Critic Reviews

Painting With John is, like its predecessor, a true original. It’s about a man who has seen a lot of the world, made a good living off his art, and — with the help of producers Adam McKay and Todd Schulman — has hand-crafted yet another work for television.

Lurie’s six-part doc series is nothing like Ross’ show—ostensibly meant to teach painting to curious newbies—but it is instructive in its circuitous life lessons and features a similar calming and hypnotic quality, albeit much deeper, more profound yet meandering, and funnier. ... John Lurie is back (hopefully to stay?) and has released the most profoundly captivating narrative of 2021, so far.

Painting With John is just very calming. Its pitch rarely rises above a murmur; and because there’s no pressure to figure out exactly why Lurie and Mockus include what they do, viewers can relax and let all the pretty pictures and odd sounds wash over them, carrying them wherever they may.

Lurie’s reminiscences resound with both humor and sly profundity.

A hypnotic, meandering, surreality-TV walk into the knotty jungle of Lurie’s mind that explores living as an art form in itself. ... Lurie isn’t teaching painting. But he’s teaching something. Patience, purpose, attentiveness to your inner voice. It may seem rambling or self-indulgent at times. But the digressions are the point. The show, which at six half-hour episodes does not overstay its welcome, is like an apprenticeship with a crotchety bohemian Yoda.

Magnetic ... “Painting” is a hand reaching straight through the solar plexus to squeeze. And squeeze, it does. It’s a rare thing to encounter a work of art you can describe as both daffy and mournful, yet “Painting” is certainly such a creature.

There’s a sense of artistic exploration in “Painting with John” that’s so delightful. You never know exactly where it’s going next. ... Not everything works, but that doesn’t matter. The roughness around the edges is part of the charm, especially in an era of such overly polished, manufactured television.

The pacing, the insouciance, the music (Mr. Lurie’s) and the surprising vividness of the colors and the artwork make for a show that engages a viewer sincerely, even while being a semi-spoof. ... At one point he asks why’s he’s doing the show at all. “In fact, if you’re watching, turn it off.” I couldn’t oblige.

Painting With John does take some getting used to, but once you’re into the show’s rhythms, it feels like a relaxing way to end your day.

The mood is mostly meditative. Plants sway in the breeze, tree frogs sing, Lurie sits and stares. Much of it is devoted to watching paint move from brush to paper, very close up, and it is pretty and satisfying. ... There is a sort of arc to the series, in that Lurie’s circumstances come increasingly, if never completely, into focus; that what we’re watching is by the end framed in a slightly different way. ... That it also concludes with the title card, “The End,” suggests we have been told a story as much as having been shown a life.