in thinking about starting to be curious about trying something challenging for a viewer. TK is about carefully avoiding engaging a viewer's brain.

unclejessjess, Tuesday, 7 March 2006 00:02 (7 years ago) Permalink

"something challenging for a viewer"

Ned T.Rifle (nedtrifle), Tuesday, 7 March 2006 00:07 (7 years ago) Permalink

I know what you mean though. I've actually been to his art gallery (in fact there are about five or six shops around Scotland selling the stuff) and some of the paintings do have a curious edge. And he did poetry as well.

Ned T.Rifle (nedtrifle), Tuesday, 7 March 2006 00:09 (7 years ago) Permalink

Anyone who wastes time hating on this charming artist needs to reassess his priorities in life (& probably they definition of kool while they at it).

I think his style is really neat & i would for sure want to live in one of them villagez.

UL® (blastocyst), Tuesday, 7 March 2006 00:22 (7 years ago) Permalink

Who are we talking about now - Kincade or Taylor?

Ned T.Rifle (nedtrifle), Tuesday, 7 March 2006 01:17 (7 years ago) Permalink

TK

UL® (blastocyst), Tuesday, 7 March 2006 01:57 (7 years ago) Permalink

http://www.somethingawful.com/articles.php?a=1928

Lovely parodies. Metafilter had TK as a subject today. Weird?

unclejessjess (unclejessjess), Tuesday, 7 March 2006 03:28 (7 years ago) Permalink

apparently next year a collection of academic essays about TK will be published by duke

anthony easton (anthony), Thursday, 9 March 2006 10:56 (7 years ago) Permalink

2 weeks pass...
More trouble in the Kinkade camp.
http://arts.guardian.co.uk/news/story/0,,1739383,00.html

Ned T.Rifle (nedtrifle), Sunday, 26 March 2006 00:50 (7 years ago) Permalink

"You've got to remember, I'm the idol to these women who were there. They sell my work every day, you know. They're enamoured with any attention I would give them."

Ned T.Rifle (nedtrifle), Sunday, 26 March 2006 00:52 (7 years ago) Permalink

2 months pass...
i called the office of kincaide and company last week, cause i wanted some deer paintings for a show im curating, and he has only shown in one gallery, and it was a semi ironic california retrospective, its impossible to get his work in a gallery setting...the woman i spoke to seemed kind and genuine, but still slightly off

anthony easton (anthony), Monday, 19 June 2006 10:54 (6 years ago) Permalink

2 months pass...
Entertainment.

The FBI is investigating allegations that self-styled "Painter of Light" Thomas Kinkade and some of his top executives fraudulently induced investors to open galleries and then ruined them financially, former dealers contacted by agents said.

Investigators are focusing on issues raised in civil litigation by at least six former Thomas Kinkade Signature Gallery owners, people who have been contacted by the FBI said. Among other things, the ex-owners alleged in arbitration claims that the artist known for his dreamily luminous landscapes and street scenes used his Christian faith to persuade them to invest in the independently owned stores, which must sell Kinkade's work exclusively.

Oh please let this go to court, please please please...

Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 29 August 2006 03:29 (6 years ago) Permalink

used his Christian faith to persuade them

this is an odd bit of writing. "The power of Christ compels you!"

kingfish high command (kingfish 2.0), Tuesday, 29 August 2006 05:56 (6 years ago) Permalink

i'll defend this great man

timmy tannin (pompous), Tuesday, 29 August 2006 06:15 (6 years ago) Permalink

great thread! i love thomas kinkade. as in, i love the idea. we spent a good three hours discussing him in a philosophy of art seminar course once.

He is like some sort of bad delillo-esqe near-future satire of american society.
this is a good comment.

i'm sad to hear that the empire is crumbling because it changes the context. there's incredible schadenfreude, naturally, and i don't begrudge such a horribly smug man this wonderful comeuppance, but his continued success is an important part of what he is and represents. i guess i'm generally sad about the end of the myth. thomas kinkaide, painter of light big jerk.

derrick (derrick), Tuesday, 29 August 2006 06:26 (6 years ago) Permalink

T minus 5 minutes until the "Thomas Kinkaide, painter of indictments/fraud/whatever" wanna-be-clever headlines appear.

Elvis Telecom (Chris Barrus), Tuesday, 29 August 2006 16:11 (6 years ago) Permalink

that new yorker article is priceless. those "highlighters" are certainly scam artists of the highest degree. and they go to classes to learn about kinkade himself. what a bunch of douches.

t0dd swiss (immobilisme), Wednesday, 30 August 2006 02:25 (6 years ago) Permalink

1 month passes...

and what (ooo), Saturday, 28 October 2006 21:42 (6 years ago) Permalink

Beth Parker (Beth Parker), Saturday, 28 October 2006 23:30 (6 years ago) Permalink

Beth Parker (Beth Parker), Saturday, 28 October 2006 23:32 (6 years ago) Permalink

Just pokin' around in the Leanin' Tree site.

Beth Parker (Beth Parker), Saturday, 28 October 2006 23:33 (6 years ago) Permalink

Beth Parker (Beth Parker), Saturday, 28 October 2006 23:34 (6 years ago) Permalink


When Ron York and his wife, Linda, moved into their new home last summer, they had no idea that hundreds of people would stop their cars to look and take photographs.

"All of the attention has caught us off guard," York said. "We didn't set out to build a show house, but we consider it a compliment that people consider it interesting."

York has been the general contractor on small apartment projects and single-family homes throughout Whatcom County for more than 15 years. When the Yorks decided to build a home for themselves, they bought six acres on east Axton Road.

They built a 3,100-square-foot stone house with a thatched roof, a swooping roofline, cobblestone pavers for the driveway, and garage doors decorated with handles and strap hinges to give the illusion of opening out like carriage doors.

Question: What inspired the design?

Answer: I've always wanted to build a stone house, and Linda has always wanted a thatched roof. We both loved the painter Thomas Kinkade. We were looking at one of his paintings one day and we thought it would be great to live in a place like that. It's so homey and inviting.

Q: Was it hard to figure out how to build it?

A: We hired Mark Ouellette, a Lynden-based building designer. We supplied him with a number of Thomas Kinkade pictures and a sketch of the floor plan on a piece of notebook paper. It took about three months of trading ideas back and forth because it was an unusual design. We got so much help that we really appreciated from so many people along the way. I'm not a custom-home builder - this is my first - and I understand the value of listening to people's ideas. I worked with some contractors who were used to working on million-dollar homes, and they came with a wealth of ideas that I was able to tap into. We built this house to last a couple hundred years.

gear (gear), Sunday, 29 October 2006 01:54 (6 years ago) Permalink

whatcom county is just the other side of the border from vancouver! do you have an address or at least a town?

derrick (derrick), Sunday, 29 October 2006 01:57 (6 years ago) Permalink

he's everywhere you want to be.

am0n (am0n), Sunday, 29 October 2006 02:02 (6 years ago) Permalink

whatcom county is just the other side of the border from vancouver! do you have an address or at least a town?

-- derrick (briochesqu...), October 28th, 2006 9:57 PM. (derrick)

they say "east Axton Road", looks like it might be bellingham?
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=E+Axton+Rd,+Bellingham,+WA&ie=UTF8&z=14&ll=48.850428,-122.433872&spn=0.024286,0.083342&om=1&iwloc=addr

am0n (am0n), Sunday, 29 October 2006 02:09 (6 years ago) Permalink

this dude writes books too! I just saw some at the library!

teeny (teeny), Sunday, 29 October 2006 11:05 (6 years ago) Permalink

2 years pass...

Roffle.

Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 18 November 2008 19:16 (4 years ago) Permalink

This is one of my favorite threads.

Abbott of the Trapezoid Monks (Abbott), Tuesday, 18 November 2008 19:16 (4 years ago) Permalink

In his memo to the film crew, Kinkade twice cites Stanley Kubrick’s Barry Lyndon as a working template and volunteers an idea for keeping spirits high during the shoot: “Perhaps we could make large posters that simply say ‘Love this movie’ and post them about.”

To get an expert opinion on Kinkade’s manifesto, I showed it to cinematographer Ellen Kuras, best known for her work with director Spike Lee. She points out that he confuses focal length and depth of field, and questions his overall approach.

“I’ve never seen any of his paintings, but I have to say, he’s very cheesy in his descriptions,” Kuras says. “The whole gauzy, cozy feeling, darkening the edges to make your vision more myopic, I think is about trying to draw the larger metaphor for the way to heaven. But reading all of this, it’s a prescription for a bad ’60s porn movie.”

Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 18 November 2008 19:19 (4 years ago) Permalink

6) Hidden details whenever possible, References to my children (from youngest to oldest as follows): Evie, Winsor, Chandler and Merritt. References to my anniversary date, the number 52, the number 82, and the number 5282 (for fun, notice how many times this appears in my major published works). Hidden N's throughout -- preferably thirty N's, commemorating one N for each year since the events happened.

Weird. Maybe he's a numerologist? That's disturbing that he has a movie..

Adam Bruneau, Tuesday, 18 November 2008 20:22 (4 years ago) Permalink

I like O'Toole's expression. "I'm in this movie? Really?"

Shacknasty (Frogman Henry), Tuesday, 18 November 2008 20:31 (4 years ago) Permalink

oh marcia gay, hope you got something nice

goole, Tuesday, 18 November 2008 20:32 (4 years ago) Permalink

loooooooooooool

most important concept of all -- THE CONCEPT OF LOVE (donna rouge), Tuesday, 18 November 2008 20:33 (4 years ago) Permalink

“In the age of Photoshop, anybody can do this kind of crap.”

⊂⊃ ⊂⊃ ⊂⊃ ⊂⊃ ⊂⊃ ⊂⊃ (Pleasant Plains), Tuesday, 18 November 2008 20:35 (4 years ago) Permalink

trailer!

I'M ACTUALLY FINE (I DIED), Tuesday, 18 November 2008 20:39 (4 years ago) Permalink

holy shit it's got Chris Elliott!

I'M ACTUALLY FINE (I DIED), Tuesday, 18 November 2008 20:40 (4 years ago) Permalink


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