from the LA Times CULTURE MONSTER

Thomas Kinkade, power artist

3:30 PM, October 16, 2008

The other day, Britain’s ArtReview magazine issued its Power 100 list, a ranking of artists, dealers, collectors and assorted others who ostensibly “run the art world.” While most attention focuses on who is at the top — artist Damien Hirst, dealer Larry Gagosian and Museum of Modern Art associate director Kathy Halbreich came in at Nos. 1, 2 and 3 – way more interesting is who brings up the rear.

Number 100 on the list is Sacramento-born Thomas Kinkade, 50, self-described “Painter of Light,” whose treacle-plenty pictures of bucolic bliss have been cranked out by the hundreds over the years.

A joke from across the pond? Or a simple sign of the inescapable silliness of all such lists?

Either way, Kinkade seems to nicely bracket the Power 100.

– Christopher Knight

Photo credit: Los Angeles Times

[ click to read at CULTURE MONSTER blog ]