When I came across the work of the painter Thomas Kinkade, almost a decade ago, I was fascinated and appalled. As you know if you listen to the show, I’m really not a snob — I loved The Hangover, for instance, and don’t really get opera.
But the popularity of Kinkade’s ultra-treacly landscape paintings, produced by the thousand, and the penumbra of religious sanctimony and all-Americanism around their marketing, just staggered me. So I did a rant on the air that you can hear here:
His images seemed to beg for German adjectives – völkisch, kitschy — and now comes the news that another German word is in order: schadenfreude. Because Thomas Kinkade, unable to pay his debts (reportedly in the millions) due to people who say he “used his Christian faith to fraudulently persuade them to open one of the artist’s ‘signature’ galleries,” has declared bankruptcy.
- Kurt Andersen
Not a surprise, given the prices charged for all of this “artwork.” Too bad so many gullible folks were taken in on this scheme.
I have loathed this guy’s “artwork” for years… ever since I visited some cousins in 1993 who had bought one of his pieces, and gushed about it. Your descriptions of his works’ shortcomings hit the nail on the head – and hit it about 10 times. Thank you for so keenly expressly what I’ve always known.
I’m definitely not a fan of Kinkade. This guy is everywhere — how could he go bankrupt? Too many artists out there are struggling while creating art a lot more original than this kitschy junk. I guess Kinkade is now joining the struggling artist ranks.