Defend the indefensible - Thomas Kinkade

I don't think that the Warhol comparison is totally fair. Warhol was smarter about his art in a different way. TK comes off as a business more than an artist. He uses gimmicks to increase value & sell more crap. Warhol seems to me more like a running commentary.

also, my parents buy the Kinkade.

and they buy books advertised on the radio.

It was while growing up in the small town of Placerville, California that these important values were nurtured. It was also during this time that Kinkade began to explore the world around him. He spent a summer on a sketching tour with a college friend, producing the best-selling instructional book, The Artist's Guide to Sketching. The success of the book landed the two young artists at Ralph Bakshi Studios to create background art for the animated feature film Fire and Ice. It was also during this time that Kinkade began to explore light and imaginative worlds with abandon.

HE WORKED FOR THE DUDE WHO MADE THE NOTORIOUS X-RATED ANIMATED FILM "FRITZ THE CAT"!

i dont like his work aesthetically or poltically but then i am not supposed to, art historians and art critcs have taken a vow against sentiment and against romance, and that vow kind of saddens me--i waonder what happens when we can again make solid arguements about the poltical and social implications of sentiment.

warhol is a non starter here, because warhol always positioned himself in the critical mainstream, his work is beloved by art critics because of its disavowal of sentiment, his pyschosexual ruthlessness is an anthema (sp) to kincaide.

kincaide isnt as interesting as he was 10 years ago, even his fans think that is work has become played out, and the 9/11 peice is the worst kind of patrotic kitsch, and i find him interesting conceptually (the lack of people, the "i come to the garden alone jesus shit, the sheer money, the extension of an artists aura, the mobile assitant and studio, the ahistorical nature of his work, the pyschogeographic sense of place, the cultivating of audience, etc)

i also find his constructions much closer to lets say poussin, then to rockwell (rockwell is harder, more political, more concerned with the everyday life of people).

poussin is v. interesting to compare him to b/c of the political simliarities to their time and place, and the back to the garden arcadian shit that they have so much in common.

kincaide is against most of what i stand for as a critic but most of what i stand for as a critic is so outside of the mainstream, and academics dont seem to fucking realise that, it behooves us to play his game for a while, in the same way it behooves us to listen to whatever is on the top of the pops.

currin is way for high end motherfuckers to say, oh i love craft and painting and the tradition and all of that, w/o engaging in it. the ugly, almost misogynst/homophobic paintings are really a way of constructing oppostion, they are self negating.

wow my kinkade/fantasy art connection is validated

ok, i'm gunna need help with this one

How emotions and behavior are affected by the geographic environment, apparently.

oh, ok. at least the term makes sense now...

http://images-eu.amazon.com/images/P/B000084HZX.03.LZZZZZZZ.jpg

Ugh.

Has anyone actually seen one of the original paintings? Is there even anywhere that his originals are on display? I'm wonder what scale he works in ... if the originals are much larger than the prints.

argh argh argh

You'd think that a professional printmaker like Kinkade might be aware that other artists also make prints.

...when he was twenty he experienced a Christian awakening, and that it changed his art -- it stopped being about his fears and anxieties and became optimistic and inspirational, with themes like home towns and perfect days and natural beauty, and millions of people responded.

...even the bad parts of the story are good, because it's easier not to begrudge Kinkade his fortune when you are reminded that he was a poor kid who had to struggle, who rejected the smarty-pants liberal establishment to follow his heart, and who is proud of having earned his way into the ultimate American aristocracy of successful entrepreneurs.

...His paintings were selling well, but he decided that he wanted "to engulf as many hearts as possible with art," a goal that would be hindered by selling only original work.

Based on that article, he embodies an entire worldview (self-help books, 'pretend the bad things don't exist,' gated communities) that I find slightly less appealing than Islamic fundamentalism. I have a difficult time putting my aversion to those people into words, they just give me hives.

i don't like his paintings but i find that kind of art inoffensive in jigsaw puzzles, casual video games, cozy mystery book covers, etc.

for a guy who drew a lot of houses he could have learned more about architecture and design. he didn't draw roofs good.

It's sad he died before AI became a thing. A lot of his paintings look like AI and I imagine he wouldn't have hesitated to use the medium to increase his productivity.

I was struck by this heartwarming tribute:
https://i.redd.it/95uycadj89wb1.jpg

Blows my mind that james gurney and kinkaid were buddies

i was watching a video by Solar Sands, who did that video on Thomas Kinkade, "the most hated artist you probably recognize"... they've got a follow-up on Jeff Koons, "the most hated 'sculptor' you probably recognize". it's mostly them personally trying to figure out how they feel about koons' work and koons himself. they talk a little bit about koons vs. kinkade and koons vs. paul mccarthy.

i don't really have any strong opinions on jeff koons one way or another, i guess. he reminds me a little bit of rick rubin, just without the beard.

Matt Zoller Seitz on the documentary:

https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/art-for-everybody-thomas-kinkade-documentary-film-review-2025

i don't really have any strong opinions on jeff koons one way or another

the stuff with Cicciolina is pretty cringe and has not aged well