Command and Conquer: Art’s Unification and Divisiveness in Far Right Society (Part 1?)

One of art’s greatest assets is that it provides a cathartic and empowering way of envisioning alternate realities. Art is also an effective way to express one’s thoughts and emotions and share them with the world. In doing so art has potential for uniting those who share similar experiences, as well as imploring those whose experiences differ to express empathy and enduring understandings about the condition of other humans. Making, viewing and discussing art can be a way to cope with and heal from trauma as well, which is why art therapy has been a successful form of treatment in healthcare settings. On the contrary, what makes art powerful and compelling can also lead to its exploitation for execrable political and social messaging. Case in point, the work of American Thomas Kinkade being embraced by the white nationalist faction.

Thomas Kinkade had the kind of upbringing that certainly merited wishful thinking and a desire for better outcomes. His warm and wholesome paintings that have associated him with the title “Painter of Light,” have been described by art critics as idealistic yearnings for the life he did not experience growing up in a home that was often cold and dark due to not being able to afford keeping the utilities running at times. 

On the surface, Kinkade’s brand of idyllic art seems to be the antithesis of political art. However, both the artwork and the artist are emblematic of the culture wars and conservative fervor that’s commonly utilized as propaganda among autocrats and Christian nationalists. 

You might ask yourself, how can a quaint depiction of a cabin in the woods, or lakeside, be anything more than a pleasing image? Underneath the surface, Kinkade’s mass produced artwork, which has eschewed art gallery walls for shelves in shopping malls, is the perfect ruse for some of the lofty and deceitful principles that are typically espoused by far right politicians and influencers. 

Before Kinkade made his mark by mass marketing illustrative Americana themed art, there was Norman Rockwell. Kinkade’s work is in stark opposition to Rockwell’s, in that Rockwell was blatantly political and socially conscious, while Kinkade toned-down his ideologies through subtle (some might even say banal) imagery. 

The nativist imagery permeating Kinkade’s art offers a compelling visual aid to campaign promises and nationalistic rhetoric. “Americans First,” “Protect the Homeland” and “Make America Great Again,” are maxims that could be gleaned by looking at a Kinkade painting of big cozy homes on tidy streets lined with trees, American flags and churches. These are the kinds of imagery and concepts that populists on the far right have been selling to the masses. 

The underpinning of American society is dark and murky. Kinkade also had a dark side that no amount of idealistic painting would truly relieve him from. His aesthetic masking of trauma has been incorporated as a means for the whitewashing of America’s atrocities. Evidence of this is a recent tweet from the Department of Homeland Security, which featured Kinkade’s Morning Pledge and three chilling words, a la a white supremacist dog-whistle: “Protect the Homeland.” This posting comes after Republicans in the Senate and House passed a bill that will account for the greatest cuts in healthcare and social services in United States history; while giving the top one-percent of wealth holders even greater tax breaks. The estimated death toll for American citizens due to these cuts is a deplorable 50,000+ a year. Furthermore, the bill includes extensive funding for a massive and militaristic police force and internment camp system. The Republicans who passed the (unpopular) bill have tried their best to frame it through a rosy lens, despite ample quotes from them revealing they understand how bad they believe it will be. 

Mainstream history is written by the victors, who also knowingly alter and revise cultural artifacts like art to amplify their agenda. The Nazis nearly toppled the modern art scene, eschewing, censoring and (in some cases) destroying avant-garde imagery (which often express human rights like liberal agency and the concern for human suffering). Hitler’s own watercolor paintings are idyllic scenes of houses and landscapes that glorify the German landscape, and reflect the nationalist vision he promoted to obtain power. We are seeing similar alarming traits of cultural censorship and revisionism from the contemporary far right movements in the United States and other Western civilizations.

Art reveals far more than what is initially gleaned from the surface. The intricacies among works of art draw us in and compels us to observe things deeply with a critical and informed mindset. Furthermore, the artist’s own biographical details sometimes will factor into how we perceive their work. It is very hard to separate the artwork from the artist once we know a thing or two about their past and present life.

After Kinkade’s death from an accidental overdose, his estate uncovered a trove of highly graphic drawings and poignant paintings; which seem more indicative of the reality that Kinkade experienced throughout his life. These paintings and drawings have a palette of earth tones and gestural brushwork that is a far cry from the crisp and colorful work he branded himself with. These works of art were never meant to be public, but there’s the rub with being a famous artist. As long as work physically exists, it will be found by someone at some point. Furthermore, the legacy of an artist ebbs and flows long after they are gone. The discovery of these gloomier works of art was the motivation behind the documentary film Art for Everybody (2023), where the visual tension between Kinkade’s idyllic, commercially renowned paintings and his more self-exploratory and intimate work provide a narrative of the artist’s success, struggle and eventual downfall. 

While art can be a great unifier, it is also obvious that not everyone thinks and feels alike. Art can become divisive when it is framed as being in opposition with a person or group’s values. The nuance and differences with regards to how art is discussed and presented lends to both individual and mutual judgements. All this goes to show how powerful art can be at triggering a variety of thoughts, feelings and even actions. So when it is harnessed by powerful individuals and groups who understand the profundity of an image on our personal and collective consciousness, art can be a very impactful form of propaganda.

Learning how to speak about art using multifaceted terms and considering a variety of approaches and concepts is a key component of the National Standards for Visual Art in the United States. In public school art programs, students learn to analyze a work of art with both subjective and objective forms of scrutiny and discourse. They are given ample examples of different works of art throughout time and place, and the skills and techniques to build a deep and well rounded understanding of how art can indicate and influence social and political contexts. Students learn to connect unique works of art to much broader events and topics throughout the culture at large. In doing so, they become well aware of the artist’s intent behind the work and the societal impact(s) it has. Lastly, after understanding the work’s formal, contextual and conceptual elements, they learn how to articulate their own judgements and personal experiences into the analysis. However, with continual defunding of the arts, especially within the educational curriculum, we are at serious risk of these skills being lost on generations of students.