Monkey Business

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London- Art collectors often joke that a chimpanzee could paint better some contemporary artists. On Monday, they were proven right. Three paintings by an ape sold at auction for more than $25,000.
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Howard Hong, a California telecommunications consultant paid $26,352 for three abstract works by Congo the chimp. The sale price far exceeded the pre-sale estimates of $1000 - $1500. Hong said he was prepared to pay $50,000.
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He said, "Many people have said to me, 'There is a cheaper solution - buy a chimpanzee and put it in a room with some paper and paint.' But on a purely artistic level when I saw the paintings, they struck me."
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Congo, who died in 1964, produced about 400 drawings and paintings between he ages of two and four, and is world's most celebrated animal artist, according to Howard Rutkowski, director of impressionist and modern art for Bonham's auction house.
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"It is not just any chimp - it is Congo," Rutkowski said, "If you own a Congo, you are in the company of Picasso and Miro."
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If you ask me, anyone who would pay $26,000 for a piece of "art" made buy an ape, would more likely be in the company of Tarzan. The same person probably comes from the Planet of the Apes. I am certain that both Picasso and Miro would be tickled pink to know they were in the company of Congo. Let me get this straight, I were to put a canvas down on the floor and pour some paint around it, and let my cats pace back and forth from paint to canvas, the resulting "masterpiece" might fetch $26,000?
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Here, kitty, kitty!
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No.194