Artist Unknown

Characters

• Squidward Tentacles
• Template:Data:Links
  • SpongeBob's hands Template:Debut
• Monty P. Moneybags Template:Debut
• People in the kitchen
• Milk man
• Template:Data:Links
  • Fred
  • Incidental 2
  • John
  • Incidental 6
  • Incidental 14
  • Incidental 16
  • Charlie (Inc 23)
  • Incidental 30
  • Incidental 41
  • Incidental 47
  • Incidental 68
  • Incidental 69
  • Incidental 119

Synopsis

Squidward is teaching an art class at the Adult Learning Center. Eager to see his new students, he opens the doors and greets a whole crowd of people, who are actually looking for the cooking class. They depart, leaving behind only one pupil: SpongeBob.

Squidward begrudgingly starts to teach SpongeBob what he knows. He starts off by demonstrating a poorly-drawn circle on the blackboard and has SpongeBob copy it, but is shocked when SpongeBob draws a perfect circle. He demands SpongeBob show him how he did it, so SpongeBob effortlessly draws a realistic human head, erases the details, and leaves a perfect circle behind. Squidward snatches SpongeBob's paper and crumples it up, which SpongeBob then turns into an origami sculpture of himself and Squidward playing leap-frog. Squidward rips it apart, but SpongeBob simply forms the scraps into a picture of them continuing their game.

File:Artist Unknown 075.png

"There! Now it's art!"

Squidward then attempts to show off his prowess with the chisel, creating a mere pile of rubble. However, with a single stroke of his mallet, SpongeBob produces Michelangelo's David from a raw block of marble. Squidward is amazed, but out of jealousy, scoffs at SpongeBob's masterpiece and refuses to acknowledge his talent. SpongeBob, unquestioning of his teacher's judgment, is ashamed of himself and throws himself out of class, falling into a dumpster being hauled away to the city dump, saying that he deserves it. Squidward feels a bit bad for hurting SpongeBob's feelings, but decides to shut down his class, regardless.

Immediately after, an art collector named Monty P. Moneybags comes in, saying that he is looking for art to purchase for his new museum. Squidward shows off his own pieces to him, but Monty dislikes them all because they are all based on Squidward himself.

File:Artist Unknown 096.png

"I call it Bold and Brash."

However, he falls in love with SpongeBob's masterpiece, which Squidward takes credit for. While carrying the heavy statue to Monty's car, Squidward accidentally knocks off its head. Monty assures Squidward that he should easily be able to make another one, and that he will come back the next day to get it. Squidward, desperate for SpongeBob to make him another masterpiece, goes to the dump and convinces a depressed SpongeBob that he deserves another chance.

Upon returning to art class, SpongeBob unfortunately took Squidward's prior lessons to heart and fails to create anything of decent quality. When he tries to chisel another marble statue, it simply collapses into a pile of rubble. Squidward goes insane with frustration and begins smashing pillars of marble. SpongeBob concludes that his artistic "triumph" was too much for Squidward to handle, and crashes through the wall, going back to the dump.

Monty P. Moneybags returns and, upon seeing what Squidward has produced, incredulously asks who is responsible. Squidward shifts the blame onto the janitor and angrily storms out. However, unknown to Squidward, he accidentally has made an even more beautiful and bigger rendition of David while he got angry, causing Monty to cry out to the janitor, "You, sir, are the greatest artist who ever lived!"

Production

Art

• Title card background.
  Title card background.
• Alternate title card.
  Alternate title card.
• Alternate title card background.
  Alternate title card background.
• Painting of Squid's art-themed wristwatch
  Painting of Squid's art-themed wristwatch
• Original version of Bold and Brash[1]
  Original version of Bold and Brash
• File:GNFZk3xW4AAqr-f.jpg
• File:Sketch bg au.jpeg

Storyboards

• Early (bottom) and final (top) storyboards
  Early (bottom) and final (top) storyboards
• More early v. final boards
  More early v. final boards

Release

Distribution

• This episode is available on The Seascape Capers, Complete 2nd Season, Glumly Squidward, I'm with Stupid, Best of SpongeBob, First 100 Episodes, The Ultimate SpongeBob Box Set, SpongeBob SquarePants Vol. 3, Bob Esponja Cumple 10 Años, SpongeBob on DVD, The SpongeBob Super Square Collection, Complete Second Season, From the Beginning, Part 1, Fine Arts Collection, The SpongeBob SquarePants Collection, The SpongeBob SquarePants 8 Season DVD Collection, The First & Second Seasons, The Best 200 Episodes Ever, and The Best 300 Episodes Ever DVDs and on VideoNow.
• This episode is also available on the UK version of The Seascape Capers VHS tape.

Trivia

General

• The title card background is the marble stone used throughout the episode.
• This episode was originally titled as "SpongeBob Pollock" and "SpongeBob Mapplethorpe."
• The quote "I have no talent" was later used in the online game SpongeBob SquarePants Saves Bikini Bottom.
• SpongeBob's method of drawing a circle is the opposite of how one would naturally draw the detailed head and face, as SpongeBob used as his starting point for the circle.
• This is the second episode where SpongeBob repeats "really" in a conversation. The first was in "Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy III."
• The man seen at home with his "bored house wife" is played by Art Director Nick Jennings.
• The sculpture scene has become a popular meme among caption memes.
• When "License to Milkshake" premiered, it was paired up with this episode.
  • In addition on the December 4, 2020 airing, it was paired up with "Nautical Novice."

File:Art Teacher Squidward in SpongeBob Simulator.png

Art Teacher Squidward in SpongeBob Simulator.

• Squidward's art teacher uniform in this episode as well as the "Mr. Tentacles has all the talent" quote later appears in SpongeBob Simulator.
  • A pose from this episode was also used in SpongeBob Simulator.

• File:Artist Unknown 090.png
• File:ArtTeacherSquidSBSim.png

Dub facts

File:38b DE.jpg

German title card.

• In Germany, the title card uses the same background as "The Smoking Peanut."
  • This also occurred in "Something Smells" and "Prehibernation Week."
• In the Brazilian dub, during the sculpture inspection the "perfect censorship" quote was changed to "visão perfeita" (which translates to perfect vision).
  • In the Indonesian dub, it is changed into "so perfect."
• In the Hebrew dub of this episode, Squidward is mistakenly called "Mr. Terpentine" throughout the episode, instead of "Mr. Tentacles."
• In the SIC European Portuguese dub, the laughter from the end of "Sailor Mouth" can be heard in the title card for a whole second.

Cultural references

• The two original titles are based on two real artists, Jackson Pollock and Robert Mapplethorpe.
• SpongeBob's "dump" song is in the tune of the "William Tell Overture" finale. The song was heard first in a Rocko's Modern Life episode, being sung by Heffer.
  • Coincidentally, SpongeBob and Heffer were voiced by Tom Kenny.
• One of the paintings on the classroom wall is a parody of the American Gothic.
  • Another one of the paintings is a parody of Vitruvian Man, a sketch by Leonardo da Vinci.
• The marble statue done by SpongeBob is a parody of Michelangelo's David.

Errors

• When SpongeBob is knocked out the window into the trash bin, there is glass on the floor inside, when it should be outside the building with since that is the direction in which SpongeBob goes through the window.
• The window that SpongeBob goes through goes from being broken to fixed in between shots.

File:Monty P. Moneybags saying, Because. It's an art collection! in Artist Unknown.png

Monty P. Moneybags' mustache is tucked behind his lip.

• When Squidward declares that there will be a section dedicated to him in all art museums, the suction cups on his hand are transparent.
• When Monty P. Moneybags says, "Because. It's an art collection!," his mustache appears to be tucked behind his lip.
• As the art collector laughs at Bold and Brash, one of the squares on his jacket loses color.

File:Artist Unknown 098.png

Squidward has two legs instead of four.

• When the janitor throws away Bold and Brash, Squidward has two legs instead of the usual four.
  • This error also occurs in "I Was a Teenage Gary" and "The Algae's Always Greener."
• When Squidward unsuccessfully tries to carry SpongeBob's statue out of his classroom and the statue's head falls off, the head lands and settles on its back. But in the next shot, when the head sheds a tear just before turning into a pile of gravel, it is lying on its side.
• When Squidward tears up the rule book, there are some pieces on the floor, but in one minute, they disappear. Also, when SpongeBob uses these pieces to make something, some pieces that are red disappear, but when he is done making it, they reappear.
• When SpongeBob says, "I did it, Squidward!" on his second attempt to draw a circle, the circle appears out of nowhere.

Videos

File:DoodleBob Comes to Life! ✏️ ThrowbackThursdays SpongeBob

File:The Squidward Show Ep. 2 "Artist Unknown" - SpongeBob

Names in other languages

Language	Name	Meaning
French	L'artiste méconnu	The Unknown Artist
German	Das Meisterwerk	The Masterpiece
Hungarian	Az ismeretlen művész	The Unknown Artist
Italian	Artista sconosciuto	Unknown Artist
Russian	Неизвестный художник Neizvestnyy khudozhnik	Unknown Artist
Spanish	Artista desconocido	Artist Unknown