| Show of Art Business News “I can't tell you how many artists have turned to religious-baseart” The result is explosive success for a painter whose work critics dismiss Consider the following: When Kinkade exchanged palette for pen last year his advice book Ligktpostsfirr Living: The Artof Choosing a Joyful Life shot to the top of five best-selllists In addition to signature lines of furniture chairs and sofas outdoor furniture) lamps wallpaper plates tapestries and pillows Kinkade doesn't rule out the possibility of his own brand of fragrances and appareL A major West Coast builder is designings house to resemble the y hone in Kinkade’s painting Home Is When the Heart Is with an eye toward a possible “Kinkade Village" In the works: a daily radio minute a syndicated newspaper column and another book 31 Fbr collectors such as Michelle Ruris-Eerrer- o an Orange County Calif investor-relation- s represen- tative who has spent $33000 on 27 Kinkades his paint- ings are more than mere decoration The soft images provide an “escape from reality” she says “When Tm faring difficult decisions I just lose myself in the pieces Rople come to QVC d the TV shopping networksellsartby Kinkade at the rate of $10000 a minute er (La-Z-B- oy two-stor- my house and say they find it very peaceful and tranquil I know it’s the Kinkade paintings” Kinkade whose company stock alone is worth $15 million to $30 million depending on the market describes his work as “comfort art” — with a message He believes his pictures provide solace to people who view the world as “largely hopeless largely confused and increasingly dark” “Every product I do is driven by the message that's the foundation of everything: home family faith in God beauty of nature a simpler way of living hope and light” Kinkade says On the Web on QVC and in books Kinkade is the painter prophet expounding the virtue of God and family pointing to his marriage of 17 years to Nanette and their daughters Merritt 11 Chandler 8 Windsor 4 and Everett 2 (all with the middle name Christian) “When he talks about his children his family and when he was a boy all that makes people feel cloGer to him like they’re becoming his friend when they buy his painting” says Debbie Gottlieb director of collectibles merchandise at QVC where Kinkades sell at the rate of $10000 a minute or $15 million a year Kinkades also are easy access with many of his “Signature Galleries” in big shopping malls at a time when consumers have both the money and the desire to redecorate Part of the brilliance of this Painter of Light is in the way his art is merchandised Kinkade doesn’t actually sell his original paintings (what single human could paint 10 million canvases?) Instead he sells reproductions of his work from $500 to as much as $25000 for “master’s editions” that the artist himself “highlights” Ivy Gate his home in the coastal mountains of northern California is modest compared to the spoils of many of today’s Internet millionaires The tree-ladsetting where he lives and works is comfortable rather than grand His studio is a remodeled 1930s cottage next to his house and he takes time out each week to teach art to his daughters who are by Nanette and a nanny Crayon drawings by the girls hang proudly beside originals by his idol Norman Rockwell “Nanette and I still don’t have aspirations of mansions or big huge possessions” Kinkade says In fact he adds they give away more than $1 million a year to charities such as World Vision and his own new Thomas Kinkade Foundation en home-school- Still A Planter 8taB wood walnut-finishe- A Computer soecnsaver: choose from three two with 40 prints and one with SO $ 1 995 SI' i and 3 Ccrtt cffcrJi L4 :( L- ? I itt a far cry from the life Kinkade knew as a child in rural PlacerviDe Calif He lived In the most rundown house in the neighborhood” he says When his parents divorced his mother struggled to support the family as a county clerk FYom her he says he got his idealism and faith "She’d always say Kids a mm acle happened today if she got extra work” Kinkade started Lightpost Publishing a decade ago in his garage Tbday it’s part of the larger Media Arts Group which is publicly traded and takes up several in medium extra-ki'-- d with a Kinkade picture “Stillwater Bridge $80 - Af'Zt ed u foprcbT::' than: warehouses in San Jose Employees custom-fram- e and as many as 1000 canvases a print day “Master illustrators” trained by Kinkade add hand-painttouches to some canvases while a separate room full of cubicles handles customer service “You wonder how long it’s going to last” says John Bocchino a gallery owner and president ofthe National Association of limited Edition Dealers “But I’ve been selling Kinkade for eight years now and it just keeps growing and growing” industrial-par- k ed 4 Woven tapestry: A top seller K measuring 46"x 67T 1 1 designs $48 a CLICK ON LINKS W At usaweekendcom connect to a virtual Thomas Kinkade gallery USA I WEEKEND-Fe- b 6 4-- 2000 t |
