Thomas Kinkade, power artist

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The other day, Britain’s ArtReview magazine issued its Power 100 list, a ranking of artists, dealers, collectors and assorted others who ostensibly ‘run the art world.’ While most attention focuses on who is at the top -- artist Damien Hirst, dealer Larry Gagosian and Museum of Modern Art associate director Kathy Halbreich came in at Nos. 1, 2 and 3 -- way more interesting is who brings up the rear.

Number 100 on the list is Sacramento-born Thomas Kinkade, 50, self-described ‘Painter of Light,’ whose treacle-plenty pictures of bucolic bliss have been cranked out by the hundreds over the years.

A joke from across the pond? Or a simple sign of the inescapable silliness of all such lists?

Either way, Kinkade seems to nicely bracket the Power 100.

-- Christopher Knight