# RIP Thomas Kinkade **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 7, 2012, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-thomas-kinkade/618058 "2012-04-07T03:21:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2012, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-thomas-kinkade/618058/1 "2012-04-07T03:21:33Z")
According to the (as yet unconfirmed) [report of Thomas Kinkade’s death](http://bit.ly/Ho9HC7), 1 in 20 U.S. homes has one of his paintings hanging in it. I personally don’t, nor does any of my friends. So is this the first RIP thread we’ve had with a poll attached? ---
**Author:** ![armedmonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@armedmonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/armedmonkey)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2012, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-thomas-kinkade/618058/2 "2012-04-07T03:40:18Z")
Personally, I always scoffed at his work for lack of quality, rolled my eyes at him branding himself the “painter of light” (which he stole from the 19th century master [J.M.W. Turner](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J.M.W._Turner)), and found his business practices more than a touch loathesome. [This](http://fredericksburg.com/News/FLS/2006/092006/09212006/220020) article from 2006 is part of the reason for my distaste of his financial dealings > [@](#): > > “Most of my clients got involved with Kinkade because it was presented as a religious opportunity,” Yatooma said in a phone interview. “Being defrauded is awful enough, but doing it in the name of God is really despicable.” ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2012, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-thomas-kinkade/618058/3 "2012-04-07T03:43:17Z")
According to the Mercury News he had fallen into hard times in recent times, even to the level of being investigated by the FBI for fraud. > **[Thomas Kinkade, one of nation’s most popular painters, dies suddenly in Monte...](https://www.mercurynews.com/2012/04/06/thomas-kinkade-one-of-nations-most-popular-painters-dies-suddenly-in-monte-sereno-at-54/)** > > Thomas Kinkade, one of nation’s most popular painters, dies suddenly in Monte Sereno at 54 It is likely that his end was alcohol related, while there was some fun on criticizing his JJ Abrams abuse of light, it was not an end that I would had wished for him. RIP ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2012, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-thomas-kinkade/618058/4 "2012-04-07T03:43:36Z")
The Kinkade gallery on Kansas City’s Country Club Plaza closed a few years back. I had never even heard of him until the New Yorker [had a Susan Orlean feature on him](http://www.susanorlean.com/articles/art_for_everybody.html) and his business of selling prints at a premium and his staff of daubers to “highlight” those prints. I never found his work offensive. It is what it is and is fine for those who like it. ---
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2012, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-thomas-kinkade/618058/5 "2012-04-07T03:49:41Z")
My mom has some of his merchandise. Nothing original, though. I don’t mind him as a painter. His subject matter is often mawkish and treacly, and I’d never buy any of it, but I don’t have the hate hard-on for him that most of the internet does. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2012, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-thomas-kinkade/618058/6 "2012-04-07T03:58:34Z")
I sort of fudged on my answer–I was given a couple of prints by a neighbor who was moving out and I passed them along to a coworker. He was overjoyed to get them and has one displayed prominently in his cube. I don’t think he was anything like a great master, but what does it matter? People like what they like. In a way his stuff reminds me of one of my favorite artists, Albert Bierstadt. ---
**Author:** ![Indyellen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/indyellen/32/4176_2.png) [@Indyellen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indyellen)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2012, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-thomas-kinkade/618058/7 "2012-04-07T04:10:52Z")
I can’t see the poll since I’m on Tapatalk, but I liked him at first, until I noticed that his stuff was getting religiously glurgy. But some of his simple stuff is pleasant. I think it’s kind of like fast food; you know what a gourmet meal is like, but sometimes nothing hits the spot like a Big Mac. ---
**Author:** ![Rhiannon8404](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rhiannon8404/32/17929_2.png) [@Rhiannon8404](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhiannon8404)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2012, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-thomas-kinkade/618058/8 "2012-04-07T04:17:50Z")
I grew up just outside Placerville, where he’s from. I remember when he was first getting recognized and he would come around and do shows. He seemed like a nice enough guy and his art was nice. My mom has a signed print. I like it. It’s pleasant to look at, but not my favorite style of painting. ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2012, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-thomas-kinkade/618058/9 "2012-04-07T04:41:00Z")
Who knows, maybe in 200 years , Kinkaid will be “rediscovered”. On the other hand, some people like Kinkaid, some people like DeKooning-who am I to judge? A Kinkaid “painting” is like a Dominoe’s “pizza”-they are acceptable to some folk, loathed by others. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2012, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-thomas-kinkade/618058/10 "2012-04-07T05:20:59Z")
Does a Christmas ornament count? My uncle got me an ornament that had a Kinkade painting – it’s pretty small, just a picture in a frame. Otherwise, I wouldn’t be caught dead with that shite. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2012, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-thomas-kinkade/618058/11 "2012-04-07T05:21:03Z")
Per some news accounts some of his paintings have doubled in value already shince his death was rumored earlier today (meaning I suppose that QVC will be billing your card 6 times instead of 3). Go to the pastel light, Tom… ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2012, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-thomas-kinkade/618058/12 "2012-04-07T05:27:42Z")
> [@twickster](#): > > According to the (as yet unconfirmed) [report of Thomas Kinkade’s death](http://www.ydr.com/local/ci_20344085), 1 in 20 U.S. homes has one of his paintings hanging in it. I personally don’t, nor does any of my friends. > > So is this the first RIP thread we’ve had with a poll attached? Link’s dead; _"Thank you for visiting York Daily Record/Sunday News. We are sorry the article that you requested is no longer available. "_ ---
**Author:** ![armedmonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@armedmonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/armedmonkey)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2012, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-thomas-kinkade/618058/13 "2012-04-07T05:34:37Z")
> [@Ephemera](#): > > I don’t mind him as a painter. His subject matter is often mawkish and treacly, and I’d never buy any of it, but I don’t have the hate hard-on for him that most of the internet does. I think most of the reason the internet hates him so much is not so much for the paintings themselves, but how he marketed them. If it wasn’t for the “factories” and the mass production, most would have simply ignored him. If he didn’t aggressively pursue Christian groups to sell paintings, most people would have ignored him. If he didn’t sell his paintings on the fucking Home Shopping Network, most people would have ignored him. In short, many people across the internet viewed his work not as simply mediocre, but as evidence of a cynical mindset that values production and profit more than art. I must admit, I view it much the same. I think he had more talent than, say, Bob Ross, but If I wanted a landscape painting that somebody did according to a formula, give me Bob Ross’s happy little trees. ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2012, 5:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-thomas-kinkade/618058/14 "2012-04-07T05:40:23Z")
Painter of Shite. ---
**Author:** ![PandaBear77](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@PandaBear77](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PandaBear77)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2012, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-thomas-kinkade/618058/15 "2012-04-07T05:50:48Z")
Eh. Most of his stuff looked alike but it was pretty. Not my cup of tea but I’ve never heard anything negative about him. 54’s awfully young. Natural causes at 54? WTF? ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2012, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-thomas-kinkade/618058/16 "2012-04-07T06:00:51Z")
I’ll own up to it. I have two prints in my bedroom, two calendars on the bulletin board, and a clock that makes bird and cricket chirping sounds on the hour, all by Kinkade. They are my wife’s. The cute little cottage in the countryside is a pleasant enough thing to have on a wall, I guess. I’d rather replace them with paintings I’ve done or photos I’ve taken from my travels. But, like I said, they’re my wife’s. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2012, 6:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-thomas-kinkade/618058/17 "2012-04-07T06:05:36Z")
My WAG is that his rabid fans had the vast majority of his work – one in five hundred households had any of it, but those had so much that the volume averaged out to one in twenty. ---
**Author:** ![Marconi\_N.Cheese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/57b2e6/32.png) [@Marconi\_N.Cheese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marconi_N.Cheese)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2012, 6:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-thomas-kinkade/618058/18 "2012-04-07T06:08:48Z")
From [Wiki](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Kinkade): “On April 6, 2012, Thomas Kinkade died suddenly of natural causes while at home, according to his family. He was 54 years old. His family is both shocked and saddened, while the art world is embarrassed at its relief.” Interestingly, his official [website](http://www.thomaskinkade.com/), as of now anyway, makes no mention of his passing. It’s slow as shit though, probably getting hammered by wannabe bargain hunters. ---
**Author:** ![armedmonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@armedmonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/armedmonkey)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2012, 6:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-thomas-kinkade/618058/19 "2012-04-07T06:33:59Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > My WAG is that his rabid fans had the vast majority of his work – one in five hundred households had any of it, but those had so much that the volume averaged out to one in twenty. I seriously doubt your WAG. [MSNBC](http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/04/06/11064422-painter-of-light-artist-thomas-kinkade-dies-at-age-54) has this: > [@MSNBC](#): > > His paintings are hanging in an estimated 1 out of every 20 homes in the United States, the San Jose Mercury News reported. I won’t speak to how accurate the _San Jose Mercury News_ is regarding their estimates, but I can say that my personal experience pegs it about that number. But I’m counting the mass produced prints, too. ---
**Author:** ![armedmonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@armedmonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/armedmonkey)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2012, 6:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-thomas-kinkade/618058/20 "2012-04-07T06:42:08Z")
Never mind, **Boyo Jim** , I should have read your post closer. You are already aware of the 1 in 20 estimate. I still think they are more common than you might think, though. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-thomas-kinkade/618058.md?page=2)