Gilois Bettina - Billion Dollar Painter

NOTE TO READERS: In recounting the events in this memoir, chronologies have been compressed or altered and details have been changed to assist the narrative. Where dialogue appears, the intention was to re-create the essence of conversations rather than verbatim quotes. Names and identifying characteristics of some individuals have been changed.

Copyright 2014 by G. Eric Kuskey

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Book design by Jane Raese

Set in 12-point Dante

FIRST EDITION

2 4 6 8 10 9 7 5 3 1

FOR MY FATHER,

whose writing has always inspired me

Contents

They say a picture is worth a thousand words.

This is a story about a picture worth four billion dollars.

It is the unbelievable true story of Thomas Kinkade, who grew an art empire from nothing but his talent, and I was there to witness it. It is a story of faith and the American dream, miracles and madness, addiction and greed in a business gone haywire; the most successful art business in the world. It is a story of one man, the Painter of Light, who painted cottages and trees, birds and brooks, glades and mountains, sunsets and oceans. Youve seen his work in galleries and on calendars. He painted a world that does not exist; a world without trouble, a world without pain. A perfect world painted by one imperfect man, Thomas Kinkade, and it brought about his fall.

I worked closely with Thomas Kinkade for sixteen years. I was also his friend. Together we created a billion dollars in sales. And my experience of him is one I will never forget.

The story is still hard for me to tell. Its strange for me to step out from behind the curtain to tell this extraordinary story, but I feel it must be told. Its the story of a truly amazing rise to fame and fortune, the behind-the-scenes of which are hard to believe. Its the story of one man whose life journey was a miracle, and whose dreams, despite all the money and success, slowly destroyed him. And it is a story of warning for us allnot to forget that we are only human.

Ten Almaden Boulevard is the most prestigious business address in San Jose, California. It towers over the downtown business district like a moored steam liner, with seventeen stories of glass and steel fronting the street, and a gaping three-story glass foyer that looks like it could swallow its visitors whole. Big corporate tenants like Merrill Lynch, Kidder Peabody, and Citibank have leased full-floor suites in this building. If youre at Ten Almaden, youre big time.

The day I arrived for a meeting in early May 1994, I wasnt going to visit a national brokerage firm or an international bank branch. I was going to visit the offices of a painter. But not just any painter: Thomas Kinkade, the Painter of Light. The only artist ever to be traded on the stock market.

I had driven my Volvo station wagon up from Santa Barbara and parked in the attached garage, taking the polished brass elevator to the ninth floor. From the minute the elevators opened, the opulence was staggering. Everything reeked of money. I had been an art rep for a few years, and had experience with licensing artists images for greeting cards and calendars and many other products. I was used to making deals in cramped gallery offices, turpentine-smelling studios, and industry trade shows. Nothing could have prepared me for the wealth of this company. It had recently been renamed Media Arts Group Inc. from its previous name, Lightpost Publishing. The companys acronym, MAGI, gleamed on a polished stainless-steel plaque at the reception desk, lit dramatically with studio lighting. Everything did indeed seem magical.

A friendly young receptionist announced me over an intercom, and another smiling assistant approached and led me toward the conference room, where she said my meeting was already waiting for me. We walked across the marbled floors, through the warm cherrywood-paneled hallways with wainscoting and brass accents, beneath soft pools of gallery lighting, and past the long stretches of glass windows that afforded a stunning view of the entirety of San Jose.

I knew that Thomas Kinkade was staggeringly successful, but nothing had prepared me for the sense of limitless wealth that pervaded every inch of the Media Arts offices. There wasnt a single person in the art publishing business who didnt know the name Thomas Kinkade. I was in awe of him, and couldnt help but steal glances around the hallways in hopes of catching a glimpse of the Painter of Light.

When we reached the conference room, I was ushered to a thirty-foot glass conference table, upon which a silver tray of tall glasses with ice and a decanter of water stood. The three men on the other side of the table stood and reached out their hands to greet me. I shook everyones hands, nodding to each.

Eric Kuskey. Good to meet you.

Dan Byrne, senior vice president of marketing, a tall, burly guy with bushy hair and a grizzly bears handshake, smiled an affable smile, pumping my hand vigorously.

Welcome to the chocolate factory.

Wheres Willy Wonka?

Painting in the garden.

Marketing director Kevin Sacher, a robust man with a tousled head of hair, stood beside Dan. He had joined Media Arts from the Franklin Mint, and he and I had crossed paths a few times at the trade shows. Kevin, who had just moved to San Jose from Philadelphia, had called me to tell me he was working for Thomas Kinkade. I remember feeling a little jealous of his good fortune. I was an art representative and he said the company was seeking to diversify, and promised to bring me up at the appropriate time, so I could introduce the artists I represented. He kept his promise, and here I was. He shook my hand and introduced me to Ken Raasch, who asked me to show them my samples. I sat down facing the three men and opened my briefcase to show them the work of one of my artists, Nancy Faulkner.

Ken Raasch was notably different from the other two. Dan and Kevin were midwesterners, with an understated quick wit and an ironic gleam in their eyes. Ken hailed from Northern California, and was dressed impeccably in a finely tailored Italian suit and stylish Italian shoes. His hair was perfectly coiffed, and his golden tan suggested a life of wealth and leisure. He had a stick of lip balm and a bottle of eye drops in front of him, and used them both repeatedly throughout the meeting. I displayed my transparencies, catalogs, greeting cards, and hundreds of color copies. Ken gave the materials his full attention; he said he was pleased with what he saw, while the other two men nodded approval. Ken said that they were adding more artists to their program to meet all tastes in the art market. He added that this could work out well for us all.