Elephants — Real Artists or Not?
So, is it true that elephants are artists? Can they really paint pictures of flowers, trees or even other elephants?
It's hard to believe, but in Thailand, there are at least six centres where elephants display their talents as painters. In the past, these animals had always lived and worked closely with humans. However, elephant sanctuaries were established for their protection when there was no longer work for them because they had little chance of survival in the wild. Here, the keeper is vital in forming a relationship with his chosen elephant. Many visitors came to see the elephants, and the idea of a painting session developed.
The Nong Nooch Tropical Garden is a large recreational park 9 miles from the seaside town of Pattaya in Thailand. The park's centre has a square arena for the daily elephant displays. These displays are like traditional circus acts to a certain extent, but they differ in two important respects.
Firstly, each of the three animals has its own keeper, who devotes his whole life to looking after his particular elephant. Secondly, much of the daily performance is designed to make the audience admire the elephants' skills rather than laugh at them as overgrown clowns.
So, are these enormous mammals truly artistic? To start the performance, the keeper positions his elephant in front of a heavy wooden frame supporting a large piece of card. He then pushes the brush gently into the end of the elephant's trunk, and the animal starts to draw lines on the card. When the brush is empty, the keeper takes it and replaces it with another loaded one, and the painting continues until the picture is complete. The elephant then turns towards the audience, bows down low and is given a feast of bananas by the keeper as a reward.
The paintings are then removed from their frames and offered for sale. They are quickly bought by people who have been amazed by what they have seen. To most audience members, what they have witnessed appears to be truly miraculous, but the spectators overlook the keepers' actions as their animals are at work. This oversight is understandable because moving your eyes away from the brushes and making the lines and the spots is tough. However, if you do so, you will notice that the keeper pulls at his elephant's ear with each mark. He pulls the ear up and down to get the elephant to make a vertical line or, alternatively, pulls it sideways to get a horizontal one. To create spots, the keeper moves the ear forward towards the painting. Throughout the performance, it is the keeper who controls the routine.
Further investigation also reveals that each of the three elephants always produces the same image, time after time, day after day, week after week. Mook always paints a bunch of flowers, Christmas always does a tree, and Pimtong is a climbing plant. This makes it seem like a circus trick, but it is an amazingly clever trick! After all, no human hand touches the elephant's trunk, and the animal's brain has to translate the small touches on its ear into attractive lines and spots.
Perhaps one day, these elephants will be allowed to express themselves independently. If that happens, we will have to think seriously about an elephant art gallery.