Thomas Kinkade-- Painter of Fraud

According to Mercury News, artist Thomas Kinkade is in a heap of trouble. The NPR coverage of his legal troubles wasn't too flattering, either.

I gotta admit, I'm feeling a little schadenfreude here. First of all, you have people running out to buy his "paintings" (usually copies of his artwork done in a factory, not actual "paintings" by him) for hundreds of dollars, each. Galleries that wanted to sell his art were being forced to buy expensive pieces that they didn't really want, meaning there was less money for those same galleries to promote local artists. When those galleries couldn't sell his art (because, really, how many huge prints of charming cottages with flowers do you really need?) those galleries were stuck with his stock, often having to go out of business because they couldn't pay back the cost of those prints.

And don't even start me on the God stuff. He's no more a painter for God than I am Miss Universe. Holy people don't act like drunken frat boys and grope women in public.

If you really want art, go support a local artist. You'll get a REAL painting and the satisfaction of knowing that you've done your part to help the artistic community grow where you live. Don't run out and spend hundreds on mass-produced kitsch just because some artist claims to have a direct line to God.