New documentary by Bob Ross complicates the legacy of the artist who painted ‘happy trees’

(CNN) – In all accounts, the late artist Bob Ross was a gentle soul with a love of nature and a genuine ambition to teach Americans to paint “happy trees” through his long-running television show “The Joy of Painting. “.

Viewers came to adore the soft cadence of her low voice, similar to the streams she painted on her canvases, her permed hair, and her denim jeans wardrobe. The Florida-born painter ran the PBS show from 1983 to 1994, before dying of lymphoma at age 52.

But a new Netflix documentary, “Bob Ross: Happy Accidents, Betrayal & Greed,” looks set to change the notion that Ross’s story was simple, showing a more complex side of his life in the title and trailer.

At a time when movie and TV viewers appreciate nice guys – Mr. Rogers, Tom Hanks, and the fictional Ted Lasso – while we wait for our idols to fall, this kind of reframing can create discomfort. Ross’s name still has cultural capital two decades later because of his apparent goodness, embodied in his message that “we don’t make mistakes; we have happy accidents.” His optimism continued even as he publicly addressed the death of his wife, Jane, on the show and during his own cancer diagnosis.

“Despite how difficult things got at times, he just had this incredible ability to connect with whoever was watching,” said the director of the Netflix documentary, Joshua Rofé, in a telephone interview.

By the time Ross died in 1995, he had produced some 30,000 paintings, on the air or during his traveling workshops, depicting idyllic forests or alpine scenes in calm blues or caramelized pinks. Today, the platforms of streaming, From Netflix to Twitch, they’ve given their show a second life.

Beneath the surface

So what could lurk beneath the surface of Ross’s kind-hearted facade? Probably nothing that would get the beloved artist canceled. Although Rofé delves into some private areas of Ross’s life, in particular his alleged marital transgressions, the real microscope is in Annette and Walter Kowalski, the painter’s longtime business partners, who co-founded Bob Ross Inc. and have been involved. in extensive legal battles against the estate of Ross and his family for the rights to the artist’s image.

The documentary’s narrative unfolds through stories from Ross’s son, Steve, and others close to him. But Rofé said that at first he didn’t know where the story would lead.

“We started reaching out to people who knew him, people who worked with him. And two things always came up,” Rofé said. “One was that everyone loved and missed him … [pero] they were all afraid to speak publicly about Bob for fear of some kind of legal retaliation or retaliation from an entity they would not name. “

“I really wanted to find out why,” explained Rofé. “And I wanted to understand what was going on in Bob’s life outside of those 30 minutes of the show that was so peaceful and relaxing to watch.”

“It wasn’t perfect”

The documentary dates back to the beginning of Ross’s career, when the Kowalskis discovered him demonstrating painting techniques in different shopping centers. They soon teamed up with him to bring his techniques to the halls of the Americans.

Ross was not the first artist to paint on television. In fact, he had studied with Bill Alexander, who had his own PBS show “The Magic of Oil Painting.” Alexander taught Ross the wet-on-wet technique that allowed him to complete a painting in the span of a half-hour television episode (and which, centuries earlier, had allowed Claude Monet’s freely painted lilies and the shadowy, regal figures of Diego Velasquez).

When “The Joy of Painting” debuted in 1983, it was filmed at the Kowalski home against a black background. Ross recorded several episodes a day. During the course of the show, he entertained the regular guests, including his son, coined his catchphrase “happy little trees” and left viewers with sensual instructions to “make love” with his brush strokes and sage advice explaining that being an accomplished painter It is not an inherent talent, but something that is acquired with practice. (“Trees cover a multitude of sins,” he also said).

“It wasn’t perfect; of course it had flaws,” Rofé said. But the director added, “I think there’s something to this … the decency you get from it. And we’re all really hungry for it. And we need it.”

Today, amid an abundance of merchandise and Bob Ross nostalgia, Rofé believes his life story has been carefully curated by those who now control his legacy.

“The information that is released about Bob, for the most part, is largely what Bob Ross Incorporated presents. They are essentially the controllers of the Bob Ross name and image,” Rofé said. “Once we finally found people who were willing and brave enough to say their part, we began to discover a lot more.”

Bob Ross Inc., which is now chaired by Joan, the daughter of Annette and Walter Kowalski, told Vanity fair that the allegations that appear in the documentary are an “attempt to re-litigate” issues already addressed in a 2017 lawsuit. If it weren’t for the organization, the statement adds, Ross’s “artistic and cultural relevance … would have been lost decades ago with his passing. “