🖼 Bob Ross
Painter, Art Instructor and Television Host
Painter and television personality Bob Ross was a prolific artist
who purportedly completed 30,000 paintings during his lifetime. Ross
wanted everyone to believe that they could be artists.
Ross was born in Daytona Beach, Florida, on October 29, 1942, to Jack
and Ollie Ross. Ross’ father was a carpenter and builder. For a time,
Ross worked with his father doing carpentry. From his mother, Ollie,
Ross learned a love and respect of wildlife.
Ross passed away in 1995, but his stardom continues to grow. There are
Bob Ross Clubs, T-shirts display his image and sayings and Internet
memes poke fun at his soothing spoken aphorisms described by his
business partner, Annette Kowalski, as
“liquid tranquilizer.” He lives on as a cultural meme. Lego
figures, Halloween costumes and cartoons of Bob are ubiquitous on the
Internet. It's easy to imagine that Ross would love to see his work
embraced and celebrated by so many people in their own individual and
collective ways.
Despite Ross’ international fame, no comprehensive critical biography
with substantiated facts from primary sources exists. It is as if Ross
lives outside of any larger artistic, educational, and/or entertainment
context. Instead, the Bob Ross story is told through word of mouth,
narratives recorded in fanzines, posts on message boards, blog postings,
Internet tribute pages, obituaries, feature stories in the popular
press, Wikipedia entries and Bob Ross, Inc. publications. This lack of
vetted historical information has contributed to Bob Ross being more of
a legend that an important historical figure in the art world.
watch bob paint a masterpiece 🎨
Coded by Amy Frost