June 19, 2008

Samsung and Thomas Kinkade: Make Way for the Digital Masterworks Art-TV!

Start saving your shekels for the holidays, folks. A couple weeks ago Samsung announced a collaboration with The Thomas Kinkade Company where they will marry large-scale high-definition displays with fine artwork. The working name is the Digital Masterworks Art-TV and it's a whopping 46-inch 1080-pixel LCD screen with a 40GB hard drive. The display is set in a traditional Thomas Kinkade frame giving it that gallery feel through and through. Once they've got this hulking beauty working, the idea is to distribute Thomas Kinkade artwork via the internet -- whether this is like purchasing PodCasts of art or a subscription, we aren't sure. There are even audio tracks that will narrate about the art period and artist as well. (There is talk of touch screen functionality but we sincerely hope they skip that smudgy idea.) There's no pricing reported yet, but expect to shell out. Thomas Kinkade Signature Galleries will have exclusive distribution of the Art-TV at the end of the year, and they expect broader distribution in the second half of 2009. We love the possibilities of this creation -- stay tuned for developments. (via SlashGear)