# Why does everyone hate Thomas Kinkaide? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 27, 2009, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-everyone-hate-thomas-kinkaide/487592 "2009-02-27T01:05:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2009, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-everyone-hate-thomas-kinkaide/487592/61 "2009-02-27T15:42:48Z")
I had to sit through [this hagiography](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0999872/) of Kinkade’s early life, because my wife is a fan of Jared Padelecki, who played Kinkade in it. Given what his paintings are like, it shouldn’t be surprising that the movie was incredibly sappy…not to mention filled with bizarre continuity gaffes, like trees in full leaf at Christmastime, with (fake) snow on the ground. ---
**Author:** ![Baldwin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baldwin/32/7264_2.png) [@Baldwin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baldwin)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2009, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-everyone-hate-thomas-kinkaide/487592/62 "2009-02-27T15:43:13Z")
They touch up _prints_ with bits of paint? Jesus, what a retarded idea. Yeah, he’s a thoroughly mediocre artist. That’s not a crime; if you enjoy painting, and if other people like your stuff, fine. I think it’s the egomaniacal, pretentious douchebaggery that bugs people. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2009, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-everyone-hate-thomas-kinkaide/487592/63 "2009-02-27T15:45:53Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > You don’t really get the artist’s mindset, do you? > > Do you honestly think that most artists are chasing the almighty dollar? If they weren’t, they wouldn’t CARE that Kincaide is making a mint. Alice Waters doesn’t go around whining and ranting about how evil Ray Kroc was- she knows her style of food and McDonald’s are completely different, and that the target consumers aren’t the same. If an avant-garde artist would rather make the paintings HE likes than the paintings the public at large likes, that’s fine by me! I wish him luck, and hope he finds the small appreciative audience he deserves. The minute he starts throwing hissy fits about Kincaide, he loses my respect and my good wishes. ---
**Author:** ![Long\_Time\_First\_Time](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ad7895/32.png) [@Long\_Time\_First\_Time](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Long_Time_First_Time)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2009, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-everyone-hate-thomas-kinkaide/487592/64 "2009-02-27T15:46:22Z")
> [@Jettboy](#): > > Not at all. Most artists (at least the 300-or so that I know personally) love to see a _talented_ artist succeed; it gives them hope, a dim promise that someday \*their \*work might make them rich and/or famous. > > Most artists (again, the ones that I know) despise Kincaide not only because of his utter lack of talent, but the fact that the product of his talentlessness sells the way it does. That situation sends the message that no matter how hard you work, no matter how talented you are, unless you have a one-in-a-million marketing strategy and are willing to sell your integrity, you are probably destined to labor away in obscurity. That is the tragedy of the artist. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2009, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-everyone-hate-thomas-kinkaide/487592/65 "2009-02-27T15:52:56Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > If they weren’t, they wouldn’t CARE that Kincaide is making a mint. It’s not that they care that he’s making a mint, it’s that they are bugged that he’s so well-loved for artwork that is truly awful. I had a similar experience in high school. I was working my ass off to write and play original guitar music that pushed the envelope of my creativity. A friend just played whatever hot riffs were popular on FM radio at the time. Cute girls flocked to him because he was such a musical genius. I wasn’t so much bugged that he got all the girls (OK, maybe a little), I was bugged because he did it by mindlessly copying the work of others. ---
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2009, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-everyone-hate-thomas-kinkaide/487592/66 "2009-02-27T15:58:07Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > If they weren’t, they wouldn’t CARE that Kincaide is making a mint. > > Alice Waters doesn’t go around whining and ranting about how evil Ray Kroc was- she knows her style of food and McDonald’s are completely different, and that the target consumers aren’t the same. > > If an avant-garde artist would rather make the paintings HE likes than the paintings the public at large likes, that’s fine by me! I wish him luck, and hope he finds the small appreciative audience he deserves. > > The minute he starts throwing hissy fits about Kincaide, he loses my respect and my good wishes. I haven’t really heard any artists throwing hissy fits about **Kinkade**. _(Please note spelling!)_ Some may muse sadly that they’re making very little money & Kinkade is a multi-millionarie. The more common reaction is distaste at his meretricious aesthetic choices. I’m no artist but have looked at a lot of pictures in my time; in my opinion, he’s chosen to make Bad Art. (No, I don’t play the “Is this Art?” game.) Not all of those underappreciated artists are making “avant garde” art. Check out the galleries in your city; figurative art lives! Here’s a younger artist you’ll probably love! [Jeff Koons](http://www.jeffkoons.com/site/index.html) markets his stuff like mad. His gallery even includes a Banality category. ---
**Author:** ![Caricci](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/85f322/32.png) [@Caricci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caricci)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2009, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-everyone-hate-thomas-kinkaide/487592/67 "2009-02-27T16:08:27Z")
> [@Terrifel](#): > > [Enjoy.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTvUT_Hx4Dc) I hate to admit it, but I did. Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![Caricci](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/85f322/32.png) [@Caricci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caricci)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2009, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-everyone-hate-thomas-kinkaide/487592/68 "2009-02-27T16:09:33Z")
> [@guanolad](#): > > that’s reuben kincaid, not thomas kinkade. :d:d:d:d:d:d WTF? Where are my smilies. ---
**Author:** ![Carl\_Corey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Carl\_Corey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carl_Corey)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2009, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-everyone-hate-thomas-kinkaide/487592/69 "2009-02-27T16:24:23Z")
> [@Art\_Rock](#): > > To be fair, he is marginally better than Bob Ross. But it is a very small margin. And I don’t see a single happy tree anywhere in Kinkade’s work. ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2009, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-everyone-hate-thomas-kinkaide/487592/70 "2009-02-27T16:26:18Z")
Manduck: > [@](#): > > Here is a church in the middle of a forest without even a footpath leading to the front door. Who attends that church, bears? Is the bear Catholic? ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2009, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-everyone-hate-thomas-kinkaide/487592/71 "2009-02-27T16:29:32Z")
> [@Carl\_Corey](#): > > And I don’t see a single happy tree anywhere in Kinkade’s work. That’s because they’re all being burned indoors. ---
**Author:** ![DianaG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7ab992/32.png) [@DianaG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DianaG)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2009, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-everyone-hate-thomas-kinkaide/487592/72 "2009-02-27T16:33:13Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > It’s not that they care that he’s making a mint, it’s that they are bugged that he’s so well-loved for artwork that is truly awful. Exactly. It’s less about loathing Kinkade personally than it is about the utter despair for humanity that his popularity induces. ---
**Author:** ![teela\_brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2009, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-everyone-hate-thomas-kinkaide/487592/73 "2009-02-27T17:03:14Z")
Another reason to despise him is that a lot of people who buy his work tend to be older, not wealthy and extremely naive about art and the collecting thereof. Since they’re also a churchy lot, they’re sucked right into the smarmy sales routine for which they are the primary target. My mom was not rich, but she purchased one of these pieces of pink glitter dreck, under the misconception that “It’s going to be worth a lot of money someday!” ---
**Author:** ![Knorf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/58956e/32.png) [@Knorf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knorf)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2009, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-everyone-hate-thomas-kinkaide/487592/74 "2009-02-27T17:03:40Z")
Clearly, deplorable taste is far more common than refined taste. ---
**Author:** ![Terrifel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c68b51/32.png) [@Terrifel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terrifel)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2009, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-everyone-hate-thomas-kinkaide/487592/75 "2009-02-27T17:08:03Z")
> [@cmkeller](#): > > Is the bear Catholic? Does the Pope shit in the woods? ---
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2009, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-everyone-hate-thomas-kinkaide/487592/76 "2009-02-27T17:26:59Z")
> [@Terrifel](#): > > Does the Pope shit in the woods? Probably. It didn’t look like there was an outhouse nearby, and that tiny church is too small for an interior bathroom, and there’s no way it has plumbing connections. However, can someone de3scibe this “touching-up process”? How the heck do you touch-up a print? Just slap some paint over the right areas like a paint-by-numbers bit? ---
**Author:** ![Hunter\_Hawk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/50afbb/32.png) [@Hunter\_Hawk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hunter_Hawk)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2009, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-everyone-hate-thomas-kinkaide/487592/77 "2009-02-27T17:35:17Z")
> [@Bridget\_Burke](#): > > Kinkade’s [Disney series](http://www.thomaskinkade.com/magi/servlet/com.asucon.ebiz.home.web.tk.HomeServlet) really brings on the kitsch. :eek: Literally. My jaw actually dropped at the badness when I clicked that link. And I have to add: Kinkade: Worst. Beverage. Ever. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2009, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-everyone-hate-thomas-kinkaide/487592/78 "2009-02-27T17:38:37Z")
> [@Hunter\_Hawk](#): > > :eek: Literally. My jaw actually dropped at the badness when I clicked that link. > > And I have to add: > > Kinkade: Worst. Beverage. Ever. 😃 And if you’re on a diet, you drink Kinkade Light. d&r ---
**Author:** ![Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troy_mcclure_sf/32/4150_2.png) [@Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Troy_McClure_SF)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2009, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-everyone-hate-thomas-kinkaide/487592/79 "2009-02-27T17:53:37Z")
My problem with Kinkade is that all of his serene little cottages are ON FIRE. And seriously, look at that Pinocchio page. “My prayer is that Pinocchio Wishes Upon a Star will make dreams come true for all.” Seriously? Our own (former) Doper **Jin Wicked** had a great page “dedicated” to Kinkade, but has since taken it down. [QUOTE=Kenobi 65] I had to sit through this hagiography of Kinkade’s early life, because my wife is a fan of Jared Padelecki, who played Kinkade in it. Given what his paintings are like, it shouldn’t be surprising that the movie was incredibly sappy…not to mention filled with bizarre continuity gaffes, like trees in full leaf at Christmastime, with (fake) snow on the ground. [/QUOTE] Man, that’s no joke. A friend and I tried to get drunk and watch it but we couldn’t crack 20 minutes. [Here’s](http://www.pajiba.com/thomas-kinkades-home-for-christmas.htm)’s Pajiba’s review. ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2009, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-everyone-hate-thomas-kinkaide/487592/80 "2009-02-27T18:21:09Z")
The New Yorker had an article about him in their October 15th, 2001 issue, and it was the first I had ever heard of him. I wish I could link to it, but they have a moronic policy of limiting most back issues to current subscribers - and even then forcing you to read them via an awful “reader” interface that doesn’t allow any copying. Some bullet points: His company is traded on the New York Stock Exchange. The galleries hold “Master Highlighter” events where an artist will spend 15 minutes daubing little globs of paint on your print. “The walls of the home are the new frontier of branding.” “Master Editions” of his prints (daubed by Kinkade himself) are signed with ink containing his DNA. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-everyone-hate-thomas-kinkaide/487592.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-everyone-hate-thomas-kinkaide/487592.md?page=5)