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Banksy's elephant loses its paint job
Last updated at 14:37pm on 18.09.06
Garish: 'Exhibit' used child-safe paint on elephant
An elephant that was elaborately spray-painted for a California art exhibit, which caused an uproar among animal activists, was washed by order of the Los Angeles Department of Animal Services.
The 38-year-old female elephant, named Tai, was given a nontoxic paint job for last week's opening of the "Barely Legal" exhibit by British artist Banksy. The elephant was painted in the same red and gold pattern as the exhibit's walls, and she was placed in a living room that included furniture.
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Cards handed out at the opening, which included such guests as Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt, read: "There's an elephant in the room. There's a problem we never talk about." The statement went on to say that many people live below the poverty line.
Ed Boks, head of the city's Animal Services Department, ordered Sunday that the elephant be completely scrubbed down to bare skin and that a child-safe face paint be used.
"The paint they had been using, although nontoxic, according to government regulations was unsafe and even illegal to use the way they had been using it," Boks said. On Sunday, Tai was placed unpainted in the living room exhibit.
"Well, it's better than being painted," said Bill Dyer from In Defense of Animals, who objected to the use of the animal in the exhibit.
Boks said he issued written orders about the paint after consulting with two other animal rights activists and the city attorney's office. He then told the owners of Have Trunk Will Travel, the Perris-based company that provided the elephant, that the paint would have to be removed.
Animal control officers and the elephant's handlers have monitored Tai's welfare. The handlers said the elephant was regularly fed and given water, taken on bathroom breaks and driven from the warehouse each night back to her home on a ranch.
Reader views (1)
To make an extremely intelligent, sentient non-human animal such as an elephant stand in an LA art gallery is about on the level of what the Romans did to the animals in their games.
I would like to paint Banksy and stand him on a table on Hampstead Heath for 9 hours a day for 30 days. Now that would be making a statement.
Guerilla artist? Just a cruel person, who uses charity as an excuse for being cruel.
- Susie Green, London
