We've already seen comparisons between the art of young children and the masters of abstract expressionism, but the efforts of some zoo animals in Tulsa, Oklahoma may just take the cake for the best debasement of modern art yet.
The zoo had its inhabitants create the pieces either while undergoing medical treatment or in behavioral training exercises. The results make great holiday gifts for a wide range of budgets. Maggie the Porcupine's lush ruminations on life as an animal at the zoo retail for $100, and polar bear prints -- perhaps spare, sensitive meditations on groundedness -- run up to $5,000.
Also available are prints by lions, snow leopards and Sooky the Elephant.
Some of the animals, it turns out, were even on substances when they created the art. The zoo said that the larger animals were under sedation when they created their masterpieces.
ArtInfo wisely noted that these are hardly the first animal artists, as artwork from a 2008 sale by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums included pieces by frogs, Komodo dragons and giraffes. Another notable animal artist, a chimpanzee named Congo, saw his pieces auctioned for a total of $26,352 as works by Renoir and Warhol went unsold.
