Positively makes Steffi look like a rutabaga. How come elephants can get their act together and Liberals cannot(rhetorical question)?

That's one talented animal trainer there.

Here at the Valley Zoo in Edmonchuk,they have a pachy named Lucy(no relation to Warman),who does the same thing. After having seen some of her "paintings", I must say they have more appeal then most of the stuff out there today by so called "Artists".

1.8 million.

Good Pachyderm artistry.

Maybe Kate can use the pachyderm to help her letter the Anhydrous Ammonia tanks in the spring.

I suspect "airbrushing helmets" is asking a bit much.

The elephant attempts to breathe life into the rounded forms, but by co-opting the memory-trace fairy tale invocations of Chagall without moving past his ur-circus archetypes it merely displays its derivative foundations, and as in so much African art the verticality is overstated.

We've seen it before. Behind the stylish posturing and the celebrity-pose there is a distinct lack of control over the medium and, quite frankly, a beastly crudeness that attempts, unsuccessfully, to hide itself.

All in all, a disappointing display that does not live up to the hype.

I am speechless, have got to get out of Luisi-Yana some more.
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Perhaps THIS will finally prompt a rethink of society's anthropocentric assumptions that blindly insist humans were responsible for the hieroglyphics in the pyramids.

People would think a lot more highly of seals if they could do stuff like this.

Elephant pornography, interesting but sick, no hay for a week!

jeff_davidson had better watch out. Looks like his photography business is at risk of being out-sourced to an Indian.

One who works for peanuts.

---but can they fill out an application for a Canada Council grant? If they do not have landed immigrant status they will not be able to claim that their work is culturally enriching the Canadian Mosaic and therefore they are entitled to receive financial support and join the list of those "entitled to their entitlements"

Kate, the seals just need a few special ed modifications to bring out their natural skills and abilities -- a wide shallow vat of finger paint on a clean white floor. It's time the art world quits heartlessly sidelining them for their lack of grippy appendages...

That was fascinating. I'd be very curious to know what the nature of the training was which went into the elephant doing that. It's something worthy of some serious research. Obvious questions would be: was the elephant simply operantly conditioned into making this painting or was that a window into the mind of a very intelligent creature? Does the elephant simply perceive the painting as a series of reproducible lines? Was there something on the easel to cue him? Or is the elephant in fact trying to communicate to us perception and self awareness? The spectrum is wide, but the questions and importance for understanding our relationship with other creatures on the planet is profound. Animals certainly have emotional lives, why not artistic? As with most things scientific -- more questions than answers!

That is truly amazing!The elephant seemed very intentional and focused! Just wow!!
Thanks for that Kate.
Can't wait to see what happens when you let the schnauzers try airbrushing!

Edmonton's elephant painter sells her paintings for up to $800 per pic.

Munney goes to Zoo or animal shelters.

Normally she uses a brush but occasionally the inner child takes over and she just 'freehands' it with her trunk. Really.

That indcates a very high level of abstraction on the part of the elephant. Someone mentioned an elephant in the Edmonton zoo that does this, and I know that there is one in the Calgary zoo that paints as well. Perhaps this level of visual symbolism is inherent in the elephant brain. DrD, I agree that this is definitely something that merits some serious research.

If this was something that the elephant is merely trained to do and reproduce, then that in itself is a level of intelligence that is simply not displayed elsewhere in the animal kingdom.

If the elephant came up with that design on its own, then there are a number of very interesting aspects to the design. First of all, there is clearly some perspective involved, as two legs are on the other side and partially hidden by the legs in the foreground. Secondly, there are very slow, deliberate movements being made; the image was clearly being planned. Thirdly, the artistic skill is beyond what we would expect from a small child, as the subject of the image is easily recognizable (how many times have you looked at a little kid's artwork and said "that's beautiful... what is it?") as early as the first or second line being drawn.

The implications of this video are astounding.

Err.. can we then teach these guys to read and write? Do we want to know what they think about us humans?

Truly amazing.

When the poignant pachyderm finished its self-portrait (& before it started the flower) I thought it was going to date & sign the painting, LOL

mhb23re
at gmail d0t calm

hey i live here in ETNA,CALIFORNIA we used to have the elephent AKILI living here