logansrogue: (Default)
logansrogue ([personal profile] logansrogue) wrote2010-06-29 12:15 am

I have a Bob Ross habit.

I'm going to be straight with y'all. I fuckin' love Bob Ross and I love watching him paint.

It's probably not a popular opinion in fine art circles, but that's because most fine artists are snobs. But I have this opinion that art is for the people. Art is about communication, and if you're not communicating with anybody, what's the bloody point of it? It looks nice, but art comes alive when it lives in someone else's mind.

Bob Ross did that on a huge scale, probably bigger than anyone had before at that point. He was a speed painter before speed painting hit the internet. He helped people who couldn't paint to paint things they were happy with, that looked like something to them. Sure, it's not a Carravagio, but I really doubt that someone that would become a serious artist would stop at learning a thing or two from Bob Ross. When I had it in my head that I wanted to be a proper painter, I was 7 or so, and you couldn't stop me from asking my parents for paints and pencils and textas so I could draw my pictures, and scrap paper, and scrapbooks and you name it. And I asked *everyone* I knew in my family that could do art about drawing. I looked at books, I watched TV, I looked everywhere.

Bob Ross isn't about the serious hardcore world of fine art. He's not about modelling the human body or capturing scenes that are really there. It's almost a meditative therapy, creating something out of nothing in easy steps that anyone can emulate. It's not high art, but it has a value in itself that is clearly helpful to people, otherwise so many people wouldn't be still watching his shows and going to the classes his certified teachers run. Sure, it's a little culty, but it seems pretty harmless to me.

The thing that warms my heart about Bob Ross and his phenomena, is the idea of people who would never normally give art a go, never consider themselves an artist, pick up a paint brush and oils and give it a try. I am all about people who don't think they can be artists giving it a try anyway. No, we're not all going to be Rembrandt. Some people do have a natural, inate, amazing talent. I don't know how it happens or why.

But communication is something that most human beings like to take part in, and art is about that. Art is about telling the story that's inside of you, waiting to get out. Bob Ross helped people do that, I think, and I can't hate on that.

Mainly, when I can't sleep, I put on some Bob Ross and then man, I am so ready to hit La-La land. God damn, it's a pity the man couldn't bottle the sound of his voice. I'm just watching a special episode with his son. His son doesn't have a somnolent tone to his voice, it's more... buttery. If that makes any sense. Bob is hot chocolate on a cold night. I'm not sure where I'm going with this.

I'm going to keep watching episodes of Bob Ross in the hope that I'll get some sleep. Wish me luck.

[identity profile] vesper2000.livejournal.com 2010-06-28 04:35 pm (UTC)(link)
I agree with everything you said in this post! Also, Bob Ross is a god in Germany. Berlin has Bob Ross art shops all over it.

[identity profile] logansrogue.livejournal.com 2010-06-28 04:39 pm (UTC)(link)
You know, my Dad's German. I've been exposed to the German culture constantly since babyhood. But Germans NEVER stop being delightfully bizarre to me.

Bob Ross shops? That is so fucking random. God damn it, Germany, stop messing with my head!

[identity profile] annearchy.livejournal.com 2010-06-28 04:43 pm (UTC)(link)
I loved Bob Ross!! Agree with all your points. Wonderful, soothing voice, and his "happy little trees" made me happy.

[identity profile] leviathan0999.livejournal.com 2010-06-28 05:22 pm (UTC)(link)
Bob Ross had a lot going for him. There was his willingness to poke fun at himself, as in the commercial he did for MTV. (I couldn't find it on YouTube.) There was his friendly, soothing tone, as you describe in your post.

But my bigest memory of Bob Ross, and it's related to what you write about, is that he was all abount empowerment. Again and again, as he sped through, and sped you through, some painting or another, he would tell the viewer, in an aside, that they don't have to do things as he does them. You put the house there or the lake here, or hide them both behind happy little trees, because this is your world, and you have the power.

That, to me, was a powerful good that ought not to be overlooked.

[identity profile] asweetdownfall.livejournal.com 2010-06-28 07:10 pm (UTC)(link)
YAY BOB ROSS. \o/ That man was amazinggg.

And I hope you got some sleep, hon. :)
Edited 2010-06-28 19:10 (UTC)

[identity profile] svashtar.livejournal.com 2010-06-28 07:54 pm (UTC)(link)
I always imagined Bob Ross just got out of Vietnam. He'd be painting and saying, "These are happy little trees. . .happy little trees. . .happy. . .ha--NAM!" and then grab a machine gun and mow down his camera crew on live TV.

Sadly, it never happened.

[identity profile] myemmie.livejournal.com 2010-06-28 09:09 pm (UTC)(link)
We loved watching Bob Ross as kids, and I'm so pleased that he's still available on TV because I've been able to share that joy with my own daughter. Amen and amen to everything you said!

[identity profile] xedra.livejournal.com 2010-06-29 12:36 am (UTC)(link)
I loved Bob Ross. That voice of his was so sweet and soothing, a pure pleasure to listen to.

[identity profile] veronica-rich.livejournal.com 2010-06-29 02:17 am (UTC)(link)
Patton Oswalt did a great routine on TV artists that included Bob Ross; it was hilarious (but not disrespectful). Keep on with those happy little trees!
withherhands: (Knit - Damn right my shawl's better than)

[personal profile] withherhands 2010-06-29 08:47 pm (UTC)(link)
It's kind of interesting because in knitting, there was a somewhat similar personality named Elizabeth Zimmermann, who taught a lot of knitters to knit in the 70s and 80s. She too really emphasized the individual crafter's empowerment, encouraging knitters to think about what they were knitting, to know how it worked so that they could rework or make up their own patterns instead of blindly following. She managed to do it partly by figuring out some seriously brain-twisty ways to shape knitted fabric with a minimum of sewing. And like Bob Ross, she has a very calming, comforting voice that makes watching her videos well worth it even if I know how to do everything she's showing.

The main difference is that she's revered as a knitting god (or at least a patron saint :D) amongst a lot of the knitting community. But then knitting doesn't really have the same divide as the art community when it comes to "worth" (except maybe with the acrylic vs. natural fibres thing).

LOL. I'm actually watching Bob Ross right now (I searched my local listings after seeing this post and OMG Bob Ross is on every afternoon at 4:30 THANK YOU JESUS) and giggling over his descriptions. "This is a little baby mountain. If you love it and feed it well, it'll grow up to be a big mountain, just like this one back here."

[identity profile] logansrogue.livejournal.com 2010-06-29 10:17 pm (UTC)(link)
Unfortunately the art world is full of pretentious goobers. There's a lot of good people, but a lot of elitists that don't understand that art isn't just galleries and wine and cheese and pushing the envelope. Sometimes, art is just someone putting the secrets of their heart on a canvas. Everyone has a value, and I think people that help other people become artists are the best artists of all. They are the ones that are creating more creators, you know?

I've torrented a couple of seasons and I'm loving it. "Now I'm just going to put a tree... yep! There it is. Wherever you put it, that's where it's meant to be. And I might put another little tree in here. Everyone should have friends, even the trees."

Love him like fire!

[identity profile] shiyiya.livejournal.com 2010-07-11 07:07 am (UTC)(link)
He's in an episode of Bill Nye, too. About eyes. "Happy rods and cones!" I giggled so much.