Thomas Kinkade is an artist who has built a loyal following. And good for him!
There are some (read: snobs) who are quick to crticize Kinkade's always warm but often banal paintings, and their well marketed limited reproductions. Me? I'm slow to criticize. In fact, my first instinct is to defend the artist- all artists. And it has been my pleasure to de-snob a few elitists along the way. (I may be slow to criticize but not too slow to clock a wanna be tough-talking big mouth. Not proud of it; my hand still hurts from a recent schushing a prick in mid anti-semetic sentence.)
Now I'm not much of an art expert, but let me please share my review of 'Viva Las Vegas,' Thomas Kinkade's most recent effort:
It stinks. It stinks on ice.
Why? Well, because he got it wrong. So very wrong. Now if he wanted to melt a clock or otherwise get his Dali on, I'd say right on but no- Kinkade is known for painting pictures of places that make people feel all warm and fuzzy. Regular people. Me included, especially right when the Valium kicks-in. But in his Viva Las Vegas, he's changed things around. And that's just weird.
Have you ever noticed films shot in Las Vegas, or maybe, in episodes of TV's "Vegas," that often filmed car chases on the Strip? How the MGM is, say, on the right side of the car, and, in the very next shot, they are downtown, with the Union Plaza blazing in the background and, moments later, there's the Riviera right in view? That's weird. And- that's how Kinkade's stupid new painting makes me feel- it makes me feel weird.
Now THE artist associated with Las Vegas is another sometimes criticized painter: Playboy's own LeRoy Neiman. Him I love.
LeRoy Neiman did a series of oversized portraits for Wingy's Place at Caesars Palace. Wingy Grober was a great friend of mine, a guy who kept an eye on me when I wasn't old enough to be fucking around the palace of the Caesars. He taught me many-many things, including not to be afraid to speak my mind. So, In Wingy's memory, I say: Viva Las Vegas sucks. It sucks balls.
Maybe I'll give Kinkade's painting another look... right after another Valium.
