Thomas Kinkade

by Boylan, Alexis L.; Morgan, David (CON); Mcelya, Micki (CON); Feman, Seth (CON); Marling, Karal Ann (CON)

• ISBN13: 9780822348528
• ISBN10: 0822348527
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2011-02-17
• Publisher: Duke Univ Pr

Summary

Often featuring lighthouses, bridges, or quaint country homes, Thomas Kinkaders"s soft-focus landscapes have permeated American visual culture during the past twenty years, appearing on everything from bibles, to bed sheets, to Visa cards. The self-proclaimed Painter of Lighttrade; has achieved this feat by selling his work in his own shopping-mall galleries and through QVC, the Internet, and Christian stores. Kinkade is quite possibly the most collected artist in the United States. While many art-world and academic critics have dismissed him as a passing fad or marketing phenomenon, the contributors to this collection do not. Instead, they explore his work and its impact on contemporary art as part of the broader history of American visual culture. They consider Kinkaders"s imagery and career in relation to nineteenth-century Currier and Ives prints and Andres Serranors"sPiss Christ, the collectibles market and the fine-art market, the Thomas Kinkade Museum and Cultural Center and "The Village at Hiddenbrooke," a California housing development inspired by Kinkaders"s paintings. The conceptual artist Jeffrey Vallance, curator of the first major museum exhibition of Kinkaders"s art and collectibles, recounts his experiences organizing that show. The contributors bring art historical, visual culture, and cultural studies perspectives to bear as they seek to understand Kinkaders"s significance for both art and his audiences. Along the way, they delve into questions about beauty, class, kitsch, religion, and taste in contemporary art.Contributors Julia Alderson Alexis Boylan Anna Brzyski Seth Feman Monica Kjellman-Chapin Micki McElya Karal Ann Marling David Morgan Christopher Pearson Andrea Wolk Rager Jeffrey Vallance

Author Biography

Alexis L. Boylan is Assistant Professor in Residence in the Art and Art History Department and Women's Studies Program at the University of Connecticut.

Table of Contents

Illustrations	p. vii
Acknowledgments	p. ix
Introduction	p. l
Thomas Kinkade and the History of Protestant Visual Culture in America	p. 29
Painter of the Right: Thomas Kinkade's Political Art	p. 54
God in the Retails: Thomas Kinkade and Market Piety	p. 81
Brand-Name Living from the Painter of Light	p. 107
Purchasing Paradise: Nostalgic Longing and the Painter of Light	p. 124
Repetition, Exclusion, and the Urbanism of Nostalgia: The Architecture of Thomas Kinkade	p. 143
ôA Temple Next Doorö: The Thomas Kinkade Museum and Cultural Center	p. 165
Thomas Kinkade's Heaven on Earth	p. 191
Manufacturing ôMasterpiecesö for the Market: Thomas Kinkade and the Rhetoric of High Art	p. 206
Art Ethics: Thomas Kinkade and Contemporary Art	p. 238
Bibliography	p. 259
Contributors	p. 275
Index	p. 277
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