ART & WORLD NEWS
"The Grant Museum of Zoology is the only
remaining university zoological museum in London. It houses around 67,000
specimens, covering the whole Animal Kingdom. Founded in 1828 as a teaching
collection, the Museum is packed full of skeletons, mounted animals and
specimens preserved in fluid;..."(UCL) to add to the collection, the Museum has packed a section of their showroom with paintings created by animals for a limited amount of time in the exhibit "Art by
Animals."
The exhibit questions the cognitive abilities of primates
by suggesting that some animals may indeed create art. The focus of the exhibit
is on the actual paintings created by apes and elephants;
(Created by Nong Bank, an elephant
in Samutprakarn Zoo, Thailand, 2010)
“Placing their handiwork alongside animal specimens and
historical documentation [the exposition] explore[s] why some animal creations are
considered valuable and [artistic], while others are dismissed as meaningless.”(UCL)
"Co-curator Mike Tuck said: 'We believe the
exhibition at the Grant Museum to be the first to exhibit multiple species’
paintings and to attempt to take a broad view of the phenomenon.'
Since the mid-50s, zoos have used art and painting
as a leisure activity for animals, even selling the pieces to raise funds.' While individual elephants are trained to always
paint the same thing, art produced by apes is a lot more creative and is almost
undistinguishable [sic] from abstract art by humans that use similar
techniques.'...
(Created by Joseph, a Sumatran Orangutan living at Erie Zoo,
Pennsylvania)
(Created by Samantha, a Western lowland gorilla from Erie
Zoo, Pennsylvania, 2011)
(Created by Sumatran Orangutan Baka, from Cheyenne
Mountain Zoo in Colorado (right),
and Bakhari, a chimp from St Louis Zoo (left))
'Ape art is often compared to that of
two- or three-year-old children in the "scribble stage",' he added. Co-curator Will Tuck added: 'Although it is fairly
clear that any notion of art by animals is essentially anthropomorphic, it
starts to raise very interesting questions about the nature of human art.' Images of monkeys painting date back to at least the
17th century in European art, but it was not until the 1950s that the animal
paintings themselves became important.Their rise in popularity coincided with the abstract
expressionist movement in art, which started to look closely at the act of
making, and what it reveals about an artist’s subconscious. Within this context, the art of animals -
particularly primates - took on a radically different meaning..." (Reynolds, February 28, 2012)
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More on Art & Animals
Guido Daniele, an Italian artist, received his
training in sculpting from Brera School of Arts. However, he is known internationally
for his painting abilities, which are exemplified in his “Handimals”- interpretations
of animals through the use of human hands (below are a few of my favorite).
Click here, to see more of Daniele's Handimals
Very interesting, i loved the one with the hands!
ReplyDeletexx
mariale
My Fashion Bug
This was very interesting to read,I never knew that elephants used their trunks to paint.I learned a lot from this post. And the pictures were amazing.Thanks Sis for making me read this.
ReplyDeleteWauw that last pictures are so great!
ReplyDeleteyou have a really nice blog girl!
XOXO
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