He was one of the angriest men I ever met. Spewing platitudes and autographs with machine-gun precision, Thomas Kinkade was a one-man tent show of strategic branding, cornball imagery and raw, unrelenting ambition.
Now that he’s gone I have to wonder all over again just how it was possible for one man to propogate so many vacant, if colorful, fields of magenta, so many technicolor sunsets, so many cabins in non-existent Edens. I researched his background as a better-than-decent painter, tracked the rise of his sugar-coated faux Disney clichés, interviewed him for hours and wrote about him just as his trademarked “light” was about to dim.
Now that the darkness that surrounded his psyche has finally swallowed him up, I also have to wonder just how many azalea fields and snowy Christmas tableaux—always devoid of human companionship—are about to go up for sale on eBay.
Dear Christina,
I don’t know much about the painter Thomas Kinkade (I did enjoy his paintings even if they were mass produced and distributed) but in any case your comments about him are utterly hateful. Would your comments have anything to do with the fact that he was a professing Christian? Could it be that perhaps he was feeling hostility from you as you were interviewing him, and thus he was reacting to that hostility?
Maybe I’m missing something here but I truly think that we all need to examine our own hearts before we condemn someone else’s, especially a man who can no longer speak up for himself. :(
Sincerely,
Tana Rhodes
Dear Tana – thank you for your comment. But unfortunately you are completely wrong in your implication.
I spent a lot of time with Thomas Kinkade. My criticism of his banal artworks and his aggressive, even manipulative personal style was based upon long study, careful analysis and patient listening.
As for whether he can speak for himself any longer, don’t forget: one picture is worth a thousand words.
My words were not hateful. They were honest. And they had nothing whatsoever to do with his religious practice.
Sincerely – Christina