When Elephants Paint: The Quest of Two Russian Artists to Save the Elephants of Thailand (Paperback)

~ Komar & Melamid (Author), Dave Eggers (Author), Mia Fineman (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Once revered as semidivine beings and collaborators in the hard work of transporting goods and materials, Thailand's elephants have fallen on hard times. With the destruction of their forested habitats, a consequent nationwide ban on hardwood logging, and the decline of traditional agriculture in the rapidly urbanizing country, their numbers have declined from tens of thousands just a decade ago to only a few thousand today. Many of the surviving elephants have been put to work in traveling circuses or used for black-market labor, subject to overwork and all manner of abuse.

Vitaly Komar and Alexander Melamid, Russian expatriates who have been working together for more than 30 years, have a knack, writes art curator Mia Fineman, for "transforming the solemn rituals of high art into high comedy." It was with the utmost seriousness, however, that the two, on reading of the elephants' plight, traveled to Thailand and established the Thai Elephant Art School, through whose offices elephants create pop-art masterpieces with palette, brush, and trunk. (Elephants, it seems, have a well-known gift for the visual arts and, in the Thai case, adore the work of Vasily Kandinsky.) Sold to collectors on the world market, pachyderm-painted pieces generated $75,000 at a single early auction, the proceeds of which were used to establish and maintain sanctuaries throughout Thailand.

Illustrated with elephantine artwork and more than 100 photographs documenting Komar and Melamid's project, this book makes a wonderfully offbeat gift, and one of a very good cause. --Gregory McNamee

Review

"Komar and Melamid's sensibility is funny, prickly, complex, humane, dense with implications, and a baited trap for ideologues and hypocrites." -- --Luc Sante, New York Times Book Review

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Product Details

• Paperback: 120 pages
• Publisher: Harper Paperbacks (November 7, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060953527
• ISBN-13: 978-0060953522
• Product Dimensions: 10.4 x 9.9 x 0.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #964,523 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

36 of 45 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Dissapointing, March 2, 2001

By	R. Speizer "thebooktiger" (San Francisco, CA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: When Elephants Paint: The Quest of Two Russian Artists to Save the Elephants of Thailand (Hardcover)

Beautiful photography and interesting text, but I was interested in the actual art as painted by the elephants, but there is very little of that. Mostly pictures of jungles. If you like that you will like the book. If you want to see the acutual artwork you will be very dissapointed.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful Book, February 18, 2006

By	Elephant admirer (U.S.) - See all my reviews

This lovely book is important proof of the highly evolved state of consciousness in elephants -- mental and emotional. It has wonderful photos of actual paintings by elephants, and is written in an amusing and witty style. It is an inspiring read for anyone interested in animals, but I think also helps cross the gap between those who already attuned to animals and those who need to have their eyes opened to what animals are really like.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Interesting and Beautiful, March 27, 2006

By	C. Anderson (Birmingham, AL) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This book has many pictures and covers the material well. My only disappointment was that it was written to appeal to a slightly younger audience than I had hoped. However, I do not regret my purchase. I would highly recommend this book.