Thomas Kincade Dead (finally) [View all]

[TalkingDog]

California artist Thomas Kinkade, the "Painter of Light" whose brushwork paintings of idyllic landscapes, cottages and churches were big sellers for dealers across the country, died Friday, a family spokesman said.

Kinkade, 54, died at his home in Los Gatos in the Bay Area of what appeared to be natural causes, David Satterfield said.

Kinkade's sentimental paintings — with their cottages, country gardens and churches in dewy morning light — were beloved by middle-class America but generally dismissed by the art establishment.

The paintings typically depict tranquil scenes with lush landscaping and streams running nearby. Many contain images from Bible passages.

/snip

I generally hold my tongue when people I dislike fall ill or die. But today I will grant myself a one-time pass on decorum to dance on this huckster's hackneyed-ass, tired, trite, simplistic, saccharine grave.

He ran galleries into ruin with the contractual demands for being allowed to sell his work. He was a right wing shill and cared more about money than he ever cared about art.

He was an abusive, alcoholic asshole. And I hope that before the decade is out, everything he has ever touched in this world turns to absolute, irretrievable dust.