“Art for Everybody” Introduces the Real Thomas Kinkade
Even if you aren’t tuned into the world of art, art collecting, or anything of the sort, you’ve likely heard the name Thomas Kinkade. His work was probably in your parents’ house when you were growing up or in the lobby of a hotel you visited on a family road trip. Art for Everybody is a documentary directed by Miranda Yousef that’s about the man behind these paintings. While it may sound like a standard, cut-and-dried documentary about a feel-good artist, Art for Everybody eschews any formalities by reflecting on the real man beneath the paint strokes.
Thomas Kinkade is known as the “Painter of Light,” partly because of his use of light in his works, but also because of the feelings his paintings evoke. He paints worlds that could never exist. A cozy cottage covered with freshly fallen snow as a warm glow emanates from inside the home is often at the center of the art. While the general consensus of Kinkade art is positive, those in the art world see him as everything that’s wrong with creating art for money instead of passion. Kinkade painted himself as a happy-go-lucky guy, but Art for Everybody interviews those who knew him to offer a fuller picture of the man who brought so much joy to so many.
Courtesy of Art for Everybody
“I don’t want to end up like Van Gogh, yet something tells me I do want to end up like Van Gogh for the sake of achieving greatness,” says a young Kinkade in a voiceover to start the film. It’s audio recorded by Kinkade as a young man, long before he became known around the world. No one gets into art because they think it’s a way to make money. Sure, some of the lucky ones get to make art and make money, but that’s rare. Kinkade is one of the lucky ones, but his immense success wasn’t accidental. Along with being a prolific artist, Kinkade was a stellar businessman. He correctly predicted the way art would be printed on anything and everything, and how he himself would have to be part of the commodity in order to be immensely successful.
For those who only know Kinkade as the cozy artist, Art for Everybody shows the true extent of the craze that surrounded his paintings. There were franchised Thomas Kinkade galleries around the world, La-Z-Boy recliners, collectible plates, rugs, and so much more. There were also allegations swirling around him about his business practices and the way he treated his employees. He was not the man he portrayed himself to be, and throughout the course of the film, the subjects all seem to agree that Thomas Kinkade was a performance at the expense of the real man. In order to become Thomas Kinkade The Artist, he had to hide the parts of himself that were struggling with mental health. It’s almost like a deal with the devil that brought him more fame than he could ever have fathomed at the expense of his personal sense of self.
Thomas Kinkade - A Quiet Evening, Places in the Heart I, 1998: Oil on Board
Art for Everybody opens a hidden vault in the Kinkade home that’s home to original works from Thomas that go back to his childhood. Some are abstract, others are far darker than any of his public-facing work was. These pieces are shown to some of Kinkade’s biggest critics who didn’t believe he was contributing anything to the world of art. One such critic looked at the newly unearthed paintings and said, “I'm glad these exist. I’m glad he made these.”
Art is subjective. That’s part of what makes it so special. There can be a painting that means nothing to a hundred people but causes one person to shift their entire perspective. Art for Everybody doesn’t exist to be the final say about whether or not Thomas Kinkade is an artist. That is for viewers to decide for themselves. Art for Everybody is instead a reflection on what art can bring to a person and a life, its power to connect people and provide a reprieve from the woes of the world.
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