At what point does art stop being 'art' and becomes 'prostitution'? (I was going to use another word but I figure since I'm going back to school, I should clean my mouth up a little bit...)
I happened to catch a story about Thomas Kinkade on 60 Minutes tonight. How this man has gotten this far is beyond me. His work reminds me of someone who took a few lessons from Bob Ross (gods rest his gentle, 'happy little cloud' soul) and decided that he was through with the lessons ~ he is a Master! About the only thing I see that he really has is chutzpah.
As I watched the show, I really didn't know whether I should be truly sickened or halfway admirable of what the guy has done. I think 'sickened' won out in the end. The product lines that bears the Kinkade trademark (yes, he's trademarked!) include couches and other furniture; various collectables such as plates and ornaments, bed linens and just about anything else you can think of to put into a house. The man has even opened up his own personal 'art galleries' in malls across the nation (last time I was there, one was in Rivergate Mall).
I also didn't know what to think of his personal appearance schedule ~ when he arrives, there is a huge stack of canvases waiting for him to sign. He scribbles on the back of these canvases like a rock star signing a big stack of headshots as a line of people wait to pile the canvases next to a wall and then he's off to the public appearance where everything is claimed to be done for god.
You know, I don't begrudge him for being successful. More power to a person who can be successful doing something that they love. The question is: is it for the love of art that he does this or is it because he can crank out thousands of generic little cottages and rake in the bucks? What is his motivation? Is god really involved here ~ or has money become his god? For gods' sake (pun intended), he's got a factory to crank out some of this stuff!
I don't really think that Thomas Kinkade can be considered an artist. Perhaps a craftsman ~ right down to crafting all those highlights on the prints of his paintings. Creating art, no matter the subject, involves putting your soul onto a surface for all to see. How much soul can be generically mass produced?
Page Copyright 2001 D. Firewolf
