Cat Landing Drawing

Animals and why I paint them. The first recorded cave paintings are of animals and stick figures of those who hunted them, they were perhaps painted because of the significant importance they were for survival. That relationship continuously changed as animals were domesticated, used for entertainment, sport and harnessed for work and each change has been documented through art. Today our past bonds with animals are very different to than of even recent history, meat is processed in factories, wildlife television coverage with powerful zoom lenses offers us views of animals we would never experience in life, very few circuses’ now use animals, and we embrace cats and dogs passionately as part of the family. (1) Looking at animals I see understand better what marks me out as human but it also leads me to question the Disney style anthropomorphism that attributes human values to animals in a sentimental way, I believe most animals, especially those closely associated with humans in a social setting actually feel longing, loneliness, loss, and unhappiness etc, these being not exclusive human values but values felt by all sentient being to some degree. Animals in law are treated as objects, they have no rights, but in 2014 the Nonhuman Rights Project (2) brought a case to court in New York about ‘Tommy’ a chimpanzee, kept in a cage in a Manhattan warehouse to try to establish rights for ‘Tommy’ they lost the case but will appeal, as the lawyer put it, the chimp has no more rights than a table or a chair. This would seem intuitively wrong but how one protects and defends animals and if they were extended rights is difficult to see who would bring a case as an animal could not do this. (3) More recently this year The Nonhuman Rights Project brought another case to court on behalf of two chimpanzees Leo and Hercules used for medical experiments at Stony Brook University on Long Island. For the first time in US history, a judge has granted two chimpanzees a petition – through human attorneys – to defend their rights against unlawful imprisonment, allowing a hearing on the status of “legal persons” for the primates.(4). In all journeys many steps are required but this for me is one of those memorable steps. The next hearing on Leo and Hercules’s appeal is to be held on May 27th 2015. Leonardo Da Vinci in the 15th century said “I have from an early age abjured the use of meat, and the time will come when men such as I will look upon the murder of animals as they now look upon the murder of men.” Now Leonardo seems to have given up meat at an early age, myself, sadly I have only come to this standpoint at the age of 63, this short statement highlights a small segment of my personal life journey and why I draw and paint animals, it is not a plea to “convert the wicked” and so if you are tucking into a Chicken Madras, Beef Bourginion or a Lamb Casserole tonight, Bon appetite! Finishing with a thought to ponder, how we treat animals is a mark of our humanity. References: 1. Synopsis of a section from an essay “Why look at animals” by John Berger. 2. http://www.nonhumanrightsproject.org/ 3. http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-science/wp/2014/12/04/new-york-court-rules-that-tommy-the-chimp-is-not-a-person/ 4. http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/apr/21/chimpanzees-granted-legal-persons-status-unlawful-imprisonment Sizes give are frame dimensions, image size is 35cm x 22cm

Drawing:Pencil on Paper

Original:One-of-a-kind Artwork

Size:18.1 W x 13.2 H x 1.2 D in

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