Paintings by beloved TV artist Bob Ross are performing well in sales to raise cash for public media in the US. TV host John Oliver this week announced he would sell a Ross canvas that has already attracted a $1 million bid.
Bob Ross may not be a Great Artist in the way that the creators of most multimillion dollar pieces are.
However, he was extremely popular. His laid-back, positive persona inspired countless people to create their own works using a pioneering technique that allowed Ross to complete canvases live in a half-hour show.
One of them, Cabin at Sunset, will be sold by TV host John Oliver next week.
Ross’ The Joy of Painting was taped by a Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) station in Indiana. As a result he became a global, multigenerational star.
The US’s public broadcasting network is now under threat of more than $1 billion of funding cuts by the Trump administration. Hundreds of stations are due to close next year and a major fundraising drive is underway to support them.
On November 11, Bonhams in Los Angeles auctioned three of 30 Ross paintings (many donated by the artist’s foundation) that are being sold to raise cash.
Ross’s painting Winter’s Peace was sold for a record price last week, but it’s a record that will be broken within a few days. Image courtesy of Bonhams.
They sailed past their estimates to realise $318,000, $229,100, and $114,800 (all with premium), to easily set a new record for Ross’s work.
That record will not stand.
John Oliver, who hosts Last Week Tonight with John Oliver on HBO, is selling another Ross painting and has already secured a $1 million bid for it.
The star revealed an attempt to add one of the Bonhams paintings to his sale, saying: “We actually bid on those paintings trying to win one so that we could re-auction it tonight to benefit public media. Sadly, those prices were outside of our budget.”
Oliver is selling the painting, a very typical Ross work of a mountain landscape, created live on air during the second series of The Joy of Painting, alongside a selection of the “junk” he’s accumulated as a long-time TV host.
The online sale closes on November 24, and you have until then to bid over $1 million to win your own Bob Ross,
