Thomas Kinkade, You are a festering boil on the ass of art.

[Homebrew]

Thomas Kinkade said recently in a USA Today (http://www.usatoday.com/life/2002/2002-03-12-kinkade.htm) interview that he places his art along side the likes of Norman Rockwell and Andy Warhol.

That's not to say the commercially minded Kinkade doesn't want to join the pantheon of art's elites. Critics may scoff, but Kinkade places his work beside that of two heroes, fellow populist Norman Rockwell ("I've seen every single thing he ever painted") and renegade pop genius Andy Warhol ("He is my hero, and [/b]I'm his heir apparent[/b]").

And in what bizarro world do the paint stains that churn out of your factories resemble in any way Warhol's Marilyns or Campbell Soup Cans? This is just so absurd I am at a loss for words!

[Tars Tarkas]

That man's head has swelled so big, it probably crushed everything in his hometown! Factory art is crap, i'd rather hang a painting made by beating a canvas with a monkey than any of his junk. But that's just my opinion, i could be wrong (not very bloody well likely)

[Alessan]

I've never really cared much for Warhol... but comparing yourself to Rockwell? Those are fighting words.

(BTW - did anyone else catch the Rockwell exibit at the Guggenheim?)

[Ike Witt]

Originally posted by Homebrew

And in what bizarro world do the paint stains that churn out of your factories resemble in any way Warhol's Marilyns or Campbell Soup Cans? This is just so absurd I am at a loss for words!

Over-rated art for the masses is over-rated art for the masses no matter who makes it. The only major difference is that the masses can buy "original" Kinkade works.

TK has been a favourite target for bashing in the Pit. Say what you will about his "art" (I call it crap), but he has found a niche and is expoliting it to the hilt. His art is crap, but it is making him a decent nest egg.

[Athena]

Why are you guys so hard on him? Whenever I need a painting of a picturesque neo-fantasy cottage softly lit with yellow light, surrounded by ethereal looking trees and maybe a broken toy in the foreground, Kinkade is the first place I look. Or when I need a painting of a picturesque neo-fantasay cottage softly lit with yellow light, surrounded by ethereal looking evergreens, with a light dusting of snow and maybe a worn looking sled in the foreground, once again, Kinkade is the man.

For those times I need a painting of a softly worn bridge, surrounded by blooming flowers, fiesty squirrels, all lit softly with yellow light and a bible verse in the corner, Kinkade's got it. How 'bout a painting of a hidden arbor, with an American flag in the foreground reflecting the events of 9/11 in a non-invasive manner, all lit with a soft yellow light? I challenge you to find anyone but Thomas Kinkade who provides such a thing.

You're too hard on the guy.

[Spritle]

Piker! Charlatan! Wannabe!!!!

We all know who the true Artiste is. This is truth and evermore shall be so.

Thus Spritle has spoken and he spake thus.










We miss you, Bob Ross!

[Mojo]

Thomas Kinkade doesn't seem to (http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=28376&highlight=kinkade) be too popular around here. (http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=60264&highlight=kinkade)

[ChoosyChipsAndCeilingWhacks]

The reason I so wholeheartedly loathe this man is not really his art. I mean, if any one of you was a mediocre, run of the mill painter without much talent who loved what they do and managed to figure out how to turn a buck doing so, I'd congratulate you.

Sure, I'd never hang one of his nostalgia-fest gingerbread-sweet pieces of crapola over my sofa. But if you can convince people that they like what you produce, then who am I to say there's something wrong with their taste?

What I completely object to is the ignorant way his posters are sold at the prices of real paintings. The public is being duped into believing that they are collectable and will appreciate...in the manner of REAL paintings that are NOT horrible. People are paying $3000 for his framed posters, and as far as I'm concerned, that makes him not only a crapiferous artist, but a lying, cheating, thief.

L

[City Gent]

On a recent visit to the local mega-mall, I saw a Thomas Kinkade Gallery right in the food court, next to the "Baja Fresh". That tells you a lot about Thomas Kinkade.

[fluiddruid]

When I searched for 'Thomas Kinkade' in Google, this turned up as recent news:

Thomas Kinkade says he's divinely inspired to mass-produce works (http://www.usatoday.com/life/2002/2002-03-12-kinkade.htm)

[sidle]

Athena, let me just say :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D !!!!!!!!!
Your post had me giggling loud enough to elicit inquiring glances from co-workers.
:chuckle:

[bashere]

i'd rather hang a painting made by beating a canvas with a monkey than any of his junk.

Hey, are you thinking of making such a painting? Cuz it might be cool.*

Whenever I need a painting of a picturesque neo-fantasy cottage softly lit with yellow light...


It's true. Think of all the low-budget dentist offices and corporate lobbies that would go sadly unadorned were it not for TK.



*this poster in no way condones the harming of monkeys, even in the creation of artwork

[matt_mcl]

And people were upset about Chris Ofili ??! Man, I'd rather have the Elephant Dung Mary in my foyer than the visual glurge Athena describes.

[Bob Scene]

"His works are facsimiles of something inherently dead. Escapism is not art," says Kenneth Baker, art critic for the San Francisco Chronicle. "He might as well not exist. He could just be a branding concept. He might as well be selling hamburgers."

Well, that's really just nit-picking, isn't it?

[pesch]

Be afraid; be very afraid (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0425183378/qid=1016153674/sr=2-3/ref=sr_2_3/103-0657801-8411067)

"Cape Light" is a smaltzy Jan Karon-lite book in which TK is credited as "co-author" but best I can tell his involvement is limited to taking the next house canvas off the top of the stack and plastering it on the cover.

[Homebrew]

That is indeed scary, pesch. I enjoyed the reader comments, especially:

Most likely you're just scrolling down the Kinkade page for laughs. So I won't going on about this novels lack of merrit

[Kyla]

You guys will all be happy to read this article (http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2002/03/03/BU102714.DTL).

[capybara]

I would like to support Sexywriter's statements here-- taste is one issue, BUT this guy, along with the rest of the gen-u-wine canvas transfer crowd, is capitalising on buyers who know little about art. All art is fetishistic and overpriced in terms of materiality, but he goes farther than most. Having one of any number of lackeys brush on some GESSO before the thing gets PRINTED just grates on my nerves-- I don't know if anyone is really dense enough to think of each of these as an original singular work (I'm sure someone thinks they are of an extremely limited run), but it worries me that a Kinkaide is more expensive than many Rembrandt impressions-- I can't help but feel that some of the less art-market-savvy are being taken for a ride. Does anyone think these things will appreciate in value? I mean, if he wants to openly acknowledge the nature of these works, why doesn't he just serigraph them and not add in all these tacky borderline misleading material elements, like 'brushwork' and edition numbering and all that crap. Yes, I know the market is supporting him, but I think that his market isn't the "usual" art market and may not be totally clued in,. Yes, his buyers know what they like, but they should really understand what it is, materially and collectibly, that they're paying for, and I don't trust his marketing not to be completely fubarxed.
What would Walter Benjamin do?
(WWWBD)

PS-- yes, I AM an art snob, so don't bother pointing it out.
ps--

[Guinastasia]

Some of his paintings are okay-like people said, it's not the paintings. They'd make good illustrations for children's fairytale books, perhaps.

But this whole smug, "I'm the Painter of Light TM" thing...ugh.

It's so sickly sweet and disgusting. Give me John William Waterhouse anyday!

[Tuckerfan]

If I want fairy tale images, I'll look at Maxfield Parrish's work! Thomas Kinkade is to art what McDonald's is to fine dining. And why does this shit monger sell so well? I dunno, maybe its because we've gutted the funding for art's education in the schools? Nah! Couldn't be!

[Guinastasia]

I'd have to see Parrish's work to tell.

The problem with Kinkade is they all look the same. The man isn't an artist. He's a hack. He doesn't even do his own work.

He also wrote a book, as mentioned. My god-this man is a millionaire, and I'm slaving away at Kmart. Why?

[Earthling]

Schmaltz factor aside, I find his works to be technically deficient as well, especially in perspective and draftsmanship. Andrea Mantegna he is not.

But here's a question: If people are buying his framed productions with the idea that they really are collectible and will appreciate in value some day, do we have any data to indicate his valuation on the secondary market? In other words, how does he do on eBay?

On the other hand, maybe I don't really want to know.

Athena, I present to you G. Harvey (http://www.genesisart.com/g_harvey.html)

Guinastasia, meet Maxfield Parrish (http://sunsite.dk/cgfa/parrish/index.html)

[Tuckerfan]

Originally posted by Guinastasia
I'd have to see Parrish's work to tell.

The problem with Kinkade is they all look the same. The man isn't an artist. He's a hack. He doesn't even do his own work.

He also wrote a book, as mentioned. My god-this man is a millionaire, and I'm slaving away at Kmart. Why?

Because God hates you! :D Just kidding. Anyways go here (http://www.mcduffskeep.com/parrish/pictures/Daybreak.jpg) and here (http://www.mcduffskeep.com/parrish/) for some samples of his work. Bear in mind that your monitor probably won't reproduce the sensuality of his paintings very well, but its enough for you to get a taste.

[Arden Ranger]

More Maxwell Parrish (http://www.primenet.com/~byoder/artofmp.htm)

[Tuckerfan]

Originally posted by Earthling
Schmaltz factor aside, I find his works to be technically deficient as well, especially in perspective and draftsmanship. Andrea Mantegna he is not.

But here's a question: If people are buying his framed productions with the idea that they really are collectible and will appreciate in value some day, do we have any data to indicate his valuation on the secondary market? In other words, how does he do on eBay?

On the other hand, maybe I don't really want to know.

Athena, I present to you G. Harvey (http://www.genesisart.com/g_harvey.html)

Guinastasia, meet Maxfield Parrish (http://sunsite.dk/cgfa/parrish/index.html)

Apparently, he's not doing all that well on ebay. :D Here's (http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=850029094) the highest auction of his crap that I could find. Notice no one's bid on it yet! :D The stuff that does get bid on all seems to go for less than $100, so I'd say he doesn't exactly have great resale value. :D

[Earthling]

Whew. I'm glad to hear that the Invisible Hand of the Market is working. $10,000 asking?!?!?! Holy cow. But with no bids...some people are going to be in for a rude awakening when they try to sell this stuff.

Unless, that is, they think Kinkade's works are so beautiful that they'll never sell'em.

[Truth Seeker]

Kinkade is just an example of a new phenomenon of mass market "art," albeit probably the most extreme example. Wyland (http://www.wyland.com) is sort of the undersea equivalent of Kinkade except he doesn't have quite as many retail outlets. I blame television.

[DPWhite]

Well, one TM "painting" hanging in the corner of someone else's house isn't likely to set me off. But here in WC, we have a TM "gallery" where you can see a bunch at once. The horror! The horror! And the prices.

Frankly, its not awful painting, and if some kid did it, I would say nice job. I wouldn't buy it, but all alone it isn't crap. But a dozen of them. Eww! And the prices. I couldn't sleep at night knowing I was charging several thousand dollars for a painting of such mediocre quality, much less a print or lithograph of it. It's immoral.

I actually know (not a friend, but runs in the same business circles) an artist who does something similar, but is substantially less talented. He's a former CPA and paints in acryllic. He does sell the originals for about $25,000 and up, and then sells some sort of reproduction process. He also puts them on trivets (coasters for pots and things). He makes a ton of money. He has a very different style than TM, but basically, they are pictures without people in them.

It's not so much that the work is either bad or run of the mill, it's ripping people off who don't know better that makes these guys jerks. :mad:

[Earthling]

So, after asking the eBay question, and prompted by Tuckerfan's reply, I poked around a bit myself and came across this (http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=850394284) Kinkade original with a $40,000 ask, but In 1999, the painting was appraised by the Thomas Kinkade National Archive in Monterey, CA for $59,500.Sounds to me like the Kinkade market exists in its own micro-ecology, and no real art appraiser would touch his stuff. That's just too bizarre. In the rest of the world. $59K (or even $40K!) can get you some mighty fine real art. And lots of it, too, if you didn't want to blow it all on one piece.

[Largo62]

Originally posted by Athena
Why are you guys so hard on him? Whenever I need a painting of a picturesque neo-fantasy cottage softly lit with yellow light, surrounded by ethereal looking trees and maybe a broken toy in the foreground, Kinkade is the first place I look. Or when I need a painting of a picturesque neo-fantasay cottage softly lit with yellow light, surrounded by ethereal looking evergreens, with a light dusting of snow and maybe a worn looking sled in the foreground, once again, Kinkade is the man.

For those times I need a painting of a softly worn bridge, surrounded by blooming flowers, fiesty squirrels, all lit softly with yellow light and a bible verse in the corner, Kinkade's got it. How 'bout a painting of a hidden arbor, with an American flag in the foreground reflecting the events of 9/11 in a non-invasive manner, all lit with a soft yellow light? I challenge you to find anyone but Thomas Kinkade who provides such a thing.

You're too hard on the guy.

Sarcasm, right?

I know art is subjective, but IMO Kinkaid's "art" is so much soulless drek.

[Siege]

There was one other thing in the article in USA Today which bothered me. The man makes a lot of noise about being a devout Christian, but then talks about encouraging a "cult" of followers. The impression I got was he likes how they seem to think he's the epitome of Christian art. Now, this is just a renegade Episcopalian talking, but a devout Christian encouraging a cult of personality centered on himself bothers me.

CJ

[zut]

Originally posted by SexyWriter
What I completely object to is the ignorant way his posters are sold at the prices of real paintings. The public is being duped into believing that they are collectable and will appreciate...in the manner of REAL paintings that are NOT horrible. People are paying $3000 for his framed posters, and as far as I'm concerned, that makes him not only a crapiferous artist, but a lying, cheating, thief. And, what's worse, is that there are plenty of good, talented, lesser-known/local artists that people could be patronizing. My wife's an artist, and we attend a lot of local gallery shows. If you're willing to drop $3000, you can pick up a truly spectacular, one-of-a-kind piece of artwork. Heck, a lot of stuff sells in the hundreds-of-dollars range, so you could probably pick up a half-dozen great pieces. We've bought a number of things, all very good, all much better than Kinkaide, all one-of-a-kind, for under $100.

The shame of it is that, usually, sales at local galleries are not all that strong. The $3000 (or, even, $100,000, like Silo's parents spend over time, as evidenced here (http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=28376&highlight=kinkade)) would actually be a pretty substantial infusion of cash for many galleries, and probably most artists. It's too bad that one person can command such high prices for mass-produced prints, when there's a ton of artists who are much better, sell original art, and are lucky when they sell enough to pay their expenses.

[ElvisL1ves]

Be fair now. Rockwell and Warhol aren't immune to charges of having cranked out a lot sentimental or pop-oriented crap to pander to the mass market, either. But they both did rise above it once in a while.

Kinkade does have some technical skill, admittedly. But we'll never know if he has some actual artistic talent hidden underneath.

[Guinastasia]

Think again (http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=850131026).

Over 1,000 dollars? Shit!

And I noticed something about the paintings-as they were loading, and all blurred, they looked, well-better! Nice, colorful blurred images.

[Ludovic]

[insert comment about "all art being subjective" here"]

ya know, once I had a dream. It was a Thomas Kinkade print. That was 10 years before I saw one of his works, consciously at least. When i saw one of his works for the first time (on a mousepad, no less), last month, I immediately thought of my previous dream.

And its not like I think of those scenes every day, in which case he would truly be banal, it was just that one particular dream that I remembered. So I like him because he happened to capture my state of mind at that unique moment in time.

That said, I dont appreciate him being in every freaking mall next to the same old freakin stores. then again if I want uniqueness I should move out of Orlando :) And if he indeed tries to pass off brushed over works as original art, yeah, thats offensive too. But i'm not even gonna compare him to Rockwell and Warhol due to subjectivity issues (except to say that from what i've seen of warhol, i wouldnt even classify him as an artist.) None of them was Hieronymous Bosch.

Just because someone has a recurring theme doesnt mean they are any less of an artist...well, okay it does, but there have been plenty of one-hit wonder bands that have more musical talent than, say, Aerosmith.

For instance, I like Vladimir Nabokov, whose themes are limited to:

-- Sexually Obsessive person (Ada; Pale Fire)
-- Person persecuted by da "man" (Invitation to a Beheading; Bend Sinister)
-- Person involved with crime (King, Queen, Knave; Despair)

and, when he's really being wacky:
-- Sexually Obsessive, persecuted person commits crime (The Enchanter; Lolita)

To add some objective note to this post, let me state that for the record I dont even LIKE cottages ;-)

[JonScribe]

In Thomas Kinkade's personal hell, he will be forced to "highlight" nothing but sad clowns paintings on black velvet.

And none of them will ever sell.

Oh, and weasels will rip his flesh.

[Earthling]

Evidently Kinkade is also not self-aware enough to know the extent of his own mediocrity. From the OP's link, we hear him say that Picasso "had a talent but didn't use it in any significant way." Regardless of how he came to this dubious conclusion, I think one inference we can draw from the statement is that Mr. Kinkade must think he is using his talents to the utmost capacity. Yet to anyone with a critical eye it still ends up looking like diarrhea from a bird that ate too much fruit salad.

But then again, the fact a market exists for his stuff just further proves that there is a sucker born every minute.

Which leads me to this Wyland character. $195,000 for this (http://www.wylandgalleries.com/index.cfm?CFID=184371&CFTOKEN=10892164&CategoryID=9&ProductID=452&do=newreleases)? You've got to be out of your mind!! For that kind of money, you can get stuff that any museum would be proud to own -- and this is not it. Who in this world has the combination of wealth and gullibility to spend this amount on such dreck? What incredible hubris on Wyland's part.

Yeah, yeah, all art is subjective. And I think these guys are shysters.

[yosemite]

This man has the supreme arrogance to compare himself in any way to Norman Rockwell. Granted, Rockwell did some corny stuff, but he had a history of creating socially relevant artwork, and he just had far more range and technical skill. As far as I can tell, anyway. One of the most difficult things to paint is people. Rockwell was a master at this, but as far as I know, Kinkade doesn't paint people. (Not that this makes him bad in itself, but I can't properly compare his abilities and talents to Rockwell, since he never has done anything similar to Rockwell, either in subject matter, or technical merit.) And as far as comparing himself to Warhol - well, that's just bizarre.

Compare Kinkade's drek to this page of Rockwell's work, which has a few of his civil rights paintings: I especially appreciate "Murder in Mississippi". (http://www.rockwelltour.org/preview_4.html) Kinkade is not worthy to clean Rockwell's brushes, as far as I am concerned.

Also, as a Yosemite National Park fanatic, I have to say that I despise his pukey Yosemite painting. I don't think he's ever been there, or if he has, he missed the whole point of what Yosemite is about. It's not all pretty whispy light and whispy clouds fricking everywhere. Yosemite doesn't deserve Kinkade's hackneyed interpretation, where he gratuitously adds fricking CLOUDS EVERYWHERE!!! What the hell is his problem?!?

Compare Kinkade's Yosemite (http://www.thomas-kinkade.com/kinka35l.jpg) to a Albert Bierstadt Yosemite Painting (http://www.majbill.vt.edu/history/barrow/Hist2104/presentations/barrow/093*). You be the judge!

[Athena]

Originally posted by DesertGeezer


Sarcasm, right?

I know art is subjective, but IMO Kinkaid's "art" is so much soulless drek.

Yes, DesertGeezer, very much sarcasm. <whew> glad I checked back on this thread - I would not want to get a reputation as a Kinkade fan!

[Largo62]

Originally posted by Athena


Yes, DesertGeezer, very much sarcasm. <whew> glad I checked back on this thread - I would not want to get a reputation as a Kinkade fan!

Your reputation is saved! ;)

[Largo62]

Originally posted by Earthling
Yet to anyone with a critical eye it still ends up looking like diarrhea from a bird that ate too much fruit salad.


That's beautiful, Earthling! I'm still laughing. :D

[El Zagna]

Thank God I stumbled upon this thread. I'd been thinking I was the only one in the country who felt this way.

[Guinastasia]

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=851732665


Oh gag me. (read the corny quote by Kinkade)

[Mojo]

According to Salon.com, Kinkade now has a novel (http://www.salon.com/books/feature/2002/03/18/light/index.html) as well as a housing community (http://www.salon.com/mwt/style/2002/03/18/kinkade_village/index.html) . On the plus side, from the housing article-
"Regardless, his company, Media Arts, is currently in serious financial straits, and has posted losses for four straight quarters."

He may yet be painting sad black velvet clowns.

[Mojo]

According to Salon.com, Kinkade now has a novel (http://www.salon.com/books/feature/2002/03/18/light/index.html) as well as a housing community (http://www.salon.com/mwt/style/2002/03/18/kinkade_village/index.html) . On the plus side, from the housing article-
"Regardless, his company, Media Arts, is currently in serious financial straits, and has posted losses for four straight quarters."

He may yet be painting sad black velvet clowns.

[Mojo]

Dadgummit- I got an error msg first time I posted, refreshed the thread, and my comments weren't there so I reposted. Mods, please embezzle the appropriate number from my post count;j ;)

[sulamith]

Oh my GOD I was glad to see this thread!
I am a local artist in Savannah, Ga, and I have a co-op gallery with 10 other artists in our City Market.
A TK Gallery opened last year in City Market much to the dismay of the local artist galleries surrounding it.
Thankfully, he has not really hurt us, but he does do a pretty brisk business selling his uninspired poster crap.

I agree with so many of you about him, but the thing that really gets me about him is the whole "unvoking the name of God" line of bullshit.
He does, indeed, appeal to people who don't know jack about art. The same folks that attend those Home Interior parties and buy that plastic wicker mirror witht the two little plastic shelves to go next to it are the same ones in there licking that vomit up. Fortunately, he doesn't do Savannah scenes, which seem to be what our tourists want.
I paint alot of figural pieces, like dancers, jesters, musicians, etc. As I was once showing off a ballerina I had worked particularly hard on, to some people my husband works with, a ladt came up and said, "My daughter just bought ME a Thimas Kinkade!"
Suck my ass, Lady! Damn!

[Bad News Baboon]

Originally posted by Tuckerfan
If I want fairy tale images, I'll look at Maxfield Parrish's work! Thomas Kinkade is to art what McDonald's is to fine dining. And why does this shit monger sell so well? I dunno, maybe its because we've gutted the funding for art's education in the schools? Nah! Couldn't be!

its funny you should say that. I, too, compare Kinkade to McDonalds.

I find it really strange that most people that dislike Kinkaide for his commercialism have no issues with downing a big mac or two.

Supporting crap is supporting crap anyway you slice it.

I don't care for his work. I think its awfully sweet and gooey.
But many people do like his stuff. This is evident by the 'galleries' in malls, and all.

The way I see it, more power to him.

[Floater]

Originally posted by City Gent
On a recent visit to the local mega-mall, I saw a Thomas Kinkade Gallery right in the food court, next to the "Baja Fresh".


Just FYI. In Swedish there is a childspeak word baja meaning [b]poo[(b].

[Heloise]

Feh. I like the pretty pictures. No big either way, so I don't really understand why people are so venomous. It's not like he's out right hurting people, he's not doing something malicious and, if he truly believes that he's an artist of high caliber, then he's not lying to the public either.

The one thing I do have a problem with is the link about his galleries being closed. There is nothing joyful about people losing their jobs. Even if you hate the guy, I can think of nothing celebratory in the fact that more people are going to have to hit the job market because of declining sales.

So, in the opinions of many, he creates crap. Big deal. Too many other people to be pissed at right now, IMO, for bigger and better reasons.

[Spavined Gelding]

My credentials: I was trained as a painter and printmaker in the art department of a great public university. It became apparent that, when talent is mediocre at best and the drive and ambition to flog a meager talent into commercial success is lacking, the path of fine art is a pathway to perpetual discontent. Friend Kincaid clearly lacks skill and imagination but he makes up for that with capitalist guts. That doesn’t make him a good painter but it does make him a commercial success. He becomes one more of a vast number of self starters who have made a fortune selling crap to the public. The public’s appetite for crap appears to be beyond satisfying.

Despite all sorts of posturing, art is decoration and a matter of personal taste. That taste can be refined and educated. Kincaid does not appeal to people of refined and educated artistic taste. Fortunately for him there are all sorts people out there with more money than taste. I suppose those people can put anything they want on their own walls.

There are all sorts of unrecognized local painters, printmakers, sculptors, jewelers and potters working out there who do surprisingly good stuff for their own amusement and livelihood. People who by their stuff will get something with much more merit that Kincaid’s drivel at a much lower price.

Don’t get me started on those worthless damn’d porcelain figurines.

[caveman]

TK = art for the WWF and NASCAR crowd.

My uncle-in-law (?) loves this shite. About two or three years ago, he got one for himself, and I had never heard of the Kinkade guy. Curious, I went to the gallery (we were on vacation with the extended family at the time...) and was swamped by this nonsense: the initials, the "glowing" crap, and, to my suprise, that you could get two or three of the EXACT SAME PAINTING! (which he did...one for his parents, and one for my in-laws...cavewoman and I were lucky...)

Some time later, I spotted one of his stores opening in a local mall. Now, Austin has a vibrant local art scene, which we partonize whenever we can. I suppose if the only place you ever shop is the mall, then this is the only art made with actual paint on canvas that you'll come into contact with, and therefore mistake it as sophisticated...

What I dearly want, however, is for a talented artist, or even a disgrunteld former TK employee, to make a painting, in the Kinkaid style, of a mutilated baby head on a pike , in front of a cottage at the end of a dirt trail, with yellow lamplight and trees...That could go over the couch...

[Ludovic]

Originally posted by caveman

What I dearly want, however, is for a talented artist, or even a disgrunteld former TK employee, to make a painting, in the Kinkaid style, of a mutilated baby head on a pike , in front of a cottage at the end of a dirt trail, with yellow lamplight and trees...That could go over the couch...

hahahahaha! i'd buy that before a real TK! i'll admit TK is a guilty pleasure but a pleasure i cannot avoid due to the correlation between his "paintings" and that dream i had several years ago before i heard of him.

Now, with regards to the many other posters who claims that there are many local artists out there more worth picking up than tk....hahahahaha! thats pretty hilarious, too, almost as funny as the idea of a TK painting with a Boy with a Sack for a Body in it. Sincerely, I have almost never seen a piece of art on sale, that I would buy if given the money. a lot of it is good but not worth the several thousand bucks they want to have for it.

a lot of it is crap, but some of the "good" pictures i see in local galleries are worth about 1/10 of what they are selling for to me. At least thats a better ratio than that "mass-produced americana" furniture seller whos name i cannot remember, whose furniture isnt even worth 1/10th.

[Bad News Baboon]

Ludovic,

If your city has a College, you may consider stopping by the art department. Often times they have shows featuring the work of students. Work that is often for sale. I have purchased several pieces this way.

[Ludovic]

Originally posted by Bad News Baboon
Ludovic,

If your city has a College, you may consider stopping by the art department. Often times they have shows featuring the work of students. Work that is often for sale. I have purchased several pieces this way.

Sure, and I dont like Romantic classical music. I prefer baroque and renaissance. Next thing you'll tell me there's college chamber orchestras if i look hard enough :D

Seriously, thanks for that, I may try it if I ever buy a house and have some walls I can mutilate at leisure.