Rhetorical Kinkade

I have always enjoyed the art of Thomas Kinkade. My mom has a penchant for lighthouses, and she has always loved his renditions of those. I grew up with his art around the house, so I grew quite accustomed to his soft pastel style. While crashing shorelines with warning towers were my mom's favorite pieces, I had noticed over time that Mr. Kinkade has a lot more variety to offer. When an opportunity came to analyze some art for my farming literature class, he seemed like an excellent choice. I chose a piece named Sunset at Riverbend Farm

Sunset at Riverbend Farm 

This painting shows a very peaceful setting for a farm. It looks to be more the type of farm one would want to retire to, or live off of, rather than the industrialized farms that feed hundreds and thousands. The painting was done by Thomas Kinkade in 1996. He resided in the United States, and this particular painting (as most of his are) is oil on canvas. The original size was 18x27

It seems that Mr. Kinkade had a more etic view of farming, as his focus is far more on the visual aspects than the meaning behind the farming. This painting is beautiful, but the relative lack of movement indicates a sleepy farm where nothing really gets done, quite different from the perspective I have gotten from a lot of the literature we have studied thus far this semester. This actually connects to one of the criticisms I read about Thomas Kinkade. It seems that other professional artists have a bit of disrespect for his art, seeing it more as kitsch that one would find in a old ladies home than a "real" piece of art. I have always been more of the school of thought that the value of the art has more to do with the perspective of the beholder. 

However, from the perspective of a farmer, this painting would probably not be very representative of what they consider to be farming. They might see the lack of specific crops, and question why there was not more land being utilized for planting crops. It is also obvious from the painting that this farm is not one designed for productivity, and has a lot more of a Thoreauian feel to it, where one would toil away in the small field for the greater part of the day, never sowing much, and not having enough farm to really "work". I don't know that a farmer would find this to be beautiful, or a laughable construct that attempts to recreate a very idyllic version of a farm. Either way, I think it is pretty, and that to me can be the main point of art. 

Kinkade, Thomas, Sunset at Riverbend Farm, 1994, Oil on canvas.