Thomas Kinkade, I loath, and I used to actually admire him. Artistically, an average professional painter. Entrepreneurially, ground breaking. But in my never to be humble opinion, he had it comin‘!.
Let’s start with what I admired. He clearly defined his market, conservative Christians, and he “delivered” (no pun intended) a unique value proposition, and in a way that they would appreciate. How? This particular physiographic is quite literal. So Thomas Kinkade scattered lots of graphic symbols throughout his paintings to celebrate this group’s values. Little hearts signify the sanctity of marriage and the “Painter of Light”, a not so subtle reference to the light of Christ, used an over abundance of artistic devices to convey light. The result. Saccharine sweet paintings that make my teeth hurt.
Where it all went wrong was that he also leveraged the general ignorance of this market. A market that is not typically a group educated in arts and culture. By saturating the market with “limited edition” prints of 250,000, or more, he was out of integrity. In the state of California, Mr. Kinkade’s domicile, only 250 prints are considered “limited”, legally.
His genius? He used the franchise model to build his empire, a la eMyth’s approach to building a business. That’s right, all those Thomas Kinkade galleries that you see closing are franchises, like McDonalds. But many of these franchise owners sued him, forcing the company to delist from the New York Stock exchange.
Imagine. An artist with a company listed on the New York Stock exchange. I had to know more. So I actually interviewed one of his CPAs and he shared the basic mechanics and history of Thomas Kinkade’s empire. Horrified and fascinated, I thought, “What if I learned from his success but I applied these lessons in a way that I’m proud of and with integrity?” Isn’t that what Jesus would do?
Recently an arbitrator awarded franchise owners a $2.1 million judgment. And on Friday, the “Painter of Light” was arrested and jailed in Monterey for driving while under the influence. We’re reminded again that integrity is the cornerstone to any lasting and prosperous enterprise, whether its oil and gas, banking, or art.
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Just wanted to comment and say that I really like your blog layout and the way you write too. It’s very refreshing to see a blogger like you.. keep it up
Kinkade touched the wallets of many, many middle class Americans who thought they were going to buy art for “$$” and then after 20 years have a (faked reproduction/print) painting worth “$$$$$$$$$$$”, plus the “bragging rights” of saying to their neighbors and friends, “Oh, that’s a Thomas Kinkade that we paid (inflated) $$$$$ for….”
Why am I reminded of the saying, ” A sucker is born every minute”?
Wow! What a lesson for anyone in business, artist or not. Kinkade has always been a model of the maxi “it’s all about marketing.” Now, it turns out, he’s also a model of what happens when you don’t operate with integrity.
It is always a challenge for an artist to maintain fresh and credible artwork as well as to develop integrity as a business person. It seems that TK failed on both accounts. There is a not so fine line between being an innovative entrepreneur and a huckster. His work was formulaic and his business practices were unethical. If you build a house of cards, eventually it will fall.
I agree, though, that artists can learn from this, and find lessons for what does and does not work. Had he used the business model appropriately, and had he created artwork that gained mutual admiration from the massess and his peers, he may have broken ground for all of us. Maybe you will be the one to do it right, Ann!
It’s already working.
I’m learning what NOT to do and I’m gaining knowledge about different art business models.
Fascinating. I never knew anything about him/his work except that it was too predictable for my taste and definitely over the top in the sweetness category. Love your point about integrity — yes, applicable in all business venues.
I’ve never really been a fan of Kinkade – like you, his art makes my teeth hurt – and I’ve always been rather suspicious of the way he sells his “limited edition prints”. From interviews I’ve seen people seem to think that because they’re “hand touched up” that somehow it’s original art. Even if his hand never even touched the print.
I just don’t like seeing people get taken advantage of.
But I really like your idea of taking the lessons you learned and applying them with integrity. I can’t wait to see how that works for you!