ADDED: Via commenter Seven Machos, the AV Club says:
Landscape painter Thomas Kinkade—known as the “Painter Of Light” because he trademarked that phrase for himself, and as a purveyor of patriotic and Christian-themed images that are meant to contain a “larger moral dimension”—has been busted for drunk driving. It’s part of a pervasive pattern of self-destructive behavior for Kinkade, whose innocuous, assembly-line images of peaceful cottages, Jesuses, and snow scenes have made him the nation’s self-described “most collected artist,” which is sort of like Velveeta bragging that it’s “America’s most sought-after cheese.” As Kinkade himself once said, “We have found a way to bring to millions of people an art that they can understand,” which just about sums up his Norman Rockwell-meets-Walmart approach.Go to the link to see a few attempts Photoshop the mug shop into a Kinkadesque vision of light.
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20 comments:
Ahhh, the new "casual confetti shirt for men fad" that I have been waiting for has finally arrived. Look out ladies!
I mean, literally look out - i'm going drinking and driving with TK.
Pebble Beach is hopping with millionaires this week for the U S Open. Golfing while intoxicated is a good thing and not a bad thing. TK was probably going back to the Resort to lighten up Clint Eastwood's windows for him and got confused.
Huh! Lit up again!
"I go flying so high, when I'm stoned."
This guy is an incredible douche.
I have no sympathy for drunks, particularly behind the wheel.
I'm disappointed; I thought Althouse was doing a cinema vérité live grape-inspired reading of Hitch-22.
I actually thought "Thomas Kincade" was a slave-wage factory in China.
Thomas Kincade also works as a white-shoe law firm in Manhattan.
No, he was the manager of the Partridge Family.
Touchdown Jesus struck by lightning, and now this? Do these things come in threes, too?
Kinkade isn't my cup of tea but when ever someone starts dissing his art it always gets my hackles up. I can't help but think of a presentation by the former student who "made it" the one semester I was an art major, the returning hero visiting from the Big Apple where he was a Success. And trying to decide what possible virtue infinite variations on mirror image yellow resin obelisks had that managed to pay Manhattan rent.
If some unsophisticate in Iowa is bursting with pride over her original Kinkade, there is some aging boomer in Manhattan with a five foot tall set of matching, leaning resin obelisks that won't fit in the closet.
Kinkade's work is not painting, but performance art capitalism.
And it's awful to compare him to Norman Rockwell, who was a talented illustrator.
Sorry, but as far as decorative collectibles go, I'd rather have the resin obelisks, Synova.
Re drunk driving arrests: It's an industry in CA. Not saying he wasn't but please note reason for stop had nothing to do with 'driving'.
Re Kincade 'art': Not my cup but probably represents an ideal for many millions who live in 'dumps'. Everyone (in America, at least) is entitled to their own fantasy and who's to say Kincade's is worse than Calvin Klein underwear ads.
And, speaking of Eastwood: My favorite image of the power of celebrity. About 20 years ago, I'm at an airline ski week in Sun Valley (girlfriend's bro was a Delta driver). Anyway, late in the evening, the MC promotes a wet t-shirt event. After much pleading, he has two or three women enlisted (who, believe me, have been hoping for someone to say "show me your tits" all their lives). In the meantime, women in the audience have grown openly hostile to the sexual exploitation theme. The MC gives it one final shot by saying the contest will be judged by Clint Eastwood. Feminist indignation in the room reached Helen Reddy "hear me roar" levels. Then, guess what? Eastwood walked onstage. You could have been killed in the stampede of women rushing up to join in the fun. I'm sure my girlfriend would have been among them but for the presence of her brother.
The stench of elitism oozes robustly from the AV post and its commenters.
Suddenly I'm okay with elitism. Must... sit ... down until it passes.
Yeah, I don't get the dumping on Kincade. The guy makes art that people like. Personally, I don't think people bust on him so much because the art is bad, but because the people who buy his art aren't sophisticated elites. It's not like his stuff is significantly worse that what you find at many galleries.
I'm just waiting for Kincade to become popular in hipster underground art circles. Like PBR, it's just so declasse that eventually it must become cool.
"Sorry, but as far as decorative collectibles go, I'd rather have the resin obelisks, Synova."
I'd rather not have either of them.
And I actually have the resin obelisks... they're a house item in Ever Quest 2 except they're twisty and they glow.
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