Asia-Pacific Newsweek
But I suspect Orleans is an outlier, not only because, according to the documentary, at one of the 20 American households, one in every 20 households bought a “kinkade”, which means licensed prints – putting it on the wall, and even more. For those who grew up in and around American Christian culture, especially those with evangelical flavors, he has been everywhere since the 1980s, appearing in the church halls and in the living room of grandma. As art critic Blake Gopnik points out in the film, Kinkade’s “disdain” of critics and institutions, positioning himself in the art world seen as a degenerate and anti-family world of art in the 1980s and 1990s cultural wars. Kinkade offers a vision for a perfect, beautiful world, himself a guard of “family, God, nation and beauty” (what he says in the archive video).
All of this is very profitable for Kinkade, a marketing genius – one respondent thought Warhol might be jealous – and was an outspoken religious family man. But this made him die in 2012 at the age of 54, which is even more shocking. Kincard died after alcohol and val overdose, which was due to alcoholism and unstable behaviors (plus failed rehabilitation), due to alcoholism, heck and unstable behaviors (plus failed rehabilitation).
It’s easy to use it as an example of hypocrisy, just another person with an external integrity who keeps the secret of real life until it bursts out of him. But “Everyone’s Art” (although carefully researched and revealed even for Kinkade Janded audiences like me) manages to complicate the narrative, thanks in part to sensitive interviews with family and friends, including his wife Nanette, Nanette and their four daughters. They say Kincaid is a dynamic, multifaceted man, partially forced by his reputation and can only show one aspect of himself in his art: glowing, wealthy, faithful and family side. In the 1990s, for example, various moments of Kinkade’s image appeared on the cover of magazines published by conservative evangelical groups, focusing on a family led by influential cultural warrior James Dobson. Kinkade’s brand store in the mall, and he filmed a TV show that demonstrated his perfect family, love for life and dedication to his Christian faith.
The real Jincard is more complicated. The most surprising revelation in “Everyone’s Art” is what his family calls the existence of “the vault.” As part of the Kinkade brand, only 600 out of 600 are “published”, but in the vault we have glimpsed thousands of works that will never hang in Christian bookstores. They showcase a more fascinating artist who experiments in form and style and often portrays the darkness deep within him. In several images, dark breeding figures presented with charcoal seem to be bothering. Others are weird comics, which are humorous. As a young art major, he has audiotapes that vow to “avoid stupid, sweet and charming photos; I want to paint the truth.” The film believes that stuffing these impulses can explain why he succumbed to addiction.
However, this art is not for everyone, and it cannot be marketed to the public, at least not the job of a “light painter”. This means that while “Everyone’s Art” reveals Kincard’s real life and the fantasies he peddled, it is even more evident about the nature of art and the ways it takes to achieve economic success in the mass market. Art Products Kitsch called Kinkade is good: they are sensual and factory-made, designed to plunge the audience into nostalgic fears, where critical thinking can simply disappear. The world they represent is designed for white Christians who want to collect objects that reinforce rather than challenge their faith. (One interviewee noted that there were no people of color in Kinkade’s urban landscape.)
