"That Old Master? It's Down at the Pawnshop"

Read the article: "That Old Master? It's Down at the Pawnshop" and discuss it's emphasis of the commercial aspect of art in relation to the Kinkade-video.

Both “That Old Master? It’s Down at the Pawnshop” article and the Thomas Kinkade 60 Minutes video diverted attention to the commercial aspect of art and how it can be financially profitable. Objectively speaking, the Art Capital Group, mentioned in article, is able to profit from art by commercially selling the art that they acquire from art owners who default on the loans that the company provides and Thomas Kinkade is able to profit from art by commercially selling mass productions of his original pieces.

From a subjective point of view, I felt the actions of the Art Capital Group and Kinkade were deceitful and served as a disservice to art. In reading the article, I didn’t perceive the Art Capital Group as an honorable loan organization for owners of fine art as I felt their practices lacked legitimacy and transparency. In my eyes the Art Capital Group provides extraordinary loans at excessive interest rates to financially troubled art owners in ill faith. Unlike most loan organizations, the Art Capital Group provides loans hoping that their clients, who have signed the rights to their fine art as collateral, will default on their loans. When clients default on their loans, the Art Capital Group seizes their fine art and places it up for sale. In that sense the article was correct in treating the Art Capital Group as little more than a glorified pawn shop.

In the case of Thomas Kinkade, his organization is deceitful in an entirely different aspect. The video segment made it apparent that Kinkade maximizes his profit by providing the illusion that his art is original and unique, despite that fact that his art is mass produced and, if it does have the pleasure of touching an actual paint brush, it is often at the end of an intern artist’s hand. Kinkade’s art lacks personal touch and meaning.

In my opinion the Art Capital Group and Kinkade’s organization financially exploit art by commercializing it. Both organizations value the art they handle and sell for solely monetary purposes, each lacking all appreciation for value associated with meaning derived from each piece. The Art Capital Group acts as a disservice to art by treating it as merely a commodity that can be used to achieve financial success. Kinkade’s organization acts as a disservice to art by stripping it of its unique properties. The commercially distasteful practices of each company demean the intrinsic value of art, condensing the beauty of each to piece to a dollar amount.

Image Above: One of Kinkade’s Pieces