Fresh from his attempts at building Stepford Villages, cult/shlock artist Thomas Kinkade (the “Painter of Light”(tm)) is working of that other Great American Pastime: fraud. The LA Times reports. (reg. required, use laexaminer/laexaminer).
DiGiovanni is the owner of a string of Kinkade galleries in the Minneapolis area that are in Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings. The former defense company executive, who says he was led to believe he could match his $225,000 salary by becoming a Kinkade dealer, is facing the loss of his life savings.
The story he tells of his venture with the Painter of Light is mirrored by legal complaints coming in from many other corners of the nation that Kinkade and Media Arts have systematically defrauded their dealers, sucked them financially dry and reduced many to ruin.
My gut reaction is to call for a full-on Nelson-sized “HA HA!” here, but perhaps not if folks are losing their money. Nah… “HA HA!”