Criticism and Controversy
Reception
Although Kinkade was among the most commercially successful
painters of the 1990s, his work has been negatively received by art critics.
Shortly after news of Kinkade's death in April 2012, author Susan Orlean called
his passing the death of a "kitsch master." In the same month, journalist Laura
Miller lampooned Kinkade's work as "a bunch of garish cottage paintings."
Kinkade was also criticized for the extent to which he had commercialized
his art, for example, by selling his prints on the QVC home shopping network.
Some academics expressed concerns about the implications of Kinkade's success in
relation to Western perceptions of visual art: in 2009, Nathan Rabin of The A.V.
Club wrote, "To his detractors, he represents the triumph of sub-mediocrity and
the commercialization and homogenization of painting [...] perhaps no other
painter has been as shameless or as successful at transforming himself into a
corporation as Kinkade." Among these circles, he is known more today as a "mall
artist" or a chocolate box artist than as a merited painter. Rabin went on to
collectively describe Kinkade's paintings as "a maudlin, sickeningly sentimental
vision of a world where everything is as soothing as a warm cup of hot chocolate
with marshmallows on a cold December day."
In a 2001 interview, Kinkade
said, "I am really the most controversial artist in the world."
Business practices
Kinkade's company, Media Arts Group Inc., was accused of
unfair dealings with owners of Thomas Kinkade Signature Gallery franchises. In
2006, an arbitration board awarded Karen Hazlewood and Jeffrey Spinello $860,000
in damages and $1.2 million in fees and expenses due to Kinkade's company
"[failing] to disclose material information" that would have discouraged them
from investing in the gallery. The award was later increased to $2.8 million
with interest and legal fees. The plaintiffs and other former gallery owners
also leveled accusations of being pressured to open additional galleries that
were not financially viable, being forced to take on expensive, unsalable
inventory, and being undercut by discount outlets whose prices they were not
allowed to match. Kinkade denied the accusations, and Media Arts Group had
successfully defended itself in previous suits by other former gallery owners.
Kinkade himself was not singled out in the finding of fraud by the arbitration
board. In August 2006, the Los Angeles Times reported that the FBI was
investigating these issues, with agents from offices across the country
conducting interviews.
Former gallery dealers also charged that the
company used Christianity as a tool to take advantage of people. "They really
knew how to bait the hook," said one ex-dealer who spoke on condition of
anonymity. "They certainly used the Christian hook." One former dealer's lawyer
stated, "Most of my clients got involved with Kinkade because it was presented
as a religious opportunity. Being defrauded is awful enough, but doing it in the
name of God is really despicable." On June 2, 2010, Pacific Metro, the artist's
production company, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, one day after defaulting on
a $1 million court-imposed payment to the aforementioned Karen Hazlewood and
Jeffrey Spinello. A $500,000 payment had previously been disbursed.
From
1997 through 2005, court documents show at least 350 independently owned Kinkade
franchises. By May 2005, that number had more than halved. Kinkade received $50
million during this period. An initial cash investment of $80,000 to $150,000 is
listed as a startup cost for franchisees.
Personal conduct
The Los Angeles Times reported that some of Kinkade's former
colleagues, employees, and even collectors of his work said that he had a long
history of cursing and heckling other artists and performers. The Times further
reported that he openly fondled a woman's breasts at a South Bend, Indiana,
sales event, and mentioned his proclivity for ritual territory marking through
urination, once relieving himself on a Winnie the Pooh figure at the Disneyland
Hotel in Anaheim while saying, "This one's for you, Walt." In a letter to
licensed gallery owners acknowledging he may have behaved badly during a
stressful time when he overindulged in food and drink, Kinkade said accounts of
the alcohol-related incidents included "exaggerated, and in some cases outright
fabricated personal accusations." The letter did not address any incident
specifically.
In 2006, John Dandois, Media Arts Group executive,
recounted a story that on one occasion six years previously, Kinkade became
drunk at a Siegfried & Roy magic show in Las Vegas and began shouting "Codpiece!
Codpiece!" at the performers. Eventually he was calmed by his mother. Dandois
also said of Kinkade, "Thom would be fine, he would be drinking, and then all of
a sudden, you couldn't tell where the boundary was, and then he became very
incoherent, and he would start cussing and doing a lot of weird stuff." In June
2010, Kinkade was arrested in Carmel, California, for driving while under the
influence of alcohol. He was later convicted.
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