Well stated Tom. I agree.
Kenneth Waller
http://www.pentaxphotogallery.com/kennethwaller
----- Original Message -----
From: "Tom C" <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: OT: Thomas Kinkade, Dead
With the right subject line this time...
On Sat, Apr 7, 2012 at 9:40 AM, Tom C <[email protected]> wrote:
> sure, if you think making money out of shit is the be-all and end-
all,
> but his work is still shit and it will always be dismissed as shit by
> people who know shit from shinola.
>
> B
Bob,
You and I both work in IT and myself specifically in software
development. You don't think we've made money out of shit/shinola?
I frequently think that if I could get paid the same to shovel manure
in horse stables, I'd rather shovel manure. Because I'm basically just
shoveling a different kind of manure every day, and it's far more
stressful than horse-shit.
Shovelling manure in a stable is an honest, decent job not to be looked
down
on, and I expect it has its own share of stress. The family who lived in
my
house in 1901 made their living working in the London Transport stables.
Working in IT is also an honest, decent job, by and large, even if we
only
do it to make a living and a profit for some fat cat somewhere.
Making money by dishonestly peddling shit as if it were something better
is
not an honourable, decent job, it's taking advantage of people.
Paintings
such as Thomas Kinkade's are shit glorified by his marketers and
advertising
men, who are the worst kind of pimps because they push the idea that it
is
on a par with work by people like Constable, or Jackson Pollock or even
Stephen Shore, and that it's just snobbery and prejudice that makes
people
like me look down on it.
This is like telling people that Sunny Delight is as good as Puligny
Montrachet. It isn't. It appeals to the undeveloped taste of children.
Children have an excuse, but eventually they should grow up, educate
their
tastes and stop liking stuff just because it tastes sugary and sparkles
brightly. Their lives will be massively richer for it. Liking Thomas
Kinkade's work is arrested development.
B
I don't care for his style but I don't think he was dishonest in
peddling it. While not 'high art', beauty is in the eye of the
beholder and he definitely found a niche and exploited it. If I took
crappy photographs and someone thought they were great and wanted to
pay me a lot for them, I'd be happy to let them and make more of them
to boot. I can't paint any better now than I could when I was in
kindergarten, so he's certainly a better painter than I am.
If people felt uplifted or cheered up by his work, due to it's bright
colors or idealized themes, then good for them. He was apparently able
to bring some degree of joy into people's lives and that's not a bad
feather to have in one's cap.
Here in America where many people decorate with guns and John Deere
tractor-branded decor, well, his work is a step above that.
No offense to gun and tractor decorators.
Tom C.
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