Broccoli and the spectrum of art.

Thomas Kinkade sucks! Or at least that was the basic idea behind Mary’s subtle review of his work. It seems that she and a number of her friends feel the same way. I of course called her a snob and immediately returned to our conversation about laundry detergent.

She then asked why it was that certain types of people—a lot of them apparently—actually liked Kinkade’s work. I suggested that it was The McDonald’s Factor and that large groups of people are naturally drawn toward those things which are bland and generally unoffensive.

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She countered that broccoli was the problem.

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Huh?

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Well apparently, some people are genetically superior in that they can taste a particular chemical in broccoli, brussel sprouts and the like. It’s a terrible taste that most of us don’t notice at all.

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The question then, is whether certain people are somehow genetically, or physiologically more (or less) capable of “tasting” good art. Perhaps there’s a bit of the spectrum that’s simply unavailable to some. It’s these folks that buy Kinkade’s paintings. Or maybe great art has a certain “chemical” that is just too strong. If you can taste it.

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It’s an interesting idea. I don’t have the remotest possibility of answering the questions, but one thing is certain, Kinkade does indeed suck.