The Art of Thomas Kinkade

From the LOCH A TUATH NEWS May 2001

I was never an artist; I could neither draw nor discuss the principles of drawing. But, like many others, I can still appreciate the beauty and majesty of a good painting. I suppose that on the same principle that one does not require much theology to know whether a sermon is bad, one does not require much knowledge of art to evaluate a painting!

So I admire those who have been gifted with artistic talent, whether in drawing, or in composing and playing music, or in writing, or in drama. There is, after all, such a thing as the doctrine of common grace, which reminds me that, living though we undoubtedly are in a fallen and evil world, man, made in the image of the Creator, has been endowed with creative ability. Even St. Paul was ready to quote the Greek poets in his sermon on the Areopagus in Acts 17!

When that ability is combined with faith in Jesus Christ, the artistry takes on a new meaning. I have just discovered, and been reading about, the paintings of Thomas Kinkade, a Christian artist from America, who has produced the most amazing pictures.

One of the features of Kinkade's work is 'luminism', which means that his pictures become vibrant and mellow in different shades of light. (To see this effect, just go to the new Thomas Kinkade shop in Buchanan Galleries in Glasgow, and the shop assistant will demonstrate). Kinkade's pictures usually depict country scenes, or his own home town, and other scenes of personal significance.

What struck me in reading Kinkade's testimony was the three-fold philosophy which governs all his work. The first is his emphasis on light itself. He has taken as his mandate for his style of painting the words of the Sermon on the Mount "Let your light so shine before men" (Matthew 5:16). And while we cannot all do so in the same way as Kinkade, nonetheless his work is testimony to his faith in Jesus Christ.

Far too often we have divorced that faith from everyday life, compartmentalising it into some kind of religious exclusive zone. Yet it is precisely in our everyday work, and talents, and interests, that we must show our love for the light. The world, after all, as Jesus told us, lies in darkness, and loves the darkness. But those who know Christ, and live for him, are children of light.

Secondly, Kinkade talks of painting scenes which are "halfway between a memory and a daydream". Some have criticised him at this point -- that his artwork is too idealistic, too "Edenic". He himself has said that he likes "to portray a world without the Fall".

It is, of course, questionable whether that can be done at all; and it is impossible to retreat to Paradise. And yet Kinkade has put his finger on the very thing that the human heart is craving after constantly -- a world without sin, suffering and sadness, where our thoughts take us halfway between memory and daydream, between realism and idealism.

Thirdly, Kinkade is on a crusade to destroy Modernism. If Picasso said that he wanted to destroy beauty in his art, Kinkade wants to recapture it. Modernism has been the scourge not just of painting, but of theology too. It is time we joined hands with Kinkade in his quest, in order to discover anew that the only answer to the world's situation and to our personal need is the One whose life is the light of men.