EIn early 2006, American artist John Lurie completed his watercolor work. Endure the surprise. This painting depicts an animal in a meadow standing on its hind legs in front of a couple having sex with a picnic blanket. The bear says “surprise!” Within a few weeks, the photo was uploaded to a Russian blog and the callout was changed to “Preved”. This is a portmanteau translated as “Hello Bear”.
This strange image captures the imagination of the Russian internet and by May of that year Moscow Times “It gained immense popularity due to the speed of the avalanche,” he reported. Ruri’s whimsical bear continues to be referenced in Russian films and television shows, and may even be flying in the sky with posters promoting the Russian version, appearing in countless memes. Newsweek. Last month, when Russian troops invaded Ukraine, Lully posted his original artwork on. twitter once again. “I prevented it!” He wrote. “What f *** Russia? Let Putin know that he is alone in this horror.”
Needless to say, Lully didn’t expect his work to be viral on the other side of the globe. “”Withstand surprises It’s a really bad picture, “he conservatively declares from his Caribbean home. “It was there that way in all my paintings-and you can’t believe the level it was there-it just feels weird.” It brings art to the world. And shows that you don’t know where it will end up. A lesson that echoes Lurie’s own far-reaching journey through music, movies, and more recently, his deeply meditative and unconventional HBO series. Draw a picture with John. During the first season, he combined footage of artistic talent with a wild story about musician Rick James and drinking cocaine, and the time Barry White spoke vibrating his testicles. rice field. Bob Ross, it’s not.
One of Lurie’s paintings, the title is: ‘I thought life made more sense as I got older. This is not the case. ”
(HBO)
Born in Minneapolis in 1952, Lurie spent her teens in the boring life of a small town in Worcester, Massachusetts.In his revelatory 2021 memoirs Bone history He recalled his early attempts as a professional musician, including persuading Canned Heat to sit on the harmonica at the 1971 Carnegie Hall show with John Lee Hooker. By 1978, Lully picked up the saxophone and formed the avant-garde jazz group The Lounge Lizards with his brother Evan and the ever-changing cast of fellow musicians. This group was at the heart of the New York art scene in the 80’s, and Lully found the spirits of relatives such as Jean-Michel Basquiat and Andy Warhol. He cut out an unfriendly, effortlessly cool, outsider figure as part of a creative bubble that felt like the whole world at the time. “I didn’t really think about the future at the time,” he says. “In fact, for most of us, there was no universe outside the region from Houston to 14.th There is no other time from St. and Bowery to Avenue C. “
In 1980, Lully starred as a saxophonist in the first indie film Jim Jarmusch. Permanent vacation. It was the beginning of a fruitful collaboration, and Lully played a leading role in Jarmusch’s next two films. A stranger than paradise When Down by lawCast in the latter with Roberto Benigni and Tom Waits.. In 1991, he reunited with both Jarmusch and awaiting his surreal travel series. Fishing with John, When I glove-hopped from Montoak to Costa Rica to Thailand, I saw an apparently non-expert angler Lully join another celebrity guest every week. The series seemed intentionally anti-climatic, New York Times Review Note: “There is no big bang reward at the end of these episodes. It’s part of what makes Fishing with John It’s such a fascinating alternative to the world of loud laughter tracks on network TV. “
After 30 years of absence from the screen overcoming the debilitating effects of cancer and Lyme disease, Lurie returned last year on another show that acts as an antidote to high-concept, high-stakes prestige television. Draw a picture with John Primarily structured while seeing Ruri working on watercolors and telling a series of quirky and sometimes completely incredible Shaggy dog stories, such as when he kept finding coins. increase. He never offers anything more rude than teaching Basquiat aspirants. “Welcome,” he announces in the first episode of the new second season, “to a show where I don’t teach you how to paint.”
Nonetheless, Lully said that after the first season, many fans urged him to get a paintbrush, adding: point. “He says his intention for the show is to fine-tune the creativity of the viewer in any way.” I want to free people a little, “he says. “If someone is expecting a step-by-step tutorial on painting, this is not the case. But in a sense, I see someone paint without instructions –’put the brush here, Paint like this …’– Probably a much better way to learn.
The first season was soundtracked by music drawn from Lurie’s long and unique career, but recording a brand new score for the second season is for musicians who have been deprived of their ability to play due to the effects of Lyme disease. Marked an emotional breakthrough for 20 years.During his last year’s rehearsal, he wrote: twitter: “I don’t understand this feeling, I think I’m nervous.” Looking back, he says he still can’t express his condition clearly. “I was feeling something, but I wasn’t sure if it was nervous,” he says. “When you can’t do something that’s an absolute reason that has existed for years, and then you have the opportunity to do it again, a lot of emotions accompany it.”
Ann Mary Grud James, Nezlin Wolf and Ruri run through the fantastic landscape of the artist’s own creations in “Cowboy Beckett”
(HBO)
The second season is still backed by Ruri’s paintings and stories, but it’s more visually original than the first season. In the opening episode, Lully performs a synchronized swimming routine through the magic of Monty Python-inspired animation. A new segment that runs several episodes is entitled “Cowboy Beckett,” and while Lully and his longtime assistants Nezlin Wolf and Amary Glud James talk in a philosophical context, Lully himself. Ride a horse in the lush and fantastic landscape of creativity. “It’s really’Cowboy Ionesco’, but’Cowboy Beckett’is a better ring,” said Lully, who opened the first segment, “Why there is something, not nothing?” I ask. It’s hard to imagine other TV shows where different worlds come together to present such fascinating things. “I don’t know if there is much in common [between westerns and Samuel Beckett], It’s a kind of idea, “says Lurie. “But as long as I have time, I’m sure Wild West was as ridiculous as it would get.”
Like a meadow bear when you think you’re alone, Lurie’s show is full of surprises. There may not be a tutorial on painting with numbers, but there are many deeper lessons on what you need to do to live an artist’s life. “If I could teach people something, it would be more important about living at that moment,” says Lully. “I also want to teach people to empathize and respect, but I’m saving it for Season 3.” High ambition, but worthy of a show that brightens the world a bit. ..
“Painting With John” is currently featured on HBO Max in the United States.UK release date has not yet been announced
