article - Painted Pachyderm/LA Times
Oh, that photo credit is for Béatrice de Géa / LAT
Part of the article -
Painted Pachyderm Draws Outcry
Work by mischievous artist wins admirers and criticism from animal rights activists.
By Carla Hall and Amanda Covarrubias, Times Staff Writers
When the enigmatic British artist Banksy decided to install an elaborately painted elephant ?- a real one ?- in a warehouse southeast of downtown L.A., he drew a contingent of Hollywood admirers.
Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, among other stars, were spotted at the Thursday evening opening of the outsized exhibit by an artist known for graffiti-sprinkled work, acts of mischief and never appearing at his own exhibits or granting interviews.
The warehouse was decorated as a living room, complete with furniture, chandelier and the standing Indian elephant.
Cards were handed out explaining: "There's an elephant in the room. There's a problem we never talk about. The fact is that life isn't getting any fairer
. 20 billion people live below the poverty line."
Although Banksy's real-life creation of a metaphor ?- hyperbolic population figure included ?- may have enchanted his fans, it drew the ire of another group, animal rights activists.
Banksy happens to have set up his exhibit in a city with a vocal animal welfare contingent, one that has spent months criticizing the L.A. Zoo's handling of elephants and is still mourning the death three months ago of the zoo's beloved pachyderm Gita. Activists believe that elephants, which roam miles in the wild, don't begin to get their physical needs met in the confines of a zoo ?- let alone a downtown warehouse.
Perhaps Banksy didn't know this, perhaps he did or perhaps he didn't care. Whatever the case, the artist's employment of an elephant in a downtown warehouse had activists e-mailing one another and prompted a rebuke from a city official.
"I think it sends a very wrong message that abusing animals is not only OK, it's an art form," said Ed Boks, general manager of Los Angeles Animal Services. "We find it no longer acceptable to dye baby chicks at Easter, but it's OK to dye an elephant."
Boks found himself decrying the presence of the elephant in the exhibit even though his agency had issued the two permits necessary to have the elephant there ?- "to my chagrin," he said. He tried late Friday to revoke the permits on grounds of public safety.
"Some of the experts I've talked to have told me there's no way of predicting when an elephant will go berserk," he said. "We want to do what's right by the public and the animal."
However, Boks would have to give five days' notice to revoke the permits. And in five days, the exhibit will be gone. It is to run today and Sunday from about noon to 8 p.m.
End/quote
The article is longer, see link above.
Personally I don't mind the paint job if the animal is well treated, or I don't think I do. Odd, in that I've often had some qualms about dressing up animals for photos, and have gone back and forth about what I think of William Wegman's photography related to that.
I know elephants can rampage - it's something to do with being in season, I think, called some word like 'musti'. Ah, well, I read about all that quite long ago in one of those many-paged New Yorker articles. Think it might only be with males, not sure, and don't know which this elephant is.
In any case, Banksy interests me.
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