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Title: Art For Everybody (2023) Director: Miranda Yousef Studio: Tremolo Productions IMDb Plot: Thomas Kinkade’s landscapes made him the most collected and despised painter ever. After his shocking death, his family discovers a vault of unseen paintings that reveal a more complex artist. Joe Says: Art For Everybody paints the life and death, rise and fall, and the lasting legacy of the “Painter of Light.” Miranda Yousef has directed a highly-insightful documentary that, like Kinkade’s art, is an easily accessible treat.

The final decade of the 20th century coupled pop-culture achievements with plenty of eye-rolling, back-in-the-day mentions. An entire generation assimilated Michael Jordan’s dominance and Hollywood’s indie revolution alongside whiny alt-rock bands and the “Rachel” hair bob. Hip Hop went mainstream. Cell phones became smaller. And available in mall galleries, and broadcast on QVC, and hanging on Aunt Petunia’s walls, was the ubiquitous, kitschy art of Thomas Kinkade.

Thomas Kinkade was smiley and mustachioed and positive. Kind of a proto-Ted Lasso. He was an artist. A marketing conman. He painted cozy cottages, idyllic gardens, and welcoming village streets. He was exuberant with his faith and the Moral Majority welcomed his homogenized style that was soon replicated on commemorative plates and Christmas ornaments, dog bowls and beer steins. His works were peaceful, idealized, and affordable.

But was it art?

Art For Everybody paints the life and death, rise and fall, and the lasting legacy of the “Painter of Light,” who succumbed to alcoholism in 2012. Miranda Yousef has directed a highly-insightful documentary that frames the differences between the man and his art; his craft and his demons. Her documentary, like Kinkade’s art, is an easily accessible treat. Art For Everybody shines the light on a troubled soul where subjectivity is in the eye of the beholder.

Kinkade was a sensation. More than just a maestro for the middle-aged, middle class, Kinkade painted, and sold in the millions, a vision of peace and tranquility. Where clouds are always sun-kissed puffs, all roads lead to home, and there is always a light on. Fans see his pieces as heavenly and inspiring. Art critics saw Kinkade’s work as a product on par with a fast food menu featuring lighting that was as unrealistic as it was punishing. Yousef objectively balances this discourse by making the flawed man the subject. His art merely acts as a compliment.

Kinkade hit a mainstream nerve. Whether it was raw or electric depends on the eye of the beholder. Much like art itself. Yousef shows Kinkade as an artist, an entrepreneur, a family man. Coupling together hundreds of hours of homemade video, Yousef collects commentary from his ex-wife, daughters, and art critics. They provide discernment, background, and a cultural awareness. And they all push to answer the “what is real art” question.

In one segment, Kinkade walks into a UC Berkley art class where he curtly boasts none of the students will “make it as artists.” Yousef brushes in the irony with delicate strokes as soon thereafter Kinkade falls into bankruptcy – an event that deserved more story than was allotted.

As Kinkade slips away from being “Thomas Kinkade, Painter of Light” and becomes “Thomas Kinkade, icon” so too does his company erode. Kinkade falls into alcoholism and then divorce. While Art For Everybody provides documentation, it stays away from judgement. Judgement, when it finally occurs, comes by way of a review of his contemporary art, which was a vast  – and surprising – difference from his genericized fluff. His ex-wife and daughters keep the man they once knew alive in their memories. Likewise, through this documentary, so can his fans.

Yousef neither deifies nor demonizes the man. Subjectivity is the art here. And Art For Everybody is a masterpiece.