Zac Kinkade
1991–
With a famous surname and an intense love of animals, Zac Kinkade is making a name for himself with an artistic vision focused on traditional wildlife compositions and bold, fantastical landscapes that take collectors’ breath away.
Personal History
Zac Kinkade was born in Fort Worth, Texas, in 1991 and while he lived there for his entire childhood, he never felt truly “Texan”, as his whole family has deep roots out west in California. As you might imagine, with such a famous last name, Zac Kinkade has been interested in art for as long as he can remember. His parents owned galleries that showcased the work of his uncle, Thomas Kinkade, and that exposure to the art world, as well as a natural proclivity towards creative expression, propelled him on his life’s trajectory.
Inspired by his unique circumstance, that of being the 4th generation artist in his family, Zac Kinkade picked up a pencil at a very early age and began drawing. He was soon earning recognition in various local and national art competitions, but it wasn’t until he was 14 that he started painting in acrylic and oil as his primary mediums.
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When Zac Kinkade was 15 years old that he started studying his uncle’s works of art. During this time, he was already drawing and painting wildlife, landscapes, and other representational art, but in school, he continued to learn the craft and participated in Fort Worth’s Main Street Art Festival, where he was first able to sell his work. Later, Zac Kinkade was accepted to Cornell University to work towards a BFA. While working in many different styles and with alternative mediums from abstract paintings to conceptual video pieces, his experimentation in art became much broader while still specializing in representational painting.
Kinkade continued his formal art education by taking classes at the internationally known Art Center School for Design, where he learned about digital painting processes and concept art. It was during this period that he published his first limited edition. He was just 24 and the piece, a rendition of Noah’s Ark, gained recognition from the board of the Catholic Museum of Art and Library. His uncle was a mentor of course, but Zac Kinkade learned most extensively from his uncle’s head studio artist, Dirk Wunderlich.
If there is one other thing that truly defines Zac Kinkade’s early life beyond his schooling and art, it is travel. Every year, along with his father and two brothers, Kinkade would hit the road for weeks at a time exploring North America by car. These road trips were epic and still push him toward adventure travel to this day. He has visited all 50 states and most Canadian provinces. More recently, he has branched out to travel internationally by visiting Europe and Africa. The excitement Kinkade feels while traveling, along with the animals and landscapes he encounters often manifest themselves onto his canvases.
Zac Kinkade’s whimsical art is constantly evolving. He adds a new technique or medium to his creative process each year to build on the traditional ways of creating art. Today, he incorporates acrylic paint, colored pencils, digital technology, and airbrushing into his creative arsenal. While some of his pieces may be done entirely in one medium, others might utilize several, but each work of art Kinkade creates is unique and focuses primarily on landscape, wildlife, or vignettes drawn from real life or fantasy.
Zac Kinkade is a storyteller and fabulist in visual art with each painting capturing an event or moment that strikes his vivid imagination. He of course touches upon the themes and subject matter his uncle worked through while putting his own whimsical spin on it. Whereas Thomas Kinkade invites the viewer to impose their own story, Zac Kinkade guides viewers into his art to tell them his narrative.
To inquire about collecting the artwork of Zac Kinkade, attend one of Park West’s online auction weekends or contact a sales associate at either sales@parkwestgallery.com or 1-800-521-9654 (option 4).
