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Move 'em out

Cows graze New York with artistic presence

July 14, 2000
Web posted at: 5:01 p.m. EDT (2101 GMT)

From Jodi Ross
CNN Correspondent

NEW YORK (CNN) -- Want to see a bikini-clad bovine, a cow in curlers?

Head for New York, where they're among more than 500 brightly colored creatures that have been herded into town for a summer-long exhibition.

An array of artists put their distinctive signatures on the life-sized, fiberglass sculptures for Cow Parade 2000, which grew out of a popular event two years ago in Zurich, Switzerland. A similar exhibition in Chicago last summer proved wildly successful, so New York got in on the moovement.

Why cows?

"It's a whimsical, quirky, friendly animal that we've known since we were little tots, and it gives us good things like milk, and we get our ice cream," said Jerry Elbaum, president of Cow Parade Holdings, which collaborated with the city on the exhibition.

The public knows Federico Castelluccio best as a Mafia man on "The Sopranos," but he's also a talented artist. He painted "Cowravaggio" in tribute to Michelangelo.

Federico Castelluccio, star of "The Sopranos," created "Cowravaggio"

"To take the topography of a cow and to try to paint it like a canvas is very difficult," he said, "because you have convex surfaces and concave surfaces you normally don't paint with, and you try to get a three-dimensional feel."

Artist Peter Max painted six cows, including one bearing a multicolored image of the Statue of Liberty. He hopes the work sends a message, Max said.

"They're really a beautiful animal. If humanity could only take better care of their animals," he said. "If that could come out of this, that would be a great thing."

Artist Peter Max hopes the cow parade will inspire people to take better care of animals

When the exhibition ends around Labor Day, the cows will be auctioned and the proceeds will go to a range of New York charities. And while the exhibition is all in good fun, it also aims to expose more people to public art.

Castelluccio's cow inspired some local schoolkids to paint their own cow- related pictures.

"If they see something that is good and they can get something from it, then I think we have really reached our goal," he said. "And maybe they have inspiration, and then a dream to follow in their lives."

And  that's an idea to milk.

Chicago cow auctions raise $4 million for charity
November 10, 1999
Bovine exhibition herds art lovers to Chicago street
June 18, 1999

Cow Parade

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