Michael Jackson's Chimp Bubbles Is Selling Paintings to get by

[KyliesChild 16,907]

All the proceeds from 'Apes That Paint' will benefit Bubbles' current home, the Center for Great Apes.

It's hard out there for a chimp. Michael Jackson's primate companion Bubbles, once a symbol of fame and wealth so vibrant that Jeff Koons sculpted him, has turned to painting to pay the bills.

Bubbles' work will be sold at an upcoming charity show in Miami called Apes That Paint, along with 60 other chimps and orangutans raised, then abandoned, by the entertainment industry. Proceeds will benefit Bubbles' retirement home, The Center for Great Apes in Wachula, FL, where he has lived since 2005. As he aged into an aggressive, unwieldy adult, Bubbles was forced to trade in moonwalking with the King of Pop for climbing the sanctuary's social ladder. And yes, painting. 

The 4.5-foot-tall, 185-pound, 34-year-old chimpanzee is now the Center for Great Apes' alpha male. He marks his territory, the Miami New Times reports, by scraping lines in the sand with a big blue bucket. The other 60 Apes That Paint are veterans of film, television, and the circus who also must live out their final days at the Center. The 10-day exhibition includes chimps from Planet of the Apes, and orangutans from the film Going Apes and an NBC soap opera called Passions. They paint as an enrichment activity reminiscent of using a stick to mine termites, to cope with the aftereffects of their humanized upbringing. 

 

A chimpanzee named Kenya paints at the Center for Great Apes.

Frames USA owner Adam Brand was inspired to do the show after a client asked him to frame a painting by an orangutan. "I approached the Center for Great Apes and said, 'Let's see if we can get some money for these paintings and raise money for your center," he tells Creators. Brand compares the apes to child actors plagued by their fame and upbringing to the point that society doesn't have a natural place for them. His goal with Apes That Paint is to show "without judgement" that apes are artists, too.

Bubbles' work is reminiscent of aggressive AbEx paintings popular with young male artists in the late aughts and early 10s, but this is hardly a fair comparison. His style has been consistent since he began painting, and it's doubtful he's ever read Jerry Saltz' tirade against Zombie Formalism.

Source: https://creators.vice.com/en_us/article/59pmj5/michael-jackson-famous-chimp-bubbles-selling-paintings?utm_source=tcptwitterus

[whore 11,441]

"To get by" Is this monkey going to be living in a van by the river soon if he doesn't start making a living???  

[Guest]

What I'm surprised and it might sound ignorant, is that money exists in the animal world or that Bubbles really knows that he needs money? Because what bills does he need to pay, really? The human taking care of that center needs money and decided to sell Bubbles' beautiful art.

I think we all should leave animals alone, now because of Michael, even if I love him to death, Bubbles grew up abnormally

[RadioIsOurs 13,691]

[venusfly 17,879]

why is a chimp more creative than me tho

 

[skaxboy 3,501]

Ready for ARTPOP Act II to have heavy inspiration from the paintings of Bubbles the chimp.

 

Botticelli "Birth of Venus" who?