thomas kinkade. does his name sound familiar? i’m sure you would recognize his art. it is hawked in malls across the country and on qvc shows. i never really thought about what his art was about but i read an article about him in usa today and realized the perverse extent to which artists like him have destroyed “art.”



he makes manufactured drivel. literally. he doesn’t just crank out numerous similar items, he actually manufactures the same painting over and over. using a process he perfected, he creates an original piece of art that is mechanically mass produced, much like a poster, and then sends it to “highlight artists” (asian and hispanic hourly workers) who slobber paint over the prints in a by-the-colors method. then he sells the reproductions for upwards of ten thousand dollars. is this not disgusting?



he flogs his paintings like cans of soup and calls it art. worst of all, he says that he is divinely inspired. “well, it was almost as if god became my art agent. he basically gave me ideas. and one of the foundational ideas he gave me was a way to create multiple forms of art that looked like the original, but weren’t just a poster.” people snap this up. five million paintings sold since 1989. his paintings are idyllic and peaceful. they are quite nice, in certain respects. but the whole process is sick and demeaning.



what am i objecting to really? do as you do. make money however you can. but something in me is just fundamentally repulsed by this blend of manufactured crap posing as art on night lights, cups, plates and everything imaginable. go see some of his stores, you can’t miss it. there are 360 thomas kinkade galleries nationwide. he calls himself the “heir apparent to warhol.” he says that he is the “most american of painters.” and he’s right. in a puke inducing way. i feel sorry for painters and artists everywhere who have to struggle to be recognized, who have to struggle to be real, to push boundaries. i feel sorry for the starving dreamers who are snuffed out by the status quo of “oh wow, that’s really pretty! and it’s signed! by someone i saw at the mall!!!”



thomas kinkade is the boy band of the artistic world.