Is your photography better than a chimp's?

[MichaelChang]

<p>Sothebys will be auctioning a series of blurry photos made by a chimp in Moscow. <br>

<a href="http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/chimp-photos-earn-serious-cash-auction-article-1.1344784">http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/chimp-photos-earn-serious-cash-auction-article-1.1344784</a></p>

<p>"The monkey — once a popular performer at the Moscow Circus — was taught by contemporary artists Vitaly Komar and Alexander Melamid how to snap his first Polaroid when he was 15. He eventually graduated to a regular camera, and then, an antique."</p>

<p>The auction is expected to fetch $100,000 for the 18 prints and each print will be signed, titled, numbered and dated:<br>

<a href="http://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/2013/changing-focus-russian-eastern-contemporary-photography-l13117/lot.832.lotnum.html">http://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/2013/changing-focus-russian-eastern-contemporary-photography-l13117/lot.832.lotnum.html</a></p>

<p> </p>

[AJHingel]

<p>Michael, I would expect, that it is the Chimp, which is priced, more than the photos.</p>

[colin carron]

<p>I suspect that the chimp gets a bit of help with loading up the dark slides in the darkroom, setting up the tripod and camera, focusing on the ground glass screen, setting any tilts and shifts required, metering, setting the aperture and shutter speed. The only thing he need not do as it is a film camera of course, is to 'chimp'.</p>

[starshooter]

<p>A lot of hoity-toity "art" is pure gimmick. Our modern culture, for reasons I find obscure, manufacturers "celebrities" who are famous for merely being famous.<br>

I saw a poster once that sums it all up -- "It is immoral to let suckers keep their money."<br>

Us peasants toiling in the trenches must remember not to get our underwear in a twist over this stuff. Soon the chimp will be back to his regular job as Prime Minister of the country or something.</p>

[Wouter Willemse]

<p>My photography isn't better, but a lot more affordable :-)<br>

<em>(Colin, I was thinking the exact same... if a chimp shoots digital, what's looking at the screen called? "To elephant"?)</em></p>

[colin carron]

<p>Wouter, maybe '<em>to human</em>' would be more accurate from a statistical point of view?</p>

[charles_stobbs3]

Is the chimp also signing, titling, numbering and dating?

[sarah_fox]

<p>Ah, what bokeh! Mikki's photos are "all" bokeh! ;-></p>

[Wouter Willemse]

<p>Yeah.... "Mikki humaned the screen of his DSLR to check the focus, and was happy to see it was way off."</p>

[thomas_k.]

<p>http://www.savethechimps.org/chimps-as-entertainers</p>

[spanky]

<p>Reminds me the story of Cooper the cat from years back. Coopers owners were curious as to where Cooper roamed around during the day when he was outside. So they attached to his collar a small digital camera that ran on a timer and snapped a picture once every five minutes. At some point the owners got the idea of selling Coopers "work" and wouldn't you know it, Cooper became quite the sensation. I imagine if you google it you might get some articles. Who knows, maybe Cooper is still getting gallery shows lol! In one article I read one of Coopers owners even started weighing in on how Cooper has a knack for rule of thirds composition etc. as if the cat was actually taking the pictures. </p>

[MichaelChang]

<p>Sothebys has described the lot in their catalog as "Changing Focus - A Collection of Russian and Eastern European Contemporary Photography". </p>

<p>Since the chimp likely does not hold a valid Russian passport and can not claim copyright, the art is presumably credited to contemporary artists Vitaly Komar and Alexander Melamid as their expression of contemporary photography by way of a trained chimp. </p>

<p>As a biological intermediary between an artist and his camera makes it entirely legitimate as art goes, doesn't it? If that's the case, I can already see a follow-up series "Changing Aperture" as the chimp's skill progresses. </p>

[dan_south]

<p>It's true! Gimmicks sell.</p>

[JDMvW]

<p>This is, of course, merely another change on the chimp as artist theme. One of the first was Congo ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Congo_%28chimpanzee%29 ) back in the late 1950s.</p>

<p>I see no reason to postulate human intervention in either the art or photography examples. Chimps are quite intelligent -- at least as capable as a lot of <em>Homo sapiens</em> whose work I see. The major problem is usually getting them interested in what <em>we</em> want them to do.</p>

<p>The well-known Sci-Fi author, Arthur C. Clarke (<em>2001</em>, etc), published a story in 1962 entitled "<a href="http://variety-sf.blogspot.com/2007/08/arthur-clarkes-ape-about-house-famous.html">An Ape about the House</a>". It addresses the question of capability, specifically....</p>

[MichaelChang]

<p>I think this case is unique in that it's taken seriously by the art world, at least from a commerce perspective, unless the auction flops and no one buys. </p>

[JDMvW]

<p>If you look back at the "Congo" case, many art critics and others at the time took his painting quite seriously too - hence Clarke's story.</p>

[rod_larson]

<p>Give 1,000 people a camera, let them click away, and eventually they will produce a photo<br>

that will be as artful as the chimp's.</p>

[AJHingel]

<p>"" it's taken seriously by the art world, at least from a commerce perspective""<br>

<br>

I'm not sure, Michael, that the "art world" takes such things seriously. Sotheby's auctions not only "fine art", but anything that can be subject to "collections".</p>

[JDMvW]

<p>This is getting to be a "no pictures" discussion.</p>

<p>Here is chimping at its best.</p><div></div>

[MichaelChang]

<p>JDM, that chimp has impressive arms. It can't be easy to teach them how to use cameras. </p>

[JDMvW]

<p>All the movie chimps were infants to adolescent (Bonzo, Cheetah). Adult chimps, especially adult males, are very powerful. In the surviving ape shows at zoos, animals are retired as they mature. Young ones, like young humans, learn very quickly and naturally before puberty.</p>

<p>I was always told to simply let a chimp have it if it grabbed my camera as it ran by.</p>

[pjmeade]

<p>Put them on the wall next to the paintings done by elephants and horses.<br>

Who was it that said no one lost money by underestimating the public's taste?</p>

[GBarrington]

<p>Well, I think I'm better than most Chimps. It's the Bonobos that have the eye for photography.</p>

[MichaelChang]

<p>Looks like someone bought it for 50,000 GBP (or about 78,000 USD). <br>

<a href="http://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/2013/changing-focus-russian-eastern-contemporary-photography-l13117/lot.832.lotnum.html">http://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/2013/changing-focus-russian-eastern-contemporary-photography-l13117/lot.832.lotnum.html</a></p>

<p>I wonder how the buy's going to explain the purchase to friends and family. </p>

[JDMvW]

<p>My guess is that if you've got the wherewithal to buy this in the first place, you probably don't have to explain anything to anybody.</p>

<p>Glen is certainly right about those bonobos. </p>