But I Know What I Like
Three abstract paintings by the chimpanzee Congo (yes, that's right, I said chimpanzee) sold at auction yesterday in London for $26,352 dollars. "We had no idea what these things were worth," said Howard Rutkowski, director of modern and contemporary art at Bonhams. "We just put them in (the auction) for our own amusement."
And quite an amusement it turned out to be, as the artworks by the then 3 year old monkey drummed up more attention and interest than works on offer by modern masters such as Warhol, Chapman and Renoir. Congo fetched twenty times his estimate, outselling Chapman, while both the Warhol (one of his famous "piss paintings," where he put copper paint on canvases and invited his friends over to urinate on them) and the Renoir languished unsold after failing to even meet their reserve prices.
The three Congo paintings were originally estimated to sell for a mere $1,000 to $1,500. "I would sincerely doubt that chimpanzee art has ever been auctioned before," quipped Rutkowski before the auction took place. "I don't think anybody else has been crazy enough to do this. I'm sure other auction houses think this is completely mad."
Congo was supervised by animal behaviorist Desmond Morris, who was studying the potential ability of primates to create order and symmetry, as well as explore what may be an instinctual impetus toward the creative expression of abstract concepts. Once Congo learned to stop eating his paintbrushes, a true artiste was born, with the chimp producing over 400 original drawings and paintings, counting fans among the modern art cognoscenti: Picasso and Miro are said to have hung Congo's on the walls of their studios (which explains a lot).
Howard Hong, the California telecommunications consultant who bought the paintings, is ecstatic over his purchase, claiming that he would have paid twice that amount for the three art pieces. Hong stated that he felt compelled to purchase the paintings because these works by Congo completely contradict the theory that the ability to conceive of abstract concepts is what separates humans from animals.
"On a purely artistic level, when I saw the paintings they struck me," said Hong. "(The style) looks like an early Kandinsky," then he added, "My only upset is that Congo never titled his paintings."
Ooo Ooo #34, perhaps?