Thomas Kinkade

For years I have been a huge art history geek. I have been fascinated by works by many different artists from all kinds of eras. One aspect of art that I have always been interested in is whether a piece of art is created out of the desire of the individual artist or whether the art is commissioned by another and/or created for commercialism. This interest brought the artist Thomas Kinkade to my attention, because many consider him to be a "sellout" artist that pumps out his paintings without any need for substance and that his works are purely commercial. However, this class got me thinking about his self proclaimed name as the "Painter of Light". It made me wonder if it is this understanding of light that makes his paintings so popular. On his personal website, Kinkade proclaims "My mission is to capture those special moments in life adorned with beauty and light. I work to create images that project a supreme simplicity that can be appreciated and enjoyed by everyone. That is what I mean by sharing the light." While it is difficult to tell if this statement is referring to actual light (the light we talk about in this class), light as a spiritual or hypothetical concept of knowledge and understanding, or a combination of both, it can be easily concluded from observing Kinkade's paintings that he focuses a great deal on the contrast between light and shadow, and warm and cool light. Nearly all of his paintings have a single bright yellow light source that seems to glow with warmth, which contrasts with a surrounding cool light that fades into shadow. This creates a calm, orderly effect that suggests a soft flame of fire that gently warms the cool room around it. This made me wonder what kinds of light would achieve this effect, since many lights that I have observed that have this contrast between the warm and cool do not seem to achieve this effect. My best guess is that a fresnel might be able to achieve this bright light, though it may not pack the kind of punch that would be needed. After my observations, I have decided that it is this punch of warmth that fades into a cooler toned light that makes Kinkade's paintings so comforting and universally appealing, and therefore what makes his art so successful commercially.

(By the way, if anyone wants to observe Kinkade's paintings, his online gallery is located at www.thomaskinkade.com/magi/servlet/com.asucon.ebiz.catalog.web.tk.CatalogServlet?catalogAction=ArtHome)