Thomas Kinkade dead at age 54

[MillCreek]

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gk4IEwizVGNQ58TySQe1fLxcGPbg?docId=3140d280431b4febbd303166a2689705

I was not particularly fond of most of his work, but he was the most-collected and best-selling painter of modern times. 

[Perd Hapley]

I've never considered myself a fan either, but this line is ironic:

sentimental scenes of country gardens and pastoral landscapes in dewy morning light that were beloved by many but criticized by the art establishment.

When you consider what "the art establishment" praises...

[charby]

I've never considered myself a fan either, but this line is ironic:


When you consider what "the art establishment" praises...

I'd rather see Thomas Kinkade as popular art then some of other stuff out there.

[Monkeyleg]

That's awfully young. I don't know that I'd call him an "artist", as his work was mass-produced by others, but he was a marketing genius.

[280plus]

And on another note...good riddance!   

[MillCreek]

That's awfully young. I don't know that I'd call him an "artist", as his work was mass-produced by others, but he was a marketing genius.

I would, to the same extent that Ansel Adams or Dale Chihuly, for example, is an artist.  Dale Chihuly up here ran into some trouble a few years back by selling 'original' glass art works, and it turned out that he did not create the design nor was in the hot shop to supervise it being made.    His staff was making them.  I think he now calls those type of works 'inspired by Dale Chihuly', or something like that. 

[230RN]

That business of having a studio full of assistants to generate product goes back a long ways.  I believe Michaelangelo and a host of other artists and sculptors operated the same way.

Same thing with books.  The prime examples that come to mind are the Hardy Boys and the Nancy Drew stories.  All written by ghost writers with strict plot lines and character backstories and published under the same pseudonyms.  These ghost writers got paid pittances per book.

Franklin W. Dixon, the "author" of the Hardy Boys series, never existed.

Business is business, after all.

Terry, 230RN

REF (One example of how a lot of studio production works):

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

A quote from that article is significant:

Edward Stratemeyer aimed to produce books in an efficient, assembly-line fashion and to write them in such a way as to maximize their popularity.
<SNIP>
The ensuing case let the world know, for the first time, that the Syndicate existed; the Syndicate had always gone to great lengths to hide its existence from the public and ghostwriters were contractually obliged never to reveal their authorship.

Quite a business model, eh?

[Monkeyleg]

I wasn't aware of that, 230RN. Seems like cheating.

How is Ansel Adams not an artist?

[280plus]

You could certainly call him an artist. The question is was he a GOOD artist? And were those God awful prints with the dabs of paint added for texture by the little Chinese ladies worth the exorbitant prices he was demanding? Not to me anyways. And then, let's not forget all the little mall store franchises he used as outlets initially until he pulled the rug out from under all of them by offering the same stuff on HSN for a fraction of the prices in the stores leaving them stuck with stock they had already purchased and putting them out of business. The man was a thief. Then again, thievery is an art form itself so in that respect he WAS a good artist. 

[230RN]

Monkeyleg remarked,

I wasn't aware of that, 230RN. Seems like cheating.

Yep, business is business.

I'm going to see if I can farm out my gun board posting operation to contractors and rake in the dough.

To tell the truth, when I found out about that a couple of years ago, I felt "violated," somehow.  The Hardy Boys books were my favorites and I had most of a bookshelf filled with them (hardbound) by the time I was 12 or 13 or so.

And since my literary world started to crumble when I found out about this "book syndicate" thing, I started to wonder about Mickey Spillane, too.  Hmmmm.....

Franklin W. Dixon, 230RN

[Pharmacology]

Thomas kinkade was very successful at what he did, and I'm sure a lot of people enjoy the paintings they bought from his company.

That said,  his work wasn't fine art in any sense of the word. (it wasn't even considered art by many) It was made to order,  custom "draw-me-this-please" stuff done by his employees for whatever soccer mom wandered in.

[280plus]

I believe his operation worked under the P.T Barnum business plan.

[Perd Hapley]

Franklin W. Dixon, the "author" of the Hardy Boys series, never existed.

Encyclopedia Brown FTW

[Ron]

I liked looking at his prints in the mall store and watching the subtle changes as you dimmed or raised the light.

His works often seemed slightly surreal, like they were from an idyllic place out of a fantasy novel or the memory of a place that was fonder and more exaggerated than the reality.

[zahc]

The definition of the word "art" changed so much over the past 150 years.

Kinkade was a true artist in the very relevant sense of the word where "art" means "decoration for the walls of the rich and/or foolish", which is a long and glorious tradition in art--there is definitely as much precedent for Kinkade's work being art, as any of the 20th century 'high art' being art.

[wuluf]

Franklin W. Dixon, the "author" of the Hardy Boys series, never existed.

say it ain't so....

I never liked Kinkade (my wife calls him Kinkrap) but that's too young...

[230RN]

It be true.

http://www.theweeweb.co.uk/public/author_profile.php?id=170


Jackson Pollock probably didn't need a stable of assistants.  All he had to do was splash paint around a couple of times a day.

http://chrisrrau.files.wordpress.com/2011/02/jackson-pollock.jpg

But "artfully."  Notice the accomplished and skillful wrist-flicking brush technique. Only a true artiste could do that, which resulted in such magnificent works as...

http://thefrontblog.files.wordpress.com/2011/08/jackson-pollock1.jpg

That's simply entitled "No. 5" and it sold for

One

Hundred

Forty

Million

Dollars

One through four were almost as good.

Terry, 230RN

[Pharmacology]

The definition of the word "art" changed so much over the past 150 years.Kinkade was a true artist in the very relevant sense of the word where "art" means "decoration for the walls of the rich and/or foolish", which is a long and glorious tradition in art--there is definitely as much precedent for Kinkade's work being art, as any of the 20th century 'high art' being art.

What you're describing is more descriptive of the rococo period or sense of "art."

[brimic]

That's simply entitled "No. 5" and it sold for

One

Hundred

Forty

Million

Dollars

One through four were almost as good.

I would have named the TEHNC* 1-4.


*The emporer has no clothes

[Perd Hapley]

I would have named the TEHNC* 1-4.

Like.

[230RN]

I was pretty critical of No.5, perhaps unjustly, because this part



looked like it threw the whole compositional effect and color balance off, and seemed to contradict the artist's meaning and message.

Then, years later, I began to integrate that part of his message into the whole of No.5 and realized that it really "made" the whole painting.  I then began to love it and, frankly, felt a little pity for those who did not understand its import and power.

Terry, 230RN

[seeker_two]

I then began to love it and, frankly, felt a little pity for those who did not understand its import and power.

I felt the same way about SMOKEY AND THE BANDIT.....

[freakazoid]

I don't think I've ever heard of this guy before, but after looking up some of his pictures, I like them. Don't see how it wouldn't be classified as art.

[280plus]

http://www.kansascity.com/2012/04/07/3542318/thomas-kinkade-painter-of-light.html

In 2006, an arbitration panel ordered Kinkade's company, then called Media Arts Group, to pay $860,000 for defrauding the former owners of two failed Virginia galleries. The lawsuit, like those brought by other failed dealers, alleged that the company had used Kinkade's religious faith to draw them into the business, and then stuck them with unsalable merchandise and forced them to open stores in markets that couldn't sustain them.

The fraud finding did not single out Kinkade but said that he and others at the company created "a certain religious environment" designed to get prospective gallery owners to trust the company.

The $860,000 award was later increased to $2.8 million to cover interest and legal fees.

Kinkade agreed to pay the award after moving vans hired by the plaintiff's lawyer, Norman Yatooma, showed up at one of Kinkade's companies, Pacific Metro, threatening to take artwork to satisfy the judgment. The company had made one $500,000 payment and was due to pay an additional $1 million when it abruptly filed for bankruptcy protection, halting further payment. A new payment plan was worked out in the bankruptcy, Yatooma said Saturday.

[Perd Hapley]

I don't think I've ever heard of this guy before, but after looking up some of his pictures, I like them. Don't see how it wouldn't be classified as art.

Well, see, his work actually looked like stuff. Ya know, recognizable objects that normal people find agreeable to look at. The art world doesn't quite like that. Now, if his art looked like something disturbing, or if it just looked like nothing at all, he would have gotten some respect.