Painter Thomas Kinkade arrested near Carmel on suspicion of DUI

The painter Thomas Kinkade, whose mass-produced landscapes have made him one of the most-collected artists in America, has been arrested on suspicion of drunk driving.

Kinkade, 52, was pulled over outside Carmel on Friday night because his 2006 Mercedes-Benz didn't have a front license plate, said California Highway Patrol Officer Robert Lehman.

The artist smelled of alcohol, Lehman said, and he was arrested after he failed a field sobriety test. Kinkade was released from jail the next day after posting bail.

His arrest came less than two weeks after one of his companies filed for bankruptcy protection. The Chapter 11 petition was filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in San Jose in the name of Kinkade's production company, Pacific Metro of Morgan Hill, Calif.

The Placerville-born painter has spun a lucrative career since his humble beginnings selling paintings in supermarket parking lots.

A "born-again" Christian whose incandescent paintings of Americana are laden with religious themes, Kinkade's work has been praised as inspirational by some and dismissed as kitsch by art critics.

A 2006 Los Angeles Times investigation into Kinkade called into question his business practices and suggested his personal behavior belied the wholesome image on which he had built his empire. Kinkade denied those claims.

-- Kate Linthicum

Photo: Thomas Kinkade. Credit: Associated Press

 

Comments

[El Guapo de la cuidad de los angeles]

I'd like to see a Kincaid painting on a California license plate. A cottage in a pastoral setting with smoke coming out of the chimney so I know there are people in that cottage enjoying the warmth of the fireplace in a dewey misted morning.

[Artistically Impaired]

I'm glad the headline labeled him as a "painter" and not an artist. His work is hideous and reminds me of Elvis paintings on black felt.

[dana]

We all fall short of the glory. Glad no one was hurt while he was drinking and driving.

[mememe]

well then he is getting back from what he deserved

[Mike]

One can only wonder if his next painting of Carmel-by-the-Sea will show a careening vintage car, quaint folk screaming, terrified dogs running berserk, and basement windows all alight at the town mortuary!

[larry jackson]

This is NOT prime time news for the LAT. Perhaps for a slezeball tabloid such as the STAR.

[Tarzana Jane]

I LOVE Kincades soothing, amazing realistic paintings. He's just a human being with typical faults. Trying to smear him because he's a only a Christian, thats why the media hates him. However if he were a murderer, illegal alien, Atheist, Homesexual Artist painting crap, a no talent Hollywood Celebrity, he would be strongly defended, admired and placed on a pedestal. Don't care about his personal life, I enjoy his landscapes and will continue to do so. He produces beauty, not filth and porn that the Liberal Radicals suck up to, Religious Crosses shoved in urine and feces smeared images, shocking garbage to stun humanity. Beauty is ALWAYS vilified, while cesspool filth and porn is elevated by the Mental Disordered media. NO more subscriptions to newspapers

[keith Jonasson]

It sounds like the painter referred to as "master of light" must have been pretty well lit himself.

[don]

First! Funny how those born agains only use religion when its profitable, or convenient!

[Nodda Artiste]

Aha!!
So that explains his awful, garish "art"!

[mike]

Ahhhhh...one more Born-Again fraud. How surprising.... lol.

[Christopher Weakley]

Painter of Bud Light.

[Drew]

Junk art by a junk artist. Can you say paint by numbers?

[JT]

Evidently the self-proclaimed Painter of Light, was lit.

[Molon Labe]

It seems that everyone has a skeleton in the closet.

[John]

lol i just had 16 plates painted by him on ebay, no sells =( I guess Kinkade is not that demanding anymore.

[Joseph M]

The guy is the "Madonna" of current painters. Sparse talent but a great ability in marketing. To think of all the saps that bought his insipid works.

Still, I don't like the damn DUI crap. No front lic plate? Seriously? That's all it takes to pull over a car? At least report he was driving recklessly, unsafe lane changes or something worth noting.

[Mike G.]

HA-Great painter couldn't even paint up a respectable license plate for his own car!!

[John Holmes]

He paints in the nude while nude girls dance around him as he sips his vodka. Wow wish I was him!

[nday]

Nothing worse than a "born again" christian. Hypocrites!

[hemnebob]

sadly, he sold his soul for fame and fortune.

looks like it only takes you so far til it's gone again.

[headlinemaster]

Cops Catch Kitsch King Kincade on Crocked Commute

[Lumpenstein]

Pulled over for not having a front license plate?? give me a break. That is such a load of crap. If not having license plates on the front of your car is such a big deal to the CHP, how about saving the state a bunch of gas money and just put the CHP officers out on street corners in crossing guard uniforms and they can flag people down all day long and they can write 1000's of tickets everyday until they get all those unsafe cars without front plates off the road. 1 in 5 cars is without a plate on the front. Mine didn't even have holes to screw one in, I had to drill to put the plate on. what a joke.

[Anne]

He is only human!

[Average Driver]

BS reason to be pulled over. No Front plate. What chicken manure.