Posted in art, media, notes on the human condition, tagged acclaim, aesthetic, American Dream, angst, appeal, art appreciation, art history, art world, artist, artistic merit, barriers, beauty, Bible, biography, Christian, church, clash, collectors, commercial, community, conformity, consumer, contemporary, contradictions, contrast, controversy, conventional, creative, creator, critics, culture, curators, cynical, death, debate, definition of art, dialog, discussion, disenfranchise, distain, disturbed, elite, esoteric, eye of the beholder, family values, fans, favor, fine art, folk artists, gallery, globalism, idealized, ideals, innocence, landscapes, lithographs, marginalize, middle class, modern art, narcissism, painter of light, paintings, passing, personal life, popular, portray, postmodernism, prints, redefine, self-absorbed, styles, suppression, themes, Thomas Kinkade, traditional, unconventional, what is art on April 8, 2012 |
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There is something attractive about defrocking a figure of faith-and-family-values virtue, particularly one of great commercial success who has endeared himself to an endangered minority: the American middle class. The late Thomas Kinkade, who died of unnamed causes Friday, made an easy target. The self-anointed “painter of light” specialized in idealized scenes harkening to a more innocent and bucolic time. Such art might be expected from a pastor’s wife or a bookish introvert yet it was the high degree of contrast between the artist’s placid and peaceable imagery and his real-world foibles and flaws that made him an irresistible subject for personal and artistic attack.
In the wake of Kinkade’s untimely death at age 54, the Los Angeles Times rehashed a 2006 exposé in which the painter was portrayed as a drunken, ruthless and foulmouthed hypocrite. Whatever one may believe about the man, the art world has stood firm about his vision: Kinkade is a commercial success but his paintings do not merit creative or historic memory.
Kinkade’s artistic legacy is as much in question as his personal one. (more…)
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Posted in notes on the human condition, tagged addictions, age, airbrush, American Idol, Americans, Anna Nicole, anorexia, arthritis, back pain, batty, bodies, Brian Oxman, Brittan's Got Talent, Brittish, cardiac arrest, career, Carpenter, case study, celebrities, celebrity-obsessed culture, chronic pain, CNN, comeback, complications, concert, consequences, crazy, cripple, cure, death, debilitated, dependence, died, disability, doctors, dolt, doped up, drugs, eccentric, electrolytes, Elvis, entertainer, expectationsdemands, fans, feeble, fishbowl, fitness, frail, frenetic, Gans, handicap, heart attack, heath, hectic, human, idolized, ill, illness, infirmity, injuries, interaction, Jackson Five, kilter, King of Pop, larger than life, lazy, life, lifestyle, Los Vegas, management, Marilyn, medical, medical community, mental, Michael Jackson, Monroe, nutty, off beat, offbeat, overdose, pain management, painkillers, paparazi, perfection, performer, physical, prescriptions, Presley, pressure, public, quick fix, relief, rumors, sick, sickly, Simon Cowell, singer, singing, slacker, Smith, societal standards, spokesman, stage, stamina, stardom, stars, substance abuse, superstar, surgery, Susan Boyle, Terri Schindler Schiavo, tour, treatment center, weak, weight, world on June 26, 2009 |
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Michael Jackson, the “King of Pop“, made an untimely exit from the stage of life after suffering a cardiac arrest Thursday, June 25, Brian Oxman, a Jackson family attorney, reports. More shockingly, Oxman told a CNN reporter that he warned the Jackson family that the star may be headed for a fate not unlike Anna Nicole Smith, who died little over two years ago following prolonged prescription painkiller dependence. Smith also lost her teenage son to a fatal drug interaction in 2006. In Jackson’s case, Oxman says the entertainer suffered chronic pain from a multitude of former stage injuries, among them a fractured vertebra and a broken leg.
Prescription drug abuse often starts legitimately enough. Life happens. We suffer injuries and accidents. And we don’t want to live like cripples before our time. But oftentimes the so-called cure comes with its own consequences.
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