The Art of Being Artless, or in other words, Bob Ross

I'm very intrigued by Bob Ross and his impact on American culture.

In the second chapter of The Accidental Masterpiece, The Art of Being Artless, Michael Kimmelman goes into detail about how Bob Ross was a "televangelist painter."And it really is true to some extent.

There's not much I can say that sums up Bob Ross' impact on people better than these two passages:

"Ross thereby touched on a basic reason for making art-- to have a place to indulge your id and comfort your ego, an area of authority, where perhaps, secondarily, with luck and a little effort, you might make something good enough to hand on the wall or show to strangers."

"Ross did not get bogged down in the issue of whether his cheesy paintings were actually good. Nor did he really care whether anybody even painted along with him."

I don't think it really mattered that Bob Ross wasn't a true Picasso; he exposed the general public to a new past time that was no longer exclusively available to the rich and wealthy. Throughout his 30 min. landscape painting episodes, he constantly motivated his viewers to "make decisions" and allow themselves to "find themselves in their paintings." Kimmelman put it the best-- "His purpose was as much to massage souls as it was to teach painting." He essentially sold hope to the American public and they devoured it like the last supper. He realized that even if you don't have the technical expertise of let's say, Leonardo Da Vinci, it shouldn't and doesn't make you any less capable of creating and enjoying art. Art is for anybody and everybody.