ABSTRACT
Art represents the highest goals of humans, and also the most crass com - mercialism, speculation, and ego gratification. Since the Renaissance, artists have been recognized as individual creators, valorized as expressive geniuses, and reified as heroes. With the rise of the artist as the acknowledged producer of acclaimed artwork, the art market provides compelling insight into organization-the managerial realm intersects with the art world in numerous ways. However, the separation of art and business-into high and low forms of cultural production-has had a profound influence on how art is viewed by researchers, cultural critics, and consumers alike (cf. Guillet de Monthoux 2000, 2004; Schroeder 1997, 2000; Venkatesh and Meamber 2006). This paper presents a case study of the tremendously successful American artist Thomas Kinkade, whose artistic output spans several industries, reaches thousands, and makes millions. I invoke Kinkade as a warning-or counter-case-for art and management, to question management studies’ embrace of aesthetics, or, at least, a romantic notion of aesthetic endeavor.
