APW: Lucy the Elephant (568 hits)
Category: NoneRating: 1.19 on 26 reviews (Rate this item) (V)
Submitted by Jack McCallum (View user info) at 2006-09-06 18:57:46 EDT
No, I'm not kidding. Elephants in zoos have been painting for many years now, and the bright slashes of color they use to create their paintings easily surpass anything done by a moody, unwashed human abstract artiste, and I know, because I see the sullen little fuckers every day in downtown San Francisco, lounging around and smoking cigarettes between war protests.
I couldn't find the one painting I saw on a post card years ago that really caught my eye and made me wonder what these creatures were thinking when they painted. An elephant had been painting, and a colorful bird had been in a nearby tree. She created a bunch of vertical green slashes with a blob of red in the middle. Anyone who enjoyed the work of the impressionists working the turn of the last century could see how amazing this painting was.
My search for online examples of elephant art brought me to Lucy of the Edmonton Zoo up in Canada. The good part of Canada. The western part of Canada. Lucy is an Asian elephant who is around thirty years old.
While I am completely against the idea of continuing to acquire and breed elephants in zoos (since elephants require such a vast amount of living space and mental stimulation), I do realize that it is completely worthwhile to try and capitalize on paintings like these. By putting them on postcards and posters, the zoo can make some money and hopefully expand the elephant habitats.
And you have to wonder exactly what is going on the heads of these animals. The 'animals are just stupid and have no sentience or self-awareness' crowd will consider the examples below just splashes of paint on paper, but then this is the crowd that will see a cat or dog sleeping, paws and whiskers twitching, eyes rolling behind closed lids, breath coming faster and faster, and insist that animals do not dream.
Below are a few of Lucy's paintings. The rest can be found at this link (and I believe that whoever titled these paintings needs a serious bitch-slapping)...
http://www.buildingthevalleyzoo.com/lucy3.html
User Reviews
Submitted by hidden101 (user info) at 2006-09-20 16:38:04 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
sweet
Submitted by electrictoothsyndrome (user info) at 2006-09-07 05:22:36 EDT (#)
Ranking: 1
http://youtube.com/watch?v=5UMJ8qfw-4E
Elephants can rock out with their cocks out too!
Kickass at sweep picking.
Submitted by JoeyG (user info) at 2006-09-07 04:14:51 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
She's a damn sight better than some artists that are about these days.....
Submitted by TheUniter (user info) at 2006-09-07 02:08:56 EDT (#)
Ranking: -2
Submitted by rob_berg (user info) at 2006-09-07 01:24:33 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by Amontillado (user info) at 2006-09-06 23:50:44 (#)
Ranking: 2
I have a magic toenail
I keep it on my foot
Its always there to rescue me
When something goes kaput
It has the cutest cuticle
Free of all disease
As toenails go,
Its really quite extra-ordinary
Thank you, thank you
Thank you magic toenail
I love my magic toenail
Its magical and good,
Sometimes i'll take my magic toenail to lunch
And give it a sandwich
Because it likes to eat the sandwiches
Thank you, thank you
Thank you magic toenail
I love you magic toenail
---
YAY! BRAK!
Submitted by Susie_Derkins (user info) at 2006-09-07 01:20:01 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Whoa, synchronicity....I was just talking about this very thing earlier.
Submitted by Bob_Dole (user info) at 2006-09-07 00:34:02 EDT (#)
Ranking: 1
And thats why we use elephant's legs to make umbrella stands, and not artists.
Submitted by goferforhire (user info) at 2006-09-07 00:14:58 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
splendiferous
Submitted by Amontillado (user info) at 2006-09-06 23:50:44 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
I have a magic toenail
I keep it on my foot
Its always there to rescue me
When something goes kaput
It has the cutest cuticle
Free of all disease
As toenails go,
Its really quite extra-ordinary
Thank you, thank you
Thank you magic toenail
I love my magic toenail
Its magical and good,
Sometimes i'll take my magic toenail to lunch
And give it a sandwich
Because it likes to eat the sandwiches
Thank you, thank you
Thank you magic toenail
I love you magic toenail
Submitted by Bubba2341 (user info) at 2006-09-06 23:44:38 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Cats=pussy. I like pussy. I like cats. I got IT ALLLLLLL!!!
KIndanews, fuck you again, you asswipe. . . :-D
Submitted by forensicgirl3 (user info) at 2006-09-06 22:46:40 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
There is a 300 pound black woman in the apartment above me.
Her 300 pound boyfriend is there quite often.
I'm not sure what will collapse my ceiling first; their lovemaking or fighting.
Submitted by Jack_McCallum (user info) at 2006-09-06 22:41:06 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Ten minutes ago my neighbors were out on the street screaming and bitch-slapping each other.
The fun never ends.
Submitted by Jack_McCallum (user info) at 2006-09-06 22:40:22 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by Coyote (user info) at 2006-09-06 22:18:05 (#)
Ranking: 1
You own the book "Why Cats Paint", don't you... go ahead, admit it
--
No, but 'The Truth about Cats and Marijuana, the Gateway Drug' is a disturbing read.
Submitted by Coyote (user info) at 2006-09-06 22:18:05 EDT (#)
Ranking: 1
You own the book "Why Cats Paint", don't you... go ahead, admit it.
Submitted by kaos-king (user info) at 2006-09-06 22:11:52 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
You're a weird dude Jack...
Submitted by Jack_McCallum (user info) at 2006-09-06 21:23:07 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by WingedFoote (user info) at 2006-09-06 19:58:20 (#)
Ranking: 1
Silly Jack... is her name Lucy or Ellie?
--
Oops. This is Lucy's stuff. Ellie is the one I did a search for, finding nothing.
Submitted by Chroniclysm (user info) at 2006-09-06 21:05:05 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
+2 painting elephants
Submitted by Sacrilicious (user info) at 2006-09-06 20:35:16 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
I had every intention of doing an APW on this some day.
And I'm with you on the captive elephants issue.
Submitted by WingedFoote (user info) at 2006-09-06 19:58:20 EDT (#)
Ranking: 1
Silly Jack... is her name Lucy or Ellie?
Submitted by icarus1987 (user info) at 2006-09-06 19:36:02 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
So what you're SAYING, Jack, is that we should feed those diva artistes to the elephant, but I think you're wrong. Because elephants eat bananas. We'll have to find one of those painting tigers. Or wombats.
Submitted by Shlongy (user info) at 2006-09-06 19:34:52 EDT (#)
Ranking: -2
I call "no more self portraits".
Submitted by Coleslaw_Murphy (user info) at 2006-09-06 19:28:18 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
The photo (following the link you gave) showing Lucy picking her own color is interesting. I'm guessing that usually the elephants are *given* the brush or next color by one of the trainers?
And do they stop on their own?
Some of them look like they could've been done by human hands, which is one of many indictments against "modern art".
Submitted by KindaNews (user info) at 2006-09-06 19:09:40 EDT (#)
Ranking: 1
Does Lucy write your stories, too?
PS
Bring extra lube up to the cabin, son.
I'm randy as hell.
Submitted by apollo88 (user info) at 2006-09-06 19:07:02 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
the scrolling depends on what resolution you are running.
fucktard.
+2 elephant art.
Submitted by forensicgirl3 (user info) at 2006-09-06 19:06:19 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
+2 filename
even though you're a cat-starving sadist. :D
give those poor cats a treat!
Submitted by Jack_McCallum (user info) at 2006-09-06 18:58:46 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Has the 800-pixels-wide limit been reduced?
This one is 800 I believe, and still the scrolling. Jeus.