Jim Carrey is passionate about art, and many fans aren’t aware that he’s an artist. The actor is making headlines after appearing in the new mini documentary I Needed Colour, which shows him working on several projects in his New York City studio.
In the six-minute documentary, Carrey explains how he got involved in art, noting: “When I really started painting a lot I had become so obsessed that there was nowhere to move in my home. Paintings were everywhere. They were becoming part of the furniture, I was eating on them.”
He added, “I like the independence of it. I love the freedom of it. No one else tells you what you can or can’t do, most of the time. And there’s an immediacy to it.”
A particularly dreary day in the city prompted him to pick up a paintbrush. “It was just so depressing. I needed color,” he explained. “You can tell my inner life by the darkness in some of them. You can tell what I want from the brightness in some of them.”
Since the video’s launch, it has received over 1.8 million views online. Even celebrities are amazed by Carrey’s skills. NBA star LeBron James wrote on Twitter: “This is incredible!! I had no idea either. Unbelievable work @JimCarrey! Would love to see some of your work in person some day! Love art.”
While Carrey’s artistic side may be news to some, he’s been making art for years. In 2013, he told David Letterman about his Canadian cabin where he did his “arts and crafts.”
About six years ago, Carrey was healing a broken heart and decided to paint. The documentary shows him painting a heart and noting, “When your heart is in love, you’re floating. Weightless. When you lose that love, you have to re-enter the atmosphere. And it can get pretty rough.”
He may be referring to his relationship with TV personality Jenny McCarthy. The pair split up in 2010 after five years of dating. He also dated Irish make-up artist Cathriona White, who took her own life in 2015 a week after they broke up.
In the documentary Carrey also discusses his paintings of Jesus. “The paintings of Jesus are really my desire to convey Christ consciousness,” Carrey explains. “I wanted you to have the feeling when you looked into his eyes that he was accepting of who you are. I wanted him to be able to stare at you and heal you from the painting. You can find every race in the face of Jesus, and I think that’s how every race imagines Jesus. They imagine him as their own.”
David Bushell directed and produced the video, which is available on Vimeo.
