Went to the Banksy in L.A. and ran into DU's very own DBoon!

[devilgrrl]

:-)



http://www.banksy.co.uk/

[DBoon]

1. Hi There!

Fancy meeting you again.

and yes, the elephant is real. It was well treated with frequent outdoor breaks.

[devilgrrl]

2. I was amused that everyone ignored the issue at hand (poverty)...

and obsessed over the elephant.

[zonkers]

3. Fuck Banksy. It's just plain immoral to do exploit an elephant like

that, painted or not for an art event. He would have been a lot happer in the shade eating hay.
http://www.elephants.com/

[devilgrrl]

4. Thank you for proving the artists point....

who cares about world poverty, what about the poor elephant! :eyes:

[Shakespeare]

5. Uh, you don't have to exploit (and harm) an animal to make a point about..

....poverty. I've been following this on the local news, and was relieved to see they washed the paint off (which, by the way, WAS toxic). Yet the exhibit still went on with un unpainted elephant--imagine that! You can still make an "elephant in the room" pun to get the point across about poverty without humiliating, exploiting and potentially harming the animal. What we do to elephants in this country in the name of entertainment is appalling.

[zonkers]

6. The stories about circus elephant siblings being reunited at the elephant

santcutary after thirty years of circus work and separation -- (some were sisters)and how they get all excited just to see each other again, just breaks my heart. They hug and cuddle.

And the fact that although they are herd animals, many are often kept alone in captivity, resulting in unbearable lonlines.

That link in my first post to the sanctuary has some great happy endings for elephants that get to live their days out in an unspoiled tennessee preserve where they are left alone by humans and their needs are tended too.

Back to Banksy -- he's the media darling of the moment and if affected L.A. sheep/hipsters want to sips modelo negros in a warehouse district and smoke cigarettes and give him props -- that's their business. But sensitive people don't support this type of cruelty. Where were the animal rights groups when this was happening?

Yawn -- the trite "art school" message of his show is pathetic and could only connect with the shallow or uninformed.

I would like to paint Banksy with toxic paint. Now that would be a show.

[Shakespeare]

8. That preserve is in my dad's hometown--Hohenwald, TN.

Such a tiny but beautiful place--I spent many days in my childhood there visiting grandparents and aunts and uncles. The work the sanctuary does is SO great.

[zonkers]

9. Sure is. I think they do the same thing somewhere for chimps that have

been raised as performers that have outlived their usefulness.

[zonkers]

7. You are misguided. But don't let me wake you up.

[LeftyMom]

10. He seems to be missing the point.

Exploitation is exploitation. To try to draw attention to human exploitation of fellow humans by exploiting another being is hypocritical at best and leads me to question his own understanding of the root causes of poverty.

[maxsolomon]

11. other than the elephant, how was the show?

i like a lot of his stuff, even if it is juvenile pranks.

[devilgrrl]

12. It was great...

he's a brilliant culture jammer.