Kinkade

Kinkade. Where to begin.

Honestly, the man is a capitalism genius. He's got everything from mass-produced prints to puzzles to plates to chairs to figurines to a neighborhood of real cottages built to look like the ones depicted in his paintings. There's probably even more production in the works that we don't know about, and it's all for sale for more than it's worth in this blogger's humble opinion. The reason? Kinkade is not an artist--he's a business man.

That is not to say that his work is not art. By my definition, I have to identify his cottage fetish as art, but under no circumstances would I call it good art. That right I reserve entirely.

In regards to the article, the things Kinkade peddles to middle America via his galleries is reminiscent of a pawn shop. When the author discusses the worth of the paintings, I begin to wonder why certain paintings are "worth" more. One possible reason would be the price rises with who will pay most for it in a bidding war, like stocks in the stock market.

Now my favorite part about this is the fact that if someone were to hock a Kinkade, it would not catch a higher price than some less well-known artists just because he's more famous. I would guess that that is attributable to saturation and dilution of the market: Since he mass-produced his work, it is not as rare, and rarity is often the final word on how expensive something is. Inflated prices to show quality can only bring someone so far.

In today's video, Kinkade claimed that a Picasso will not be worth as much in the future as it is now, and he alludes to the fact that a Picasso will not be worth as much as Kinkade's own work because Kinkade creates art that people can understand and appreciate. While I agree with one Kinkade fan that he should hang what he likes on his wall regardless of deeper meaning, I do not think that is a good enough reason to write off the value of a Picasso.

Overall, I personally feel that the value of art is inflated overall. Sure, someone could have bought a painting for a million dollars before the economic slump, but after, the price may have dropped to half that because the price is only determined by what someone will pay for it. And that is unfortunately what we sometimes base our judgment of talent on as well. It's all inherent to the subjectivity of art.