Thomas Kinkade sold more paintings than any painter ever. He found his niche and mass marketed his work that struck a chord with many people. You may have one of his works. Or, like me, you may think his works were saccharine schlock. Art for Everybody, directed by Miranda Yousef, is a look at Kinkade, his art, his business, and some of the demons that led to tragedy in his life. The film offers a variety of perspectives, including that of his family.
Kinkade, who trademarked himself as The Painter of Light, made idyllic scenes of gardens and cottages that many people found appealing. They often had glowing lights inside the homes. They tap into a kind of nostalgia, even if it is for a time that never was. He marketed the prints of his work through his own galleries—many of which were franchises run by fans of his work. He pitched his work (which also included collectables) on cable shopping channels. He even had a housing tract of Kinkade inspired homes.
His art certainly appealed to many, even if it was never critically accepted. That dichotomy is reflected in the beginning of the film when we hear voiceover from his teenage journal. He wanted to be an artist, but he also wanted to make a living. He noted that Van Gogh could not make a living at it. As I watched the film, I thought this set up what might be a false binary choice. The side he came up with was to use his talent to create paintings that would sell very well, but were not exactly art. (Well, that is always the question: Is it art?)
We first sense there will be trouble along the way when one of his daughters uses air quotes around her father’s name. We learn that Kinkade had various personas. He wasn’t the same man with his family as with his business partners or with the public.
In his public persona, his evangelical Christianity played an important part. The film makes mention of a deep conversion experience he had while in art school, but never really explores very much about how that affected his art or his life. It did clearly play a role in his marketing strategy.
The conflict between his personas, and perhaps the conflict between is desire to be an artist and to be successful, helped fuel depression, leading to alcoholism and his eventual death from an overdose. I don’t recall the word “hypocrisy” being used in the film, but the tone of the film suggests that this is out of line with his Christian lifestyle. But Christianity is not an immunization nor an antidote to such problems.
After his death, his family uncovered a trove of works that Kinkade had done—some dating back to his time in college. The vault he kept them in had about 6000 paintings, 600 of which were his commercial works. The rest often had darker themes. One of the art critics who is interviewed in the film found these works much more interesting—much more “art” then the commercial works.
There are areas that I wish the film had explored more. One of them is the religious aspect of his work and his business. One of the things noted by a critic was that his works seemed to harken to a prelapsarian world. Perhaps that is what keys our nostalgia—longing for the Garden. He goes on to note that such a world has no room for grace or redemption. That passing thought really sums up what may be the issue not only with Kinkade’s painting, but with the struggles of his life.
Art for Everybody is in theaters.
Photo credit: The Kinkade Family Foundation.
