| Show iwwgsimnr: t4 f LJ OVE OVER Martha Stewart Make room Norman Rockwell At the dawn ofa new millennium the latest name to capture America’s &nqr — and decorate its hearths and homes — is a Unknown only a few years ago today Kinkade is considered the g artist in America In the past seven years sales of Kinkade art books and other merchandise racked up an incredible $700 million And while art critics dfamwa the top-sellin- er “Painter of Light" as a painter of lite owners of the 10 million Kinkade pictures adorning the walls of America would surely disagree Kinkade proudly compares his popularity to that of a hit movie or country-musi- c star “Fm very excited” he says “about allowing myself to become mainstream in the sense that people would have the same eqjqyment of me that they do of a Walt Disney movie or a Garth Brooks piece of music” The aver age person lives with 40 walls he notes — “a opportunity” Unlike other titans of American art and design Kmkade is little known outside his vast network o’ fans — that is to the media He doesn’t hang out in the Hamptons with Puffy Combs or get invited to state dinners at the White House (though he does have a company listed on the New York Stock Exchange) And his soft fuzry landscapes are found in malls not museums But check out your neighbor’s new by the TV Kinkade may have designed the fabric Or the landscape painting above the fireplace: It could be a Kinkade Or the new gallery in town: It’s probably one of 4000 that cany Kinkade’s work La-Z-B- Kinksdc defines 3 new Amencsns shaped not by the latest issue of Martha Stewart Living arArchitec-tura- l Digest but by grass-roo- ts popularity drawn to the message behind the merchandise His glowing pictures of peaceful gardens cheery houses and small towns coupled with a strong Christian-famil-y theme he expresses through a cottage industry of books at a Web site and on g network QVC (and in advertisements arch as those that appear in this magarineX combine hom-mewith a new quest for spirituality As we start the new millennium subconsciously I think we are looking back toamore peaceful era with cottages and small towns" says Sheny Ruggieri host of House and Garden TVs Design Basics Bhow “His work is so articulated we can almost smell the cookies baking” The quiet Kinkade erase parallels another surge that took media types by surprise: Christian-base- d entertainment Says Keith Fterkins managing editor home-shoppin- Considered the ecantiy's ed rawt-aHacte- d artist Kinkade decorates everything from prints and Bible covers to diairs But grass-roo- ts America is buying more than just his art They're buying his message La-Z-B- oy BY USA WEEKEND Feb C 2000 MONIKA GUTTMAN Gmtrindcewtr stay photographs by GcnyGroppftir ISA WEEKEND ss |
