Thai elephants paint to save themselves
Wednesday December 2 5:04 PM ET
dailynews.yahoo.com
By James Mclean
AYUTTHAYA, Thailand(Reuters) - Baby elephant Nam Chok grips the brush in his trunk and, with a few words of
encouragement from his handler, slaps the canvas in front of him with bright blue paint.
Nam Chok is among about a dozen Thai elephants learning to paint under a new scheme that its supporters say could
ultimately improve the lives of Thailand's revered but struggling national animal.
Russian artistic partnership Alex Melamid and Vitaly Komar are hoping to bring images painted by Thailand's elephants to
mainstream western art markets under the auspices of the Asian Elephant Art and Conservation Project.
They have just opened what they say are the world's first academies for aspiring elephant artists and hope exposure of
paintings produced by elephants at these camps will establish a demand for the paintings, and help Thai elephant handlers, or
mahouts, to feed their animals.
Profits from painting sales in the United States will be channeled back into elephant projects in Thailand via the World
Wildlife Fund, while the painting academies can add to their coffers by selling elephant art directly to visitors.
Melamid, who first came to Thailand in June to promote the idea, returned in November to open three painting schools -- one
at Lamphang in the extreme north, one in the central ancient capital of Ayutthaya, and one in the southern island of Phuket.
''We know elephants can paint and paint wonderfully. Our job now is turn the paintings into commodities,'' Melamid said.
''Right now in the U.S. we are trying to establish a price at about $250 per painting, which is quite big money in Thailand,''
he added.
THAILAND'S ELEPHANTS FACE TOUGH TIMES
The project arrives as Thailand's working elephants and their mahouts struggle to cope with a fast changing world in which
traditional occupations are quickly disappearing.
An official ban on logging has helped protect Thailand's dwindling forests but has also destroyed the major source of work
for the country's elephants.
Chisanu Tiyacharoensri, secretary general of the Wild Animal Rescue Foundation of Thailand, said that with few job
options, elephants and their handlers are often forced into illegal logging, begging in Bangkok, or selling rides to tourists.
Mahouts need about 1000 baht ($27) a day to feed their animal, he said.
''To solve this problem you have to see this as a problem not just of the elephants but of the people,'' Chisanu said.
''We are talking about a vicious cycle. Most of the mahouts are not well-educated. It is a problem of the poor,'' he said.
Illegal loggers have fed elephants amphetamines so they can work through the night, Chisanu said. In some of the worst cases,
desperate mahouts have even killed their elephants because they can no longer afford to keep them.
''Two years ago there were 3,600 domestic elephants in Thailand but figures released two months ago show there are now
only 3,100,'' he said.
If the painting camps prove popular, they might offer a viable alternative.
''If this project works, there are plans to expand it to other camps,'' he said.
NEW YORK ART WORLD MEETS THAI MAHOUT
But much depends on the strength of the market for elephant art. Unlike chimpanzees, elephants do not paint recognizable
images.
Instead, according to the new project's art historian Mia Fineman, they are abstract expressionist ''masters of the spontaneous
gesture on canvas'' in the mold of Jackson Pollock.
''What is very exciting for us at the moment is that we see elephants in Thailand developing their own regional styles,''
Fineman says.
''The Thai paintings are the result of a collaboration between the mahout and the elephant. It is generally the mahout who
decides the colors and when the painting is finished,'' she says.
For Melamid, who is now talking to coffee company Starbucks Corp (Nasdaq:SBUX - news) and entertainment giant Walt
Disney about promoting and using the images, there is no doubt about the quality of the art.
And despite a reputation for teasing art world egos, Melamid says he and Komar are out not to make a point, but to help
Thailand's elephants.
''We are here to help solve the problems of Thailand's elephants,'' he said. ''Elephants are not as smart as humans but I'm not
sure you have to be smart to be a great painter. In fact, some of the greatest painters were dumb,'' he said.
''From our experience they (elephants) know the difference between colors. That may come from the smell of the paints, or
by shades of grey, but they do know the difference between colors,'' he added.
''The thing is that no one knows what art is. We truly believe there is some essence in art that is something bigger than us,
something non-human, and I believe elephants are as brilliant as us in this area.'' |
