I never had a problem with Thomas Kinkade’s paintings, although much of the “art world” did. If you love his work, fine with me. Art has always been judged in the eyes of the beholder. Technically, he was a good traditional painter and loved by a wide swath of Americans.
I never knew him personally, but a number of my friends have and all said he was quite a nice guy. I did have problems with some of his companies business practices and sales techniques (aka pressure), but as John Lennon famously said “whatever gets you through the night” (Yoko Ono quoted that phrase when asked if Lennon would be bothered by the “hucksters” profiting from his death).
I made the above graphic of two pieces of “art”. On the left is a piece attributed to Marcel Duchamp, a urinal, some consider a landmark in 20th century art. On the right is a Thomas Kinkade painting. You decide which one, both, or neither are “art”.
BTW, here is another weblog entry from a fellow artist, Kevin Courter about Thomas…