Artist Thomas Kinkade's paintings mocked

[Liberal_in_LA]

Thomas Kinkade's work is everywhere. he even has his own galleries in malls. Here is an example. Pretty paintings. I wonder if he's one of those 'artists' that uses a crew to produce the art.



Painter Thomas Kinkade, in a wilder light
Julian Guthrie, Chronicle Staff Writer

Tuesday, November 17, 2009
On Friday night, dozens of artists converged on a small underground gallery off a dark and narrow alley in the heart of North Beach. The gallery on Bannam Place - which for decades has drawn poets and painters and bootleggers - hosted a one-night show called "Kinkade Cannibalized! - An Exhibition of Augmented Thomas Kinkade Paintings."

Kinkade, who calls himself the "Painter of Light" and is said to be the most collected living artist in America, creates images of Christmas chapels dusted in snow, of cottages next to placid lakes, of mountain paradises, of the perfect yellow rose and of pools of serenity.

"A lot of artists really sort of loathe Thomas Kinkade," said Kevin Evans, who curated the show. "Not just because of his very simple and extremely idealized and conservative view of the world, but because it's formulaic painting that creates a static and stagnant image."

Evans, who contributed two pieces to the show, added: "I figured it would be a cathartic exercise for us, basically using humor and art to sort of critique something and communicate a message."

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/11/17/DDI11AL7RR.DTL#ixzz0X9O12kNX

Some interesting stuff about Kinkade from wiki

Personal conduct
The Los Angeles Times has reported that some of Kinkade's former colleagues, employees, and even collectors of his work say that he has a long history of cursing and heckling other artists and performers. The Times further reported that he openly groped a woman's breasts at a South Bend, Indiana sales event, and mentioned his proclivity for ritual territory marking through urination, once relieving himself on a Winnie the Pooh figure at a Disney site while saying "This one’s for you, Walt."<21><22> Kinkade has denied some of the allegations, and accepted and apologized for others.<22>

In 2006 John Dandois, Media Arts Group executive, recounted a story that on one occasion ("about six years ago") Kinkade became drunk at a Siegfried and Roy magic show in Las Vegas and began shouting "Codpiece! Codpiece!" at the performers. Eventually he was calmed by his mother.<21> Dandois also said of Kinkade, "Thom would be fine, he would be drinking, and then all of a sudden, you couldn't tell where the boundary was, and then he became very incoherent, and he would start cussing and doing a lot of weird stuff."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Kinkade

[fascisthunter]

1. I Always found his work to be extremely tacky

and very unoriginal

[FormerDittoHead]

209. You HAVE to check out THESE LINKS to older parodies!

The OP's reference to the current show is a bit behind the curve, IMO.

Here's some stuff from three years ago:

http://www.somethingawful.com/d/photoshop-phriday/paintings-light-part.php
and
http://www.somethingawful.com/d/photoshop-phriday/paintings-light-ii.php

[Ilsa]

249. FDH, those are hysterical! Thanks! nt

[virgogal]

2. He's always been mocked and he laughs all the way to the bank.

Art is subjective, after all

[Liberal_in_LA]

4. I see that sh*t EVERYWHERE.

[emulatorloo]

7. Everywhere I turn it is either Kinkade or P. Buckley Moss

http://www.pbuckleymoss.com/

[Liberal_in_LA]

15. P. Buckley Moss seems to be respected as an artist

[slackmaster]

16. I can think of one much, much more annoying commercial artist

Ted DeGrazia.

[Kali]

23. ugh I never liked his work either

but I took a friend up to his gallery (Tucson) and saw some of his earlier work, especially on the Mexican revolution (horses!) that wasn't so gross. He played around with pottery too - most of what they had on display sucked also. The gallery is pretty cool though and I guess he was quite a character. Husband has some stories about encounters with him.

[Liberal_in_LA]

25. never heard of him. How about those pictures of the children with big eyes..

don't recall the name... Not Hummel... something else. Sometimes the children are nekkid. Big eyes, clutching each other lovingly... OMG... spare me from that type of art.

[slackmaster]

29. He passed away in 1982. I met him in the '70s when I visited his gallery in Tucson

Seemed like a nice old man, but his work is soooo saccharine.

[juno jones]

45. Keene.

Don't remember the first name, but Keene did the big-eyed children.

I just can't remember who did the (predominately white) clowns. The toils of age. :)

[Liberal_in_LA]

156. Red Skelton?

[mitchtv]

157. Walter

I think

[polly7]

49. delete, sorry ..

[sweetloukillbot]

71. Precious Moments? NT

[Liberal_in_LA]

151. yep, that's it

[sweetloukillbot]

187. Lets not forget Anne Geddes and Wegman as well...

Although Wegman gets some slack because I love dogs. But Anne Geddes' stuff almost looks like child abuse.

[Liberal_in_LA]

192. Anne Geddes - the lady who poses newborns in carved out watermelons. lol

[Capn Sunshine]

76. Margaret Keane

funny story about ol' Margaret: for years her husband took credit for her work until she sued him for divorce. She actually appeared in court and painted an original; Walter stated he "couldn't today because he had a sore shoulder". She won.

Doesn't make the crapfest any more tolerable, does it?

[Liberal_in_LA]

152. definitely not, that pic has an edge to it. Precious moments was what I was thinking of

no poor looking waifs standing in dark alleys in precious moments.

[Tesha]

90. Like this?

[tblue37]

140. Keane. nt

[NoSheep]

181. The signature, I believe would be KIM...maybe...I had them as a 6 yr old.

[TicketyBoo]

240. "Precious Moments"

Not so precious, really.

[Owl]

135. That's just plain ugly boring.

[brendan120678]

3. His "art" is way too commercial to be good....

And it's really all the same! There's no variety in what he does.

[Liberal_in_LA]

5. Yep, no variety. Glowing cottages surrounded by flowers

[slackmaster]

10. At least there are no sad-eyed clowns being gored by angry bulls

Or dogs playing poker.

[Louisiana1976]

43. Or Elvis on black velvet....

[seemunkee]

150. HeyHeyHey

You leave the poker dogs out of this. I have one of those hanging in my office, next to the Monet water lillies.

[Barack_America]

128. Look for the obligatory purple trees and soaring eagles.

My favorite Kinkade motifs.

:vomit:

[dmallind]

28. I agree about his not being good - but that reasoning is terrible

It smacks of the faux-hip elitism of high school kids who refuse to like any band that has sold more than a handful of copies of their CDs. Artistry does not have to be ugly and unapproachable (noncommerical) to be well done - it does however have to be a bit less overwrought and lifeless than his stuff.

[brendan120678]

34. Maybe "commercial" isn't the right word then...

I guess what I mean is that, everywhere you look, one of his prints is on a mug or plate or blanket or mouse pad.
He has dozens of "galleries" in malls across America. Yet his paintings appear to be just imitations of themselves. There is nothing unique from one print to the other, but people spend hundreds of dollars to grab as many different things as they can find.

[Jade Fox]

48. I'd say his art is ugly.....

Every painting I've seen of Kinkade's (admittedly not a huge amount) shows a major lack of understanding color theory. His stuff has that vomitous look brought on by thoughtless color choices.

[Arugula Latte]

92. His stuff does make me feel kinda physically queasy.

x(

[DebbieCDC]

6. Paint by numbers drek

:puke:

[SteppingRazor]

8. I loathed him till I read that personal conduct bit from wiki. Now I love him.

:evilgrin:

[Drunken Irishman]

19. Yeah...he sounds pretty awesome.

[rucky]

197. Codpiece! Codpiece!

:rofl:

[slackmaster]

9. I've always pictured Kinkade as kind of a John Belushi character

Too bad JB isn't still around to do a parody sketch about him.

[MineralMan]

11. I like this one of his:

[Canuckistanian]

35. Ah, "Meth Lab in the Woods" A classic.

The soft interior glow of the chemical fire inside mirrors the sunset.

[Jade Fox]

41. lol brilliant!

[Chorophyll]

57. Love it!!! nt

[TuxedoKat]

109. HaHa

Who is the artist for this work -- love it. :)

[Sabriel]

12. He was on the cover of one of our phone books a while back

Need I say more?

[Freddie Stubbs]

22. What's a phone book?

;)

[buzzycrumbhunger]

61. A "phone book"

. . . is that pile of newsprint conveniently bound for neatness' sake so you can park it by your toilet or with cleaning supplies. Used to bug the hell out of me to get 8 of 'em every year until I realized they could save a fortune in paper products. :)

/PSA

[TicketyBoo]

241. Watch out.

You'll plug up your plumbing.

[Drunken Irishman]

meh...he still paints better than me.

So, I can't really call him a hack.

And I'm guessing he paints better than most on DU, too! ;)

[Owl]

31. I wish I could paint as well as he does.

[juno jones]

50. I think I paint better

but then again, I'm an artist. ;)

I'm not really the 'cottage in the snowy woods' type.

[reggie the dog]

96. I can fingerpaint with my 2 year old

[elfin]

13. My brother is a big fan

He and his wife have numerous "original" works, complete with fancy frames and special lights.

It is a fabulous gimmick, striking deep into the chords of middle America -- that is middle white America with longings of a sweet, warm cotswold-like past.

Marketing genius, now available in music boxes and all sorts of media, most likely produced by child labor.

[Liberal_in_LA]

20. One of those paintings that has real lights twinking behind it / through it? lol

[elfin]

38. No, they paid extra for

an added painted "lighting special effect" supposedly added personally by the genius himself. With the certificate to prove it!!

[Barack_America]

51. "Master highlighting".

That's what it's called. They add some splotches of white paint to the windows of a print and then sell it as an "original".

[rrneck]

14. He

coulda been a contendah, instead of a bum. Which is what he is.

That's why he's a drunken horses ass.

[MineralMan]

17. This one has it all:

[d_b]

33. lulz

wtf is that? :rofl:

[Brother Buzz]

54. Wait, there are no rainbows, ice cream cones, teddy bears or unicorns.

Oh wait, is that a unicorn perched on top of the church?

[pipi_k]

98. I took a closer look and I think that unicorn on top of the church

is "Conan The Barbarian" with breasts.

[icymist]

133. Isn't that the teddy bear eating the unicorn?

No. Wait, that bear's white. Must be a starving polar bear. My bad.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

18. World of Warcraft could never have been created!

without that painting

[MineralMan]

21. Sometimes the light is just too warm:

[Liberal_in_LA]

26. Oh...so Kinkade has many mockers. lol

[MineralMan]

27. Many are his mockers, but large is his purse...

Mock not the rich man, lest he buy your house and evict you.

[Liberal_in_LA]

193. and paint the walls with murals of fantasy cottages bathed in the light of dusk

[MineralMan]

24. Just one more, and a link to many other fine paintings

in the style of Kinkade:



http://www.somethingawful.com/d/photoshop-phriday/paintings-light-ii.php?page=1

[TrogL]

115. I found the other threads

http://www.somethingawful.com/d/photoshop-phriday/paintings-light-part.php

http://www.somethingawful.com/d/photoshop-phriday/paintings-light-part-2.php

[tblue37]

146. This one cracked me up! nt

[Overseas]

164. Delightful to see stinkin Kincade parodied so well. Thanks. //nt

[Irreverend IX]

30. He's beaten them to the punch and they don't even realize it.

These artists are all trying to call attention to the profound bovinity of the average American consumer. What they don't realize is that Kinkade has done a better job of it than they ever could.

[juno jones]

62. You're probably right.

He's been acting subversively all this time...and if that was what he was doing, then thumbs up!:)

I just remember one of the creators of a faddish ever-so-sweet character (OK, Mary Engelbreit) protesting in an interview that she wished to be a fine artist but the cartoon girlies were what caught people's eye. I can commiserate. Few outside of art appreciate realism, but they can dig some purple cats from time to time. I enjoy drawlring them, if people love looking at them, who am I to argue?

I am not happy with the sellout, but not sure I can blame.

[DU GrovelBot]

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[saltpoint]

243. "Edgy"?! Hardly. I don't see one thing "edgy" about Kinkade's work.

Get a life.

[Cleita]

36. I worked with a fundie woman who used to copy his works for her friends.

She was pretty good at it and if you weren't an art expert, you couldn't tell the difference. She would have made a great forger of fine art.

I've known drunks like him. One moment they are fine and then they become Godzilla. As a bartender it was hard to figure out their cut off point and then one day an acquaintance of mine who did the same thing until she went into rehab explained it to me. The fact is there are people who drink all day and are so good at covering it up that they appear sober. But if they meet friends for a few beers, or go to a party where most people start to drink, no one is aware of the fact that they are pretty well tanked already. Then all it takes is one or two drinks to topple them over.

[WI_DEM]

37. The ones mocking are the ones who can't sell there own art

[old mark]

42. People love to make fun of what they don't know anything about.

Long ago, I displayed work in galleries, but I have not done so for 20 years and I am much happier to be away from pigs at the trough.

mark

[Luminous Animal]

127. I know you'd like to think that

but it isn't true.

[BakedAtAMileHigh]

158. you almost get it

It really has to do with the fact that instead of being willing to actually engage material that is challenging or complex, most members of this idiot nation prefer garbage like Kinkade. So yeah, ya kinda have something there.

[joeybee12]

39. He's not an artist, but someone giving people what they want...

...stuff looks like it should be on the cover of books like The Hobbit.

[juno jones]

40. He's a commercial artist.

Besides, Parrish and Erte kick his ass.

[closeupready]

47. Parrish was groundbreaking. Kincade is derivative.

Even if one could argue that technically they were equals, one could never argue that Kincade is more creative than Parrish was.

[juno jones]

73. I notice you have a Parrish as your avatar.

:D!

He was groundbreaking! Unfortunately, people like Kincade have stolen every thing they know from Parrish and act as if they somehow pioneered that technique. Painter of light, my ass.

I have a 1910 print of "Air Castles" on my wall that I have carried around for years. Kincade only wishes he could be sucessful.

[closeupready]

79. Yup. You got that right.

Parrish-lovers of the world unite! :yourock: :D

[asjr]

44. All his work makes me think of variations

on a country cottage.

[Odin2005]

46. Snobs always hate commercially sucessful artists.

Repressed jealousy. kind of like Punk rockers that accuse successful punkers of "selling out". Plus the elitist implication that anything that is popular must be crap because real "good art" can only be understood by the snobbish mandarins of culture.

[cali]

58. hes' a hack of the worst kind. his "art" is horrible. just vile

[David Zephyr]

77. He is a hack, cali.

I know a couple who only put their "Kinkaid" up when the family member who gave it to them comes to visit. Their home is filled with truly amazing art and they showed me their "Kinkaid" pushed behind a Stickley Settle.

It is, as you say, vile.

[cali]

99. Kinkaid's crap literally makes me shudder. I think of murderers, whited sepulchres

plastic roses. It's just a pet peeve of mine.

[Starry Messenger]

91. Did an art student beat you up?

I think "good art" can be understood by any one. It just doesn't attract a wide audience because it has only a few venues and is chronically underfunded. There's lots of commercial art/artists I love too. Just not this one. He's a fundie dickhead with brush.

[quaker bill]

111. I do art

and I have no problem with commercial success, but Kinkaid's stuff still sucks.

[EndersDame]

179. I agree it is silly not to like something because of success but kinkade is just chesey

I can enjoy good summer blockbusters and love fun pop music but some stuff is just hackneyed crap. I hate elitists who simply dismiss something just because of popularity

[Odin2005]

195. Meh, I like cheesy!

:rofl:

[EndersDame]

198. That really makes me love you!

I am serious I think people who stick to their own guns rock! :)

[TrogL]

52. I love pointing out the foibles in Kincade paintings

He follows a "realistic" style, yet many of his paintings belong in a science fiction/fantasy gallery because they defy the laws of physics or even common sense.



Nobody in their right mind would put a house that close to a stream. As you can see it's still winter and the flooding has already started. Give it another month and that little cottage will either be under two feet of water or fifty miles downstream.



Same problem. As you can see, the river has already started to eat away at the foundation and the gazebo has a distinctive lean. Another year and it'll be the leaning tower of Kinkade.



Notice that the tugs won't fit through the openings in the bridge? There's even one turning around to go back.



Why does a cottage with barely enough room to swing a dead cat need TWO huge fireplaces? And what's up with the winding road up to the side? If a logging truck comes down there he's gonna flip his load right on top of that flowerbed and probably take out the cottage as well.



OK, I guess he's given up putting fireplaces on the ends and now they're smack-dab in the middle of the room. Now you can't swing a dead cat at all.



I'm betting that's supposed to be a sawmill or other water-powered device. You need running water to power that, not a placid lake even if it is canted on a 25 degree angle.



OK, so what's up with his fixation about putting logging trucks through cottages? And he still hasn't made up his mind about the fireplaces - now he's got one of each.



No, the lighthouse goes on the promitary where it can actually be seen, not buried behind a bunch of trees. You also keep the house well away from the lighthouse. I'm also a little dubious about the condition of the cliff, given all the rock at the bottom.

I couldn't find my favourite, which appeared on a previous Kinkade thread. It was one of his typical "houses in snow" scene, all done up for Christmas with two horses parked out front. The problem - you never, ever leave horses saddled standing around in the cold. They'll get sores.

[SpookyCat]

60. Good analysis.

Here is one of my favorite people James Lileks and his analysis of the "art" of Art Frahm.

Hysterically funny BUT...

***NSFW***


http://www.lileks.com/institute/frahm/index.html

[Capn Sunshine]

81. Lileks! I'd forgotten about him!

I lost his link in an old crash. Look through there until you find his architectural analysis of "The Gobbler" Hotel

[SpookyCat]

89. HA! So many wasted hours of insane giggling on that site!

Some of the Rooms from the '70s hit a little to close to my childhood! LOL!

[sweetloukillbot]

188. I love Lileks, as long as you avoid his blogging...

His politics are offensive, but he is funny. I heard a really funny rifftrax he did with Mike Nelson (another really funny guy who is also unfortunately a rabid right-winger), but I can't remember what movie it was for...

[SpookyCat]

212. Really? I had no idea!

I'll have to read some of his blogging and see what you mean. It's hard to believe someone that funny and witty could be right wing. LOL!

[sweetloukillbot]

221. Yeah, he was a big war-blogger during W's reign

I think his blog started as more slice of life stuff, but went hard, stupid right after 9/11. Dunno if he's mellowed again...

[Liberal_in_LA]

160. OMG...I love this site. Thanks for the link.

[depakid]

63. +1

That made my afternoon.

[buzzycrumbhunger]

65. This thread made me giggle until this post.

Now I curse the fact no one sounded a warning to don Depends before proceeding. Holy cow, I used to cringe away in horror when I saw this schlock. Now it'll be like Where's Waldo to find the silliness in each pathetic entry. :)

[OnceUponTimeOnTheNet]

82. Where are the people? Why do the houses glow like some kind of nuclear energy is

powering them? Is there never any wind in his world, the chimney smoke always goes right straight up! How do the roofs on the cottages stand up to the weight of all that Snow on the roofs? In the real world, they'd be shoveled off or collapse.
There is never any people in these villages. Weirds me out. Creepy.

Love your analysis.

[hunter]

83. Excellent!

You made me laugh.

[lildreamer316]

123. LOL!!!Now I want you to critique more!!

Later, maybe? Duzy!!

[Owl]

142. Why does every painting have represent a photograph?

[Liberal_in_LA]

153. hee! never looked at Kincade that way. Thanks.

[Frank Cannon]

162. I always wondered why that guy's paintings looked so odd to me

Now I know why! Thanks for that!

[skypilot]

216. Are there ever in PEOPLE in his paintings?

*

[saltpoint]

242. His paintings are sickening, akin to eating cane sugar from a wheelbarrow.

Yuck.

[Captain Hilts]

53. Biographies on Wiki are notoriously inaccurate. nt

[Peacetrain]

55. Well its as simple as this.. I like what I like, .

And sometimes the whimsical part of Kinkade, I happen to like, and sometimes it is just too much..

[MineralMan]

56. Two Words: Margaret Keane.

That is all.

[Barack_America]

59. He tried to build a subdivision, you know.

Complete with perfect little houses, just like in his paintings.

Somewhere in California.

[Mz Pip]

72. I went there

and toured the model homes. They were furnished with his own brand of furniture and his paintings were on all the walls. pretty tacky ImHO.

The houses were nothing special, standard subdivision fare.

[Touchdown]

64. I like These...

Some of these won't show up. They're all over at SA..

http://www.somethingawful.com/d/photoshop-phriday/paintings-light-ii.php?page=2

[David Zephyr]

66. In the fine art world, Kinkade's have been a running joke for years.

A joke.

[SpookyCat]

67. Personally I can't stand his work, however

it is subjective I suppose.

Course I use human bones in my art, so I may not be the best judge of this sort of stuff. LOL!

[Ratty]

68. I understand what you all are saying, but, gosh, I wish that was MY house

I'd love to live in a quaint little place like that.

[David Zephyr]

74. Here's a real artist, Will Sparks, who did those nocturnals long before Kinkaid came along.

[Owl]

144. Dark and dull; boring.

[comrade snarky]

236. Dark and boring?

I see a beautiful use of light, like the Dutch masters.



Ah well, everyone gets a say. Art is what happens between you and a canvass so if Kincade speaks to you, enjoy it.

[Liberal_in_LA]

154. Me too but not so far from civilization.

[proteus_lives]

69. Very catty. But that's how artists are.

Jealous, immature, back-stabbing.

Of course they hate him, he's rich and popular. Something most of the them will never be. As they get older they have to start swallowing that and start teaching at art school.

[cali]

100. That's just a stupid and ridiculous generalization

and they despise him because his work is creepy, shoddy, dishonest, revolting. My grandfather was a journeyman artist. By that I mean he made his living as an artist and set designer.

[lunatica]

105. I guess that's why real writers hate Palin's writing huh?

'Cause they're 'catty' and 'jealous' and she's all rich and stuff.

[sudopod]

233. Looks like SOMEONE didn't impress a girl enough, lol.

[TwilightGardener]

70. Ticky-tack kitsch. Not that I'm always above such things, mind you.

But Kinkade is a one-trick pony, and I don't like his one trick.

[road2000]

75. I saw him interviewed on TV.

He makes religious pronouncements, and all his work is dedicated "to the glory of God." Not that there's anything wrong in his wanting to worship as he pleases. But he hardly mentioned anything else. Zapped him with the clicker.

[Raine]

120. He prays over his paintings

a few years back 60 Minutes did a story on him and they showed him doing it. x(

[The_Casual_Observer]

78. Imagine an art museum having an exhibition of that stuff.

Someplace like the Whitney.

[2Design]

80. I liked his art and when I told an Art teacher that she turned her nose up

It is better than some I have seen in the Modern Art museum - I am assuming they don't like him because his stuff is every where now and he is making money - people hate truly successful people who work the system - he could die poor like the Master Artists or love the lifestyle he gets to live this way

[lunatica]

106. Yeah, sure.

You sound like you really know what you're talking about

:sarcasm:

[quaker bill]

112. There are people with artistic integrity

who actually make a living at art. Thomas Kinkaid is not one of them.

[Recursion]

84. I mentioned him in an Aesthetics class a few years ago

It's hard to say why, but something about his painting immediately screams "Christian" just like something about contemporary Christian music screams "Christian", even when there's no religious symbolism in the painting or you haven't even gotten to the singing yet in the music. Something, I don't know, shimmery and (to me) kind of facile. Somebody downthread said "kitchy" and maybe that's the word I'm looking for, but there is kitchy stuff that doesn't strike me as religious.

[TrogL]

104. They go for the lowest common denominator

There's no challenge to a Kinkade painting (unless you start looking for the flaws). Simple aw-shucks themes, garish colours (I've never seen flowers those colours), predictable composition. Same with "Christian" music - 3 chords, basic verse-chorus structure, bridge to nowhere, simplistic lyrics.

[tammywammy]

85. It's not my cup of tea, but I don't judge my family members that have it

My aunt loves the pink, blue, flowery, ribbons and bows crap. Kinkade appeals to her. It's just not something I'd waste my money on.

[Initech]

86. He's the Milli Vanilli of art.

"and mentioned his proclivity for ritual territory marking through urination, once relieving himself on a Winnie the Pooh figure at a Disney site while saying "This one’s for you, Walt."<21>

:wtf:

[girl gone mad]

87. Warhol used a crew.

He's still a darling of the elitist art collector set.

[BakedAtAMileHigh]

147. Warhol also changed the history of Art with The Factory

Kinkade wallows in mediocrity. Big difference.

On Edit: Although, on the other hand, I can certainly imagine Warhol mounting some kind of bizarre half-ironic defense of Kinkade's work, now that I think of it....

[Vinca]

88. Worse than motel art. I think he's big with the fundies.

[Arugula Latte]

94. He puts out a lot of putrid religious crapola. It's even worse than the cottages.

[TornadoTN]

110. Oh Yes - he plays to the fundie crowd like you wouldn't believe

My wife wanted to go in one of his galleries in Florida. Much to my displeasure, I said ok and we went inside. There, we were met by a young man who was so enthusiastic about telling us about how GODLY Thomas Kinkade is and how even in his non-religious art, he places a number of hidden crosses and other religious symbols into his work. He even pointed some of them out to us.

I thanked the guy for his time and he couldn't believe that we were leaving without buying one. After rebuffing him several times, he said "Well, you must not appreciate fine religious masterpieces like this", to which I had had a snide comment about the "masterpieces" being junk and left happy that I never would have to gaze upon that trash again.

[Barack_America]

126. I believe he's been known to sign his "art" with a Christian fish.

[dugaresa]

93. one man's drop cloth is another man's idea of art. There are styles of art

I don't like, others I am okay with and there are some that I just love.

I can see something artistic in nature, or even in a cheesey card from Hallmark.

You never know.

Personally I think Kinkades style appeals to a lot of folks because it warm and fuzzy.

Not my favorite but hey who am I to call out the folks who like it?

[Tommy_Carcetti]

95. Meh, it's art. To each his or her own.

I probably find the pretentious art snobs more annoying than Kincade himself, but that's just me.

[cali]

101. OK, call it art. It's excreably bad.

[reggie the dog]

97. That looks like my inlaws place in the mountains here in france

their vacation place at any rate, I spend about a month a year there every year.

[lunatica]

102. He was cursing that the black velvet paintings were a niche already taken

[Stevenmarc]

103. This is what happens when they take art out of the schools

we have a country that quite frankly is culturally retarded. It allows silly sappy crap like this to become elevated to a position it doesn't deserve.

[FourScore]

132. LOL. So true. n/t

[BakedAtAMileHigh]

143. we have a winner!!!!

You sir have gotten it exactly correct.

[MellowDem]

185. Not sure about that...

it used to be that art was only for the rich. Now there is art for the masses as well. I don't think it has been elevated to any position it doesn't deserve. It is what it is.

[Stevenmarc]

190. Let's pretend

Kincaid was relatively unheard of and his work was entered into any number of juried art shows how often do you think his work would come out on top? The fact is Kincaid's market has more to do with simple, sappy, derivative product that is aggressively marketed to an artistically unsophisticated buyer.

If the average Kincaid buyer had spent 5% of the time they spend, in a shopping mall, at a museum, before they ever saw a Kincaid, they probably would have never bought one in the first place. It really doesn't take all that much effort to start to develop an eye for art if you are willing to explore your local galleries instead of shopping for art at the same place you can buy a Cinnabon and underpants.

[WolverineDG]

107. OK, which DUer made this one?

dg

[Owl]

108. Mr. Kinkade's cottage picture in the OP is gorgeous! Dreamlike and gorgeous. What's not to like?

[cali]

113. you're kidding, right? On the off chance that you're not, it's

horrendous. There is no light like that anywhere on this planet- thankfully. It's creepy. When I look at it I see someone inside torturing children.

[Owl]

149. Torturing children? Ain't that a bit much?

[spoony]

183. I'd be more disturbed that such things are floating to the surface of your mind

when they are so utterly disconnected from the images you say inspire them.

[Odin2005]

196. That you get such disturbing thoughts from the pictures is... disturbing.

:wtf:

[quaker bill]

114. It is mass produced on a litho machine

then highlighted by underpaid "artists" and then sold in malls. You figure it out.

[Starry Messenger]

116. If you like his use of light

might I direct you to the Pre-Raphaelites? They did some very pretty things with atmosphere. :)

[TrogL]

121. Oh, let's see...

Every window is a different height.

The front door is designed for a midget.

Each room has a huge fireplace smack in the middle of it.

That attic room is going to be hot as hell right next to the chimney

The surrounding trees all have straight branches, but the ones used to make the fence are all bent

What the fuck kind of tree is the tall one on the far left? Looks like a cross between a willow and an oak.

There's a 50 foot tall lilac tree on the far right.

It's fall (according to the tree in back of the right fireplace) but spring flowers are out.

It's broad daylight. Why is the place lit up like a porn set?

It's not winter - why are both fireplaces going full blast?

[pipi_k]

134. that's the problem

It portrays something straight out of a religious fanatic's dreams of "Paradise".

Or maybe even that stupid "rose covered cottage" bullshit I, at least, was brought up on. When I was younger, girls graduated from High School and maybe got a job for a while before "Mr Right" came along, they got married (she in the beautiful white gown replica that our Barbie dolls wore), and "they lived happily ever after".

What we got was a whole lot different.

We fell for the lies and when life handed us a whole different handful of playing cards, we didn't know that what we were getting was REALITY...not some crappy little dream that someone made up for us.

Not a goddamned little Hallmark cards commercial.

[Owl]

141. I'm far from being remotely religious. But at first glance I thought it colorful and fun.

[pipi_k]

202. Oh, I did too, at first...

And I suppose my opinion would have remained that way if he hadn't come out with painting after painting after painting, all depicting the same trite (IMO) theme.

Oh well...I certainly don't hold it against anyone who does like them...


:)

[TrogL]

215. You forgot the white picket fence

I've got one. The wood's all rotted and kids and homeless people keep kicking the slats out. I'm replacing it next year.

[Owl]

138. Jeez, the responders are tough customers!

Torturing children?!?!

It's a whimsical piece I feel done very well.

I've seen other works by Mr. Kinkade that I agree are odd with very disproportional objects, odd-ball scenarios, etc.. But the one in the OP is lovely. It's a whimsical, dreamlike, colorful, and striking piece of art.

It, like all art that's at all interesting, can conjure all sorts of emotions and likes/dislikes.

[Liberal_in_LA]

155. It's pretty but he repeats that scene so often it's like decoration, like wallpaper

[Starbucks Anarchist]

250. It's his lack of creative statements that's the problem, not necessarily the aesthetic quality.

Yes, he paints pretty pictures, but that's all they are. There's no underlying meaning there. It's art in the same way Kenny G is jazz.

[Liberal_in_LA]

252. The point is...ALL his paintings are exactly like that one.

[TuxedoKat]

117. I love threads like this...

I learn alot of interesting trivia. I'm surprised no one's mentioned Gig, who did the big-eyed dogs and cats.
I actually have a few prints for my little girls room as I remember these fondly from the '60s.

Here is a link to many big-eyed artists:

http://besmirched.tripod.com/eyes.html

[bridgit]

118. Noooo, not Kinkade NOOOOO! Well, on the other hand formalized production art...

Is the only 'true' art

[hunter]

207. Bob Ross is awesome.

He got people to pick up a brush and paint. I love finding Bob Ross inspired art in thrift stores. It's all original in its own way and sometimes you'll even get a glimpse of someone's unique talent developing.

It's very much like the kids' art at the county fair; yes, there's some that is heavy and forced like the teacher made them do it, just as there is some Bob Ross art that is forced, done by someone who couldn't let go and paint for themselves, not even a little, but a lot of times you'll see some small spark of an artist finding their own voice, someone beginning to play with the medium. My wife and I cover the walls of our house with this kind of art.

Personally I find Kinkade's art a little stifling. I'm just itching to photoshop in some people skinny-dipping in his millponds or some naughty lovers in the shadows. Heck, even an old horse reaching up and stealing a mouthful of thatched roof would do.

[bridgit]

225. Ross has always had a calming effect for me, plus some 20min later...

and you gotta painting of some mountains :bounce:

[TK421]

223. THE GUY PAINTS WAY TOO MANY FUCKING TREES!!!!@#

:sarcasm:

[bridgit]

224. Well, yes, but they're "happy trees"

:)

[Raine]

119. My cousin loves that "art"

she's spent a fortune on it so for the sake of family unity when she showed it to me I praised it to the hilt.:eyes: After all that lying I had to rinse my mouth out. x(

[earth mom]

122. What did we all expect from a country that has a McDonalds on every corner?

Kinkade's art is served up for people who don't know the difference between fast food and fine dining.

People who like him have probably never looked at real art or much art to speak of in their lives. :puke:

[Throd]

124. I see someone has replaced Norman Rockwell for the sneering art school hipsters to deride.

I don't care for his work either, but apparently he is offering something of value to a lot of people. Where is the harm?

[Mari333]

130. [phone]

[BakedAtAMileHigh]

139. hilarious

It hardly takes an "art school hipster" to understand that the work is kitsch banality at its worst. It's pap and it does indeed do quite a great deal of harm: Kinkade and his ilk (I'll throw Peter Max in there too) are to Art what Fox News is Journalism: slick as snot and full of oversimplified cliches emphasized with pretty colors. Ugh.

On Edit: In truth, Kinkade's work deserves much more derision than it has suffered to this date. More, please!

[kwassa]

148. well, Rockwell is schlock, too. Both are technically proficient cornball sentimentalists.

Not that there is anything wrong with that.

:rofl:

[TuxedoKat]

161. Oh please don't put Rockwell in the same category as Kincade

I would have too though, until I happened to visit his museum in Lee, MA. Many of
his illustrations were sentimental depictions of white middle class America in
the 40-50's but later when he was allowed to express himself more feely he did some
works showing the civil rights struggle in the '60s, the most famous of which is
probably the painting of an African American girl, Ruby Bridges, walking to school
being escorted by sheriffs.

http://www.crossleft.org/node/5860

The Ruby Bridges work can be found here if you scroll down:

http://ulcercity.blogspot.com/2008/01/welcome-to-neighborhood-race-rockwell.html

The Ruby Bridges painting blew me away when I saw it as I never knew he did anything
like that. It is very moving and it made look at his other work with a less jaundiced eye.

[kwassa]

172. He is essentially a cartoonist

His work depends almost completely on exaggeration.

And his Ruby Bridges and Freedom of Speech painting are the best of his that I have seen, but he is a rampant sentimentalist.

If I can irritate you further, I also think Salvador Dali is a technically proficient hack with nothing to say, having spent a couple hours in a Dali museum.

[TuxedoKat]

175. Well yes

He was paid to do those types of illustrations and most of his work was sentimental, not arguing with that
and I wasn't irritated either, just speaking up. I just didn't want to see him put in the same category as
Kincade when he did produce some significant works at a very turbulent time and I think that took some
courage to do so. I haven't seen Kincade do that yet, although I guess he still has time!

I don't know enough about Dali's work to comment on it's art worthiness, I've seen alot of his work and
I'm not sure what to make of some it -- I find some of it disturbing. I think he wanted to shock people
and get attention perhaps. Which museum did you visit -- the one in Florida or the one in Spain? I visited
the one in Spain. I sure wasn't expecting to see what I saw there! I left the museum thinking "Why did
he produce some of that bizarre art? I was kind of sorry I saw some pieces, maybe they were art-worthy
but some of them bothered me.

[kwassa]

232. I visited a Dali museum in Cleveland, actually.

An industrialist with a thing for Dali put his own museum together in his office building, with quite a bit of work. I've also seen Dali elsewhere, including the famous Persistence of Time at the Tate Gallery in London, seen below . My parents have been to that museum in Spain.

[comrade snarky]

235. Personally I can't stand Norman Rockwell

But the man knew how to paint. He had technique and style.

Kincade is a one trick pony with a flair for marketing and a willingness to fleece his "partners" who own the mall gallery franchises.

[Quixote1818]

166. So are you a Jackson Pollock fan then?

:eyes:

[kwassa]

170. yes, among many other American artists.

Rockwell is not even good for a representational artist.

give me Edward Hopper anyday.

[phasma ex machina]

173. +1

[Quixote1818]

174. Here's a Jackson Pollock for you

I was talking to Andrew Wyeth's grandson, Peter De LaFuente (a friend of mine) who runs the Wyeth/Hurd gallery in Santa Fe and lets just say that Andrew Wyeth and Peter Hurd evidently despised the New York critics who panned Rockewell's work and praised Jackson Pollock. Peter then went on to make a joke about making a Jackson Pollock in the urinal every morning. I think I will take Peters word at face value that Andrew Wyeth and Peter Hurd despised this kind of critical BS from critics and artists who can't paint worth shit. My friend Bob Eggleton a nine time Hugo award winner has pretty much the same opinion. Lets just say they would get a kick out of all the self proclaimed art experts and critics in this thread.

[spoony]

184. Great post, interesting stuff. nt

[Quixote1818]

186. Thanks, and by the way, I have a great deal of respect for Jackson Pollock

as he was clearly talented and he put the colors down in ways that really worked. I just get sick of all the arm chair critics. Bob Eggleton quit collage because of the art department's ideas of what was great art and them constantly pushing him in directions that drove him nuts. He then went on to win nine Hugo's.

I respect anyone who can paint with some degree of talent and while I would never buy something by Thomas Kinkade, he clearly has talent and he deserves credit for promoting himself and becoming very well to do. His personal life and stance on gays is another story.

If you are interested I publish books and presented an idea for an Ice Age book to Bob and he signed on. It will be out in 2012. See here:

http://www.impossibledreamspub.com/id12.html He hasn't yet started on the artwork but had a couple of old images on hand that he let me use on the website.

[kwassa]

205. There isn't one single critical point of view about what is fine art

We live in an era where there is a great multiplicity of styles. There is no single dominant art movement, or single point of view about what is good art.

If you like Rockwell, enjoy it, if you like Kinkade, emjoy him, too. Lots of people do. Wyeth is a much better artist than Rockwell, by the way, in my opinion; he has none of the sentimentality, and is rather bleak by comparison in his outlook. I am not surprised by Peter Hurd's opinion of Pollock, most artists have strong points of view about what art is, and don't agree with each other.

I think that the more you look at art, you will find other artists more interesting over time.

It is good to ask the question about what makes art good. To me, it is not about technical proficiency in reproducing reality. That is just technique, not content, the means to an end, not the end itself. Kinkade, Rockwell, Wyeth have great technique. I think this is what you see as being art, correct me if I am wrong.

Many artists gave up that goal of extreme realism with the invention of photography in the mid-1800s for a more emotionally expressive style.

I can tell you prefer representational art, and that is fine. But you don't need to piss on Pollock, or other abstractionists, as being, in your opinion, poor artists. They are in museums for a reason. It isn't a conspiracy against "real" artists.

[Quixote1818]

213. Put away your art history textbook and think for yourself

As for art, I like it all. My house if filled with just about every style there is. I live for art museums and art books. If I had a more contemporary room I might even like something like a Jackson Pollock in that room. You sound almost like an art student or teacher who is quoting right out of your textbooks rather than just enjoying art for how it moves you personally. And if you can piss on Rockwell then I can piss on Pollock. Considering Pollock use to piss on some of his paintings I don't think he would be too offended. However, clearly Rockwell could do a Pollock (probably most good artists can) and I can promise you that Pollock would not have been able to do a Rockwell. I have also seen dozens of incredible abstract artists with 1000 times more creative ability than Pollock right here in the Albuquerque, Sana Fe area. The general public will never know about them because Pollock was the innovator and the critics made him into a legend and he does deserves credit for being innovative. But innovation does not necessarily mean someone has talent and depth. Pollock was an abusive shallow drunk who by mistake learned how to spill paint on his canvas like a six year old might have and thought it looked neat. He did do a nice job putting the colors into patterns that worked and I doubt if what he did was random. That being said, his work should be selling for a few hundred dollars and not tens of millions.

[kwassa]

230. Try again.

I learned art history on my own, I've never taken a course in it, but know enough to pass the Praxis content exams in my art teacher certification with flying colors.

What is your beef with Pollock? What did he ever do to you?

What you got from me is my own personal opinion, by the way. You're just upset because my opinion doesn't agree with your opinion. Whatever. I really don't care what critics think, I don't read any current art criticism at all and never have, my response to Rockwell is honest and knowledgeable, and you just don't like it. So be it.

Our tastes differ.

You seemed to miss most of the points in my previous post, by the way.

[TuxedoKat]

210. Thanks for sharing that

I like both Rockwell and Pollock too and can appreciate Kinkaid's skill too. I took a course
on the history of the French Revolution and the professor taught it largely through the work of
artists and illustrators of the times. I'm sure he would have some very thoughtful things
to say about all three of these artists' work in relation to the times they were painted.

As for Rockwell, I sort of dismissed his work until I visited his museum and saw his painting
of Ruby Bridges. It was very moving and made me look at him and his work in a whole new light
and not to be dismissive of other artists either. I love that painting you shared above.

[fascisthunter]

227. ouch

I actually like both artists and am an artist too... both were phenominal, and very different.

[pipi_k]

203. I like Rockwell art, but have to agree...

that it's cornball and sentimentalist.

But for me, it's human interest stuff. I like to concoct stories about the people in his paintings, whereas with Kinkaid, it all looks pretty superficial unless we want to imagine horrible things going on inside those cute, perfect little houses. Which I have to admit, I've done...

:7

[TicketyBoo]

244. I like Rockwell.

Bought a set of three books of his Saturday Evening Post covers for my elderly sister who grew up with Rockwell. Yes, he's sentimental; so am I.

Kinkade paintings are fine for greeting cards. Not sure I'd ever hang a Kinkade on my wall, but I did buy a box of personal checks with some of his works on them as alternating images. I would call his paintings "pleasant," for the most part, with some exceptions. Certainly, most of them don't repel me.

Do any of you know Sandra Kuck?

http://www.sandrakucklicensing.com/little_girls.php

Sappy paintings there, too, but I love them, anyway, with the exceptions of the angels. Angels should be imagined, but never seen, in my opinion. I feel that way about fairies, too, with the notable exception of Disney's Tinkerbell.

I prefer representative art to abstract, usually. Used to watch Bob Ross on PBS in fascination. Can't even draw more than a stick man, never mind paint, so anyone who is an artist has my admiration, really.

[fascisthunter]

226. please do not even compare Rockwell to this

he did more than just create sentimentality... he was master for an artist, painted until the man died.

[GoneOffShore]

169. The harm is in the devaluation of artists who actually say something

with their art.

Kinkade is to art as Palin is to discourse.

Much like Rachel Ray cheapens real cooks.

“You’re doing just fine. You don’t even have to chop an onion--you can buy it already chopped. Aspire to nothing…Just sit there. Have another Triscuit…Sleep….sleep….”

[GoCubsGo]

211. Rachel IS a cook

That's the thing. She's not a CHEF. Nor, does she claim to be one. Don't confuse the two.

Rachel and Sandra used to annoy me, but I realize that not everyone can or wants to be a chef. There are a lot of people who just want ideas for putting something different on the table that's quick, easy, and tastes halfway decent. These women provide that, and the don't try to sell it as anything more. Hell, Sandra Lee's meals even come with a cocktail. Gotta love that! I wouldn't make most of their recipes, but they do give me ideas for when I need to throw something together quickly.

[GoneOffShore]

218. IMHO Rachel is barely a cook - She's a celebrity who masquerades as a cook

No knife skills, no good kitchen practices and barely tolerable recipes.

But that's fine. That's what America is all about.

Yeah, I'm a snob.

“You’re doing just fine. You don’t even have to chop an onion--you can buy it already chopped. Aspire to nothing…Just sit there. Have another Triscuit…Sleep….sleep….”

[GoneOffShore]

219. IMHO Rachel is barely a cook - She's a celebrity who masquerades as a cook

No knife skills, no good kitchen practices and barely tolerable recipes.

But that's fine. That's what America is all about.

Yeah, I'm a snob.

“You’re doing just fine. You don’t even have to chop an onion--you can buy it already chopped. Aspire to nothing…Just sit there. Have another Triscuit…Sleep….sleep….”

[Quixote1818]

171. Thank you. Not a fan of Kinkade but I doubt anyone here can do better.

While it is formula, feel good type stuff, it still takes incredible talent to bring these kinds of works together. Only a tiny fraction of the population can draw and paint like that. His personal life on the other hand is another matter.

[Hepburn]

125. I have seen better shit from Paint by Number artists....

...I loathe Kinkade.

[pitohui]

129. of course he has a crew to produce these works

i doubt he's lifted a paintbrush in years, kincade is a salesman not an artist

not that he's any different from dali in that but at least we all accept that it's ok to make fun of dali

it's ok, kincade is corny, he's shit, IT"S OK TO MAKE FUN OF HIM!!!!

the fact that he's a homophobe shouldn't impact our judgement of his work, but since his work is shit AND he's an open homophobe, i don't see why it can't be open season on the creep

[Touchdown]

182. Knowing he's a homophobe makes it better!

I can now imagine guys getting it on in his flower gardens, and those lights coming from the cottages are the studio lights for the gay porn being produced inside. Leather Daddy spanking his boy slave on the stone bridge. The two fishermen sucking each other by the pond.:loveya:

[cynatnite]

131. Maybe what pisses some most off is the fact that Kinkade is famous...

and successful.

[pipi_k]

204. nahhhh....I have nothing against famous, successful people...

I'm way too shy to ever have wanted to be famous and successful myself. I'd always be thinking I didn't deserve it.

:+

[FreedomRain]

Thanks for all the links

for great and not so great art. :D

Kinkade is ridiculous, of course,like Rockwell. A few pretty pictures but then the same thing over and over. He's certainly better than I. The religious crank stuff was all new to me, I never cared to look him up.

Factory paintings? So he's creating jobs then - that's a point for him, anyway.

[FreedomRain]

136. Thanks for all the links

for great and not so great art. :D

Kinkade is ridiculous, of course,like Rockwell. A few pretty pictures but then the same thing over and over. He's certainly better than I. The religious crank stuff was all new to me, I never cared to look him up.

Factory paintings? So he's creating jobs then - that's a point for him, anyway.

[TuxedoKat]

167. Wait!

See my post above about Rockwell. He painted some moving works in the early '60s
about the civil rights struggle. I used to think the same thing about him until
I visited his museum and saw his painting of Ruby Bridges.

Here's a nice review of his work. In the third paragragh the critic talks about
the Ruby Bridges' painting.

http://artchive.com/artchive/R/rockwell.html

[Zomby Woof]

214. Rockwell also painted a fine portrait of Bertrand Russell

...the British philosopher known for his scathing critiques of Christianity and his activism against nuclear weapons. By this time in the 60's, Rockwell was commissioned to do illustrations for mediums beyond the narrow conservatism of the Saturday Evening Post (the Russell illustration was for Ramparts magazine). People forget that Rockwell was COMMISSIONED to illustrate the SEP, and therefore, had to paint toward a target audience. So yes, much of the early work is sentimental and a bit too corny. But in the 40's and after, he ventured a step or two beyond those limitations. There are at least some believable details of realism in Rockwell's post-WW2 SEP illustrations. The diners have a subtle grittiness to them - cigarette butts on the floor, working men with dirty hands, and unkempt clothes. It's not all cloying sentimentality either. The salesman in his hotel room playing solitaire really accents the loneliness and boredom his work entails. He may or may not be content with his position in life, but you don't find yourself envying him either. As for his civil rights paintings (he did several) - they were a long, long way from the 1920's and 30's - kids running away from the swimming hole they trespassed, or a kid with his puppy at the vet. Then again, America had come a long way too.

Some of the examples cited above:

"Bertrand Russell" - he captures both the curmudgeon and the imp in the man.



"Solitaire" - check out his use of light - a seedy motel overhead light is not in Kinkade's world.



"Saying Grace" - Rockwell has it both ways. He appeals to the sentimental white conservative Christian audience who will love the piousness of grandma and her clean-cut grandson (obviously fresh from church, and bathed in pre-Kinkadian light), and then he appeals to an unsentimental realism itself with the un-bussed tables, dirty floor, and unshaven working men and bikers. These gritty onlookers are a bit surprised, but I think it's due as much to granny and grandson's clean appearance, and the simple fact they aren't the traditional denizens of this diner, not just because of the act of praying. It's like the nighthawks of Hopper's diner were caught off-guard at breakfast by a Rockwellian interposition on their world. Rockwell is parodying himself gently here - and it's quite subversive because the conservative audience is pleased that grandma (a repository of 'traditional values') is praying in front of those unchurched sinners. Meanwhile, the rest of us identify with the... sinners. We too, are a bit bemused and puzzled by public displays of sanctimony and piousness - but we don't make them unwelcome in our world either. We do wonder if we would be welcome in theirs.



"The Problem We All Live With" - this is the painting cited elsewhere in this thread, with Ruby Bridges.

[TuxedoKat]

229. That's a very nice portrait of Bertrand Russell

I always wanted to read about Russell or some of his works but haven't gotten around to it yet. Somewhere I've either got one of his books that I picked up at a book sale.

As far as Rockwell, I mentioned in other places in this thread that I gained an appreciation for him after seeing the Ruby Bridges picture at his museum. It made me go back and look at some of his other works and see that there is more there than just sentimentality as you astutely noted in the works above. Thanks for defending him.

[Liberal_in_LA]

251. cool. Thanks for reminding of us Rockwell's good stuff.

[TicketyBoo]

245. Rockwell

certainly had diversity in his paintings (more so than Kinkade). It wasn't just the same thing over and over.

My doctor used to have this one hanging on his examining room wall.

[saltpoint]

137. Yuck.

[BakedAtAMileHigh]

145. I'll kick it!

Keep the mockery alive!!!

[mamaleah]

159. Not a fan of Kinkade but I like it better than a few splotches of paint on a canvas

with the title "inferior love" or some such pretentious crud.

[BakedAtAMileHigh]

163. don't most abstract expressionists leave their work untitled?

I thought most of the major figures in the movement I assume you refer to by the phrase "a few splotches of paint on a canvas" either left their work untitled or just gave it a number. Klein, Rothko, Motherwell, Twombly and Pollock did use traditional titles as well, I guess, but I am fairly certain that none of them would ever use such a vulgar phrase. And then there are later workers too, like Rauschenberg: many of his titles were jokes created by the cognitive dissonance between the "sculpted" object and its obvious origin as garbage or cultural detritus....

Ooops, sorry. I've been vaporizing tonight and you know what they say about marijuana: it makes you stoooopid. Carry on, critic.

[mamaleah]

165. Wait....criticism of Kinkade is ok but I am not allowed to dislike

splotches on a canvas?

[Quixote1818]

168. I am with you all the way on that one!

I was talking to Andrew Wyeth's grandson, a friend who runs the Wyeth/Hurd gallery in Santa Fe and he said "I do a Jackson Pollock every moring.........In the urinal".

I was dam near on the floor.

[Starry Messenger]

189. Well the Wyeth family has a tradition in drawing.

I can't imagine they are Kincade fans either. He is hardly a vigorous draftsman. N.C. Wyeth is actually a favorite of mine and I was one of the art school brats once upon a time. :)

[Quixote1818]

191. Probably not, but since they are dead we will never know. Though it's possible Andrew

commented on Kinkades work before he died. Aesthetically, Kinkade's work is generally pleasing to look at much in the same way disney art is nice to look at. I have seen artists try to imitate Kinkade and fail at it, so he does have some talent that is hard to possess. It's not something I would put in my house especially knowing his political stances on gays etc. But to say he isn't talented is just BS.


All I know is that Peter said they both loved looking at Norman Rockwell's work though I would agree they don't seem the types to like Kinkade's stuff.

I am a fan of Thomas Kidd, an award winning science fiction fantasy artist. It says here that Rockwell inspired him too. Kidd is no lightweight.

I don't have a clue what supposedly makes art great and personally don't give a shit what the critics think. If I like something and it inspires me then that is all that matters.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Kidd_(illustrator)

[TrogL]

217. Many of those are studies in composition

...without all the messy distractions of cottages with bombs going off inside them.

Kinkade could learn a thing or two from them and avoid some of his more obvious bloopers.

[Swamp Rat]

176. urp!

[TankLV]

177. Wow - everyone's an armchair critic...

The comments are most entertaining...

The snobbery is simply astounding, too...

At least he tries to paint something "realistic", which is a lot harder to do, instead of throwing paint at a canvass at twenty feet and calling it art...

BTW - I love Jackson Pollock

[Quixote1818]

178. I am with you.

Though not a Jackson Pollock fan he was certainly a lot more talented than I am and I do believe there was a method to his work. I just don't think he had the talent of a Rockwell yet the critics loved his stuff and tore Rockwell apart.

See what I posted above: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=7034354&mesg_id=7037579

[Indenturedebtor]

194. I think that the critics loved his "work" because it was something new and different

I also think that many people are afraid to call a Pollock what it truly is because they don't want to expose themselves as the one who doesn't get the "joke".

But really it's a complete waste of paint in my opinion. We are told that it is "art" and so it is "art", but at the end of the day if no critics had endorsed it and all you had was the "painting" in front of you - you would likely assume that a monkey had knocked over a shelf full of paint and thought nothing more of it.

Pfeh - Pollock.

[TwilightGardener]

199. Of course everyone can be an armchair critic--Kinkade's work is

strictly meant for middle class suburban living room walls. That's his market, and he makes his stuff accessible and comfortingly predictable for them. Don't exactly need a fine-arts degree to "appreciate" him.

[NoSheep]

180. I can't believe this is even being discussed. Big Mac: Not Gourmet!

[saltpoint]

200. So where's the mailbox?

And the garage? Where do these people park their car?

And why is the inside of the house a blazing inferno?

[TwilightGardener]

206. There's no electric bills in KinkadeLand. Every house is lit up like a Christmas tree.

No garbage cans, no basketball hoops, no lawnmowers, no peeling paint, no cracked cement or sagging porch--just overpowering, nauseating quaintness.

[Touchdown]

222. You forgot the Camaro on cinder blocks in the front yard.

;)

[Horse with no Name]

201. One good thing

You can ALWAYS tell his work without looking for a signature.
Another one is Harvey...but I do like Harvey's work--with the fog and all.

[kpete]

208. excuse me?

"Artist"
i think not, kp

[Orsino]

220. This OP is not an excuse for inaction.

We can still mock him much, much more.

[OnceUponTimeOnTheNet]

228. These comparison's to Rockwell? Check this old DU link...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x3892829



Comparing Kinkade as a Rockwell? Really?

[Raine]

247. I LOVE Rockwell

THANK you for the picture and the link. :thumbsup: :hi:

[OnceUponTimeOnTheNet]

248. Your welcome Raine. I love Rockwell as well. nt.

[dschis]

231. If you like it ok

If you don't that's ok too

[highplainsdem]

234. Personally, I like Dutch Golden Age painters, especially Vermeer, and the Impressionists.

But I know people who love and collect Thomas Kinkade prints and other merchandise, and I'm not going to condemn them or look down on them.

I suspect some of his commercial success could be due to a reaction against modern art that is ugly and/or incomprehensible and often promoted with lectures about what types of art people should like, if they don't want to be viewed as ignoramuses by the art snobs.

Another part of his appeal is probably a reaction against an increasingly urbanized society, with its crowds and concrete. Those cottages may seem more appealing to many people precisely because there aren't lots of people around them.

Another part would be that many people seem to find his sentimental, idealized images, with the mix of fantasy and nostalgia they offer, a visual antidote to stress in their lives. Some of the people I know who are especially fond of Kinkade's work have had a lot of trauma in their lives. Maybe Kinkade's paintings aren't your cup of overly sweetened and heavily scented tea, but he wouldn't be nearly as popular as he is if he wasn't creating commercial art that many people like.

The artists mocking him and doing parodies of his paintings would be better off using their time trying to create art of their own that's as successful. But of course it's easier to mock someone who's successful.

I'm not particularly fond of his paintings, but if I had to choose between having one of his paintings on the wall of a room I spend a lot of time in, and having a painting by most of the other artists mentioned here on that wall instead, I'd choose the Kinkade painting simply because it would bother me less if I had to look at it day after day. There are a lot of paintings that interest me for a short time as art to look at in a museum that I wouldn't want to have around constantly. Just as there's a difference between edgy music I might find interesting for a very short time, and what I'd want to hear fairly often while trying to relax.


As for his less than stellar behavior... Since when is there anything at all unusual about artists behaving badly, or childishly?

[krispos42]

237. To the extent I like art...

...I like Harvey Dunn better.







Not an art expert, though.


Kinkade's stuff is nice in a generic sense, but they don't seem to call out to the human condition, emphasising some aspect or another of humanity, good or bad.

[Norrin Radd]

238. Go and watch the Bakshi 1983 movie "Fire and Ice."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fire_and_Ice_%281983_film%29


Kinkade painted some of the backgrounds. He used the very same surreal color palette then that he does now.

[cherokeeprogressive]

239. Art is in the heart of its maker, and fuck all of you elitists for saying otherwise.

Oh my fucking god. How arrogant and pretentious does one have to be in order to think they should be the judge of what is art and what is not?

A cross in a jar of piss is art to some of the very people here who mock Kinkade. How fucked up is THAT?

[TicketyBoo]

246. I don't believe anyone

has mentioned M.C. Escher.

http://www.mcescher.com/

I especially like the lithograph Ascending and Descending (1960).

So clever. Makes you look and think.

[DemBones DemBones]

253. What's sad is that people spend so much money on

"original paintings" mass-produced by Kinkade's crews when they could buy quality realistic landscapes by local artists that would be one of a kind and probably cost far less. Plenty of artists paint charming cabins, barns, cottages, etc. in beautiful scenery.