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Oooh, death match between arbitration and Thomas Kinkade! I can't pick which is worse.
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@Alex Chasick: Is there an arbitration charm bracelet? [www.collectiblestoday.com]
Arbitration snow globe?
I rest my case.
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@Alex Chasick: Kinkade, definitely Kinkade. My kitty's poop has more inherent art than his ... well, let's call it \"work\".
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Kinkade is the biggest fraud ever. He has his students paint his work and he just signs the bottom. Fuc*ing liar!
@amandaramirez: It isn't that his students paint his work-- this kind of apprenticeship has been known since the birth of art. It is that his 'paintings' aren't actually real works, they are recreations of works printed on canvas with a treatment to make them look painted. A student might go in and add a little detail here or there with actual paint, but they are NOT originals. Another group of gallery artists in my hometown area sued him for that-- they were not, by contract, allowed to put works on sale and the reason as they were direct distributors and no one else would get any Kincaid work like what they could sell the public. Fastforward a couple of months, they found that Kincaid was selling work to other retailers, thus violating the agreement... even finding Kincaid works they had in stock at TJ Maxx. They got suing mad.
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@HIV 2 Elway: Koons (who does puerile, middlebrow-\"shocking\" crap) doesn't pretend to do anything else; he even celebrates the Factoryness of his assembly line. Same with Warhol.
Kinkade tried to hide it. Big difference.
@HIV 2 Elway: Difference being, they are both capable of \"producing\" some great works. If you've ever seen a BIG Chihuly installation, it's pretty impressive, love it or hate it.
@HIV 2 Elway: As did Warhol and Dali for that matter... in fact, most experts agree that Leonardo's \"Virgin of the Rocks\" was probably painted by an apprentice.
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And by \"faith\" he means, \"When I read the moneychangers-in-the-temple story, I totally came down on the side of the moneychangers!\"
My fiance's mother was in a gallery and started ranting about how it was all worthless trash paintings. She didn't realize the Ole Tom was standing right next to her.
@teknowaffle: I live in his home town and bite my tongue every time I walk past that \"gallery\". I'm always worried he or a rabid fan is right next to me.
The Placerville gallery is spooky too, just like a mortuary.
@teknowaffle: I would have LOL'd. It's fun challenging the artist's work, especially to their face. If you can't argue the value of your work to somebody, maybe it doesn't have value after all.
Personally I think his work is from a completely different, grossly naive universe, but it is not without value; if it had been painted a couple centuries ago, it would have been regarded extremely well. The art \"culture\" in our society is just a ravenous beast consuming novelty and regurgitating hideous caricatures of itself.
@RecordStoreToughGuy: He basically made a grunting noise and walked away. One intelligent person in a store filled who is against his crap is outweighed by the fawning, tasteless middle class fans.
I find your story a bit hard to believe. I have worked at his galleries and he never actually goes to the galleries. In order for him to make an appearance the gallery must pay a very high appearance fee as well as rent a large venue for him to host the event. Even with the fee and cost for renting a hall he will only actually be there for about 3 hours. I'm not a huge fan or supporter of the man but stories like these are just a bit hard to believe.
Some day I'm going to start a business that sells Jesus-themed pornography, thereby combining America's two greatest obsessions...
@Kth Wlch:
Y frgt gns. Ths rght wng fndmntlsts hv gt t hv thr gns, gd (whch s grd), nd sx. Thy prtclrly njy ny 2 f th 3 t th sm tm.
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@Keith Welch: Didn't Larry Flynt nearly bankrupt Hustler once upon a time by trying out that particular combination?
@Keith Welch: Would Jesus be doing Mary doggy style from behind while Moses was getting fellatio and spouting off the ten commandments.
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Kinkade better start painting more crap if he wants to pay off this settlement!
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What is this appealing arbitration?? Is it only binding if it finds in favor of the big guys??
Where's my broom......
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@doctor_cos: Kinkade filed suit in District Court trying to block the arbitrators decision -- which he won. The appeals court reversed that decision and affirmed the arbitrators.
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Why term him \"Painter of Crap\" when you can get the rhyme with \"Painter of Shite\"?
I'm not a fan of his work by any means, but plenty of people definitely are. It's a little puerile to call him the \"painter of crap,\" and besides, he's a marketer, not an artist. And obviously a darn good one.
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@Nicole Jordan: Yeah, he's a pretty easy target for snarkiness. Look at his product line, the licensed products and partners and such -- impressive merchandising indeed.
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@Landru: I'm with Nicole on this one: I'm definitely in the \"hate his 'art'\" camp but calling his stuff \"crap\" is definitely puerile and could offend an otherwise-rational Consumerist who may actually own one of his \"ouevres\".
I saw his gallery in Carmel a few years back and what struck me was how cool his art would look if there was - let's say - a mech or an orc or maybe a lamborghini or wizard in them.
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Thomas Kinkade is to art as Booth was to Lincoln.
Prominent, faith-on-his-sleeve Christian turns out to be a shyster? Color me not surprised.
I'm not surprised, either--copyrighted materials published at one of my Web sites has been, uh, \"appropriated\" by a so-called Christian author in a book published last fall.
Her print book looks so much like my own stuff, it turned my hair white. I'm not just talking \"concept\", but the entire layout, color scheme, format and style just happened to pop up in this 2008 book.
Of course, her \"Christian\" publisher is the same outfit that brought us Jamie Lynn Spears' faith-based parenting manual, so go figure.
Oh, I called--but the cost was way more than a little operation can afford.
So I took the matter to the Court of Public Opinion: [simplifyyourholidays.com]
Explain that, kids. Explain it to the folks who've used the site since 1998 ...
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Ironically, I both knew him from church and went to school with his daughters.
I LOVE Thomas Kincaid's (or whoever actually did them's) paintings! Not that I'd ever buy one, but I do try to get his desk calendar for 1/2 off after each New Year's.
Shady dealings from another 'faith-based' businessman doesn't surprise me though.
@Shoelace:
I also boycot any business that pulls the religious crap. As a Christian myself, I KNOW this is dangerous territory: one should not put them self out as an example. If you practice true Christian beliefs well, people will know. Likewise, if you advertise being a Christian and really suck at practicing it, you are doing a disservice to Christianity & will be viewed as a hypocrite (also, do you really want the fundamentalist nut jobs as customers that this nonsense attracts?). There are several businesses here that I will not do business with for that reason, and have told them so when solicited or asked why I no longer use them. I also have a \"hit list\" of businesses that support right wing causes & politics.
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@Shoelace: I don't really see what difference \"faith-based\" business and normal business should have in reality.
Normal business should possess integrity, generosity, honesty, and courtesy. When those and other qualities are present in business transactions, everyone wins and everyone is happy.
To me (a Christian), there is \"good business\" as above, and \"bad business\", where the opposite is true (extortion, misleading, lying, rudeness). I guess I don't see the need for the qualification. The \"faith\" part is what happens *after* you get the money anyway.
@GuinevereRucker: I think I see what you mean, but some businesspeople present themselves as religious just to draw in business and/or to help them look credible. Bad business is bad whether or not the proprietor is claiming to be faith-based, but the additional level of lying and hypocrisy of a 'faith-based' businessperson who turns out to be unethical or a criminal (vs. someone who doesn't present as though their soul is at stake) really irks.
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@Shoelace: I agree that fake faith-based businesses are particularly despicable. People who actually conduct their lives according to Christian values are targeted by faith-based scammers because they tend to be trusting to a fault, and less likely to press charges when scammed.
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Anyone that says they are a \"Christian\" businessman is an immediate red flag. They are generally trying to rip someone off, Christian or not.
Besides, mixing ones personal beliefs with their business is not only tacky and unprofessional, but its pretentious to think people should be so trusting because you are a \"Christian\" businessman; considering Christianity's past history... (crusades, inquisition, etc)
I just plainly don't deal with people that are \"Christian\" businessmen. If you aren't mature enough to keep your religious beliefs to yourself and out of business, then you don't need to be in business.
@Phexerian: I mostly agree.
I don't think it's necessarily wrong to mix faith and business, just unnecessary most of the time.
I also don't think boycotting all Christian businesses is necessarily the best thing, either. I would look past that to the things that matter in business transactions (see previous comment). Any other labels aren't that important.
I recall watching a news feature story on Thomas Kinkaid several years ago, where he said something like, \"Me and my wife pray over every painting.\"
Then soon after that, one of my subordinates showed me a TK painting that was printed on a sofa throw she'd just purchased, and she bragged about all of the TK paintings she'd collected. Apparently people collect them like Hummel figurines or something.
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I like his work. Much better artistry than a lot of artists such as Warhol. Some people hate ANYTHING that is even remotely related to Christianity because it thrashes against Aethism, agnostism and evolution. And lets be honest, inet people seem to be the later.
@FrugalFreak: Lots of people blindly love ANYTHING that has \"Christian\" stamped on it, no matter how far that is from the truth.
\"Some people hate ANYTHING that is even remotely related to Christianity because it thrashes against Aethism, agnostism and evolution.\"
You fail: 1) even Christians hate hypocrites, and 2) being a Christian does not mean you can not believe or entertain the possibility of evolution (or are you saying that God is omnipotent and can therefore do any & everything, except for the possibility that he created us via evolution? (he can do anything except that), and don't give me that day = 24 hours pedantic crap either).
@FrugalFreak: Yeah, but there was a whole world of things that Warhol was doing intellectually, sociologically and artistically with his work that was important. As were any number of strongly Christian artists, so I don't get your flying the anti-Atheist flag.
Kinkade did what, exactly?
@FrugalFreak: Don't assume, there's plenty of people out here that don't proscribe to stupidity and seek truth :)
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As a professional painter living in New York I can confidently say that Kinkade has absolutely no respect from any artist, curator, critic, writer, collector, or gallerist in the New York/LA/Europe art scene.
Personally, I can't stand the religious BS, and the paintings are just bad. He also only sells prints touched up by an army of assistants, pure commercial art with no soul.
Did I mention he was caught publicly urinating on a Winnie the Pooh figure at the Disneyland Hotel?
@risottto: lol. If you really want to collect art, get some Miros or Dali's. Perhaps a rembrant etching. If you want to start small, get some Hiroshige or Hokusai woodblock prints. =)
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What ever happened to the plans to start creating real estate developments done in the style of Thomas KinKade?
Combine crappy art with a crappy real estate market and there's got to be some juicy lawsuits swirling around that bad idea.
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Those that mix \"faith\" and business are always suspect and should be.
So, arbitration is only required when the big guys win, Kinkade?
As you might note from the article, these are just two instances of many, many suits brought against Kinkade by people who were sold franchises destined to fail. The only reason this one made the news is that Kinkade lost.
I recall an article in my local paper from a few years ago about a Kinkade franchise that was headed into bankruptcy. The owners seemed to have some very legit complaints about Kinkade not fulfilling his side of the franchise agreement.
@Duke_Newcombe: I rarely if ever see any bashing here of people who truly live according to Christian values. It's the people who feed off of the church business and its \"faith-based\" offshoots that receive the well-deserved bashing.
@razremytuxbuddy: I agree, as a Christian I don't think it's wrong to make money for a living (even if it's disgusting art) - but when you do it in a fraudulent, illegal, or unethical way, it hurts or misleads people and should be bashed!
And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.
But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.
-- Matthew 6:5-6 (KJV)
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@Keith Welch: Brilliant! I'll buy one. I can see Jeebus and Mary doin it dggy style!
Mary's got junk in the trunk YEAH!
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Anyone that actually formed a partnership or \"trust\" with this talentless goon had it coming, frankly.
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His work is much like the Velvet Elvis they sell at gas stations on holidays. I do not understand how people thought they could have a succesful business selling only one artists \"works\".
@chazcarr: Well, back in the day, before he sold out like crazy (mugs?!?!?! mousepads?!?!?! QVC?!?!?!) his stuff was actually worth something. Assuming you could get past all the, IMO, phony God BS. But yeah, then he undersold his own stuff and made it near worthless.
@chazcarr: I would much rather hang a velvet Elvis on my wall than anything Thomas Kinkade (or more likely one of his \"assistants\") crapped out.