Kinkade’s D.U.I. mugshot gets the Kinkade treatment

Shlockmeister artist Thomas Kinkade, self-proclaimed “Painter Of Light,” has died at the age of 54 of natural causes.

Dying at 54 doesn’t seem natural to me. Heart attack? Maybe. Despite his sanctimonious veneer, Kinkade was a boozehound with anger issues and a fat fuck so it is possible his heart attacked him.

Hugely popular among Christians, many of his paintings depict religious themes that border on self-parody, Kinkade claimed to be a devout Christian, but his behavior often mimicked that of another deeply religious celebrity, Mel Gibson.

The Los Angeles Times has reported that some of Kinkade’s former colleagues, employees, and even collectors of his work say that he has a long history of cursing and heckling other artists and performers. The Times further reported that he openly groped a woman’s breasts at a South Bend, Indiana sales event, and mentioned his proclivity for ritual territory marking through urination, once relieving himself on a Winnie the Pooh figure at the Disneyland Hotel in Anaheim while saying “This one’s for you, Walt.” In a letter to licensed gallery owners acknowledging he may have behaved badly during a stressful time when he overindulged in food and drink.

In 2006 John Dandois, Media Arts Group executive, recounted a story that on one occasion (“about six years ago”) Kinkade became drunk at a Siegfried & Roy magic show in Las Vegas and began shouting “Codpiece! Codpiece!” at the performers. Eventually he was calmed by his mother. Dandois also said of Kinkade, “Thom would be fine, he would be drinking, and then all of a sudden, you couldn’t tell where the boundary was, and then he became very incoherent, and he would start cursing and doing a lot of weird stuff like touching himself.” On 11 June 2010, Kinkade was arrested in Carmel, California on suspicion of driving while under the influence of alcohol.”

Well before Kinkade became a multi-millionaire selling his kitsch paintings, he worked as a background artist on Ralph Bakshi and Frank Frazetta’s animated film Fire And Ice. In a 2008 New York magazine interview, Bakshi took an affectionate swipe at his old employee:

That son of a bitch! Kinkade was the coolest. If Kinkade wasn’t a painter, he’d be one of those cult leaders. Kinkade came into my office with James Gurney when I was looking for background artists [for Fire and Ice]. He’s a good painter, and he did a spiel. He made all these deals. How he went out and did what he did is beyond my understanding now. He’s very, very talented, and he’s very, very much of a hustler. Those two things are in conflict. Is he talented? Oh yeah. Will he paint anything to make money? Oh yeah. Does he have any sort of moralistic view? No. He doesn’t care about anything. He’s as cheesy as they come.”

Kinkade (far right) working on Fire And Ice. Photo via James Gurney.
 

 
Here’s a fascinating documentary on the making of Fire And Ice. Featuring art spun from the darker side of Thomas Kinkade.