Elephants display their talent using diverse palette
A library exhibit features works of art from the group of painting pachyderms.
By TERRI D. REEVES
Published April 13, 2004
CLEARWATER - Duanpen, of Thailand, is the first and only abstract pointillist of her classmates. As she paints, she covers her canvas with big dots - and only big dots - in bright, vibrant colors.
Her name means "full moon month," and it reflects her mischievous personality. Besides painting, she loves to play soccer.
Oh, and by the way, Duanpen is an elephant.
She and 12 of her contemporaries, a group of painting pachyderms, have created what some would call works of art: colorful, conceptual brush strokes on canvas. With a little coaching from their human friends, they have taken paintbrush in trunk and created individual styles.
A collection of their works has traveled from the jungles of Southeast Asia to the Clearwater Main Library and opens May 1. Twenty-two paintings are for sale; three were sold at a fundraiser.
Elsa, a 10-year-old female elephant from Indonesia, likes to paint with two or three brushes in her trunk at a time. Lucky, a 4-year-old orphan from Cambodia, is very enthusiastic about painting and tends to get the paint on her trunk, ears and forehead. And Nom Chok, a 6-year-old male from Thailand, paints in strong vertical lines.
The elephants' painting techniques vary as well. Some elephants pick out their own brushes and colors, and others need a little coaching.
Prices of the paintings range from $350 to $500, depending on the elephant's perceived talent and conceptualization skills. Each painting comes with a certificate of authenticity.
Proceeds support the nonprofit Asian Elephant Art and Conservation Project, which promotes and distributes the works of the struggling elephant artists. The money also goes to ensure the elephants and caretakers have good living conditions and medical care as needed.
"We wanted to bring something to the Tampa Bay area which hasn't been seen before and that would benefit a charitable organization," said Jan Nickols, the library's community service manager.
Although the elephants paint in cheerful colors, their story is bleak. Around the turn of the century, about 300,000 elephants roamed Thailand. Of those, about 100,000 were domesticated, many put to work hauling logs for the timber industry. Over the years, more than 90 percent of their natural habitat was decimated.
When logging was banned in Thailand in 1989, elephants and their caretakers, called mahouts, were left unemployed and starving. The number of elephants has diminished to less than 3,000 in recent years. Without habitat, most of the remaining elephants were forced onto crowded city streets while their caretakers begged for food.
The idea for the project came from two former Soviet conceptual artists, who wanted to support the dwindling number of Asian elephants. Vitaly Komar and Alex Melamid had moved to New York City in 1977 and were teaching U.S. zoo elephants to paint when they heard about the plight of the Southeast Asian elephants.
With the cooperation of the mahouts, the two began teaching the Asian elephants how to paint in 1998.
During the past few years, various teaching camps have been set up in Thailand, Cambodia, Indonesia and other parts of Southeast Asia, and the elephant artists were featured on the television news show 60 Minutes in February 2002.
THE EXHIBIT
The paintings from the Asian Elephant Art and Conservation Project will be on display May 1 through Aug. 27 at the Clearwater Main Library, 100 N Osceola Ave., although the eager can preview the show by looking through the windows on N Osceola Avenue. A lecture, "When Elephants Paint," featuring AEACP co-founder Alex Melamid, will be at 7 p.m. May 12 at the library. A book signing will be after the lecture. No reservations are required. For information, call Jan Nickols at 727 562-4970, ext. 5284, direct e-mail to dferris@elephantart.com or visit the Web site www.elephantart.com
