Dan's Papers - February 22, 2008 - Rediscovering Springs

Thirty years ago, I published a lead story in this newspaper about a stuffed horse in Springs. At the time, the community of Springs was at the very center of the art world. It was serious business. The bi-weekly art openings at the Benson Art Gallery were major events of the summer. Painters from Springs graced the covers of national magazines. Among those working in Springs or elsewhere in the Hamptons at the time were Larry Rivers, Willem de Kooning, Franz Klein, Fairfield Porter, Balcomb Greene and hundreds of others. Jackson Pollock had died in an auto accident only a few years before, and a nation had mourned. I was imagining what Springs might be like if the importance of the art world there had gone into decline.

It is fair to say that since that time, perhaps because of the general decline in culture and the impact of television and Hollywood, that is exactly what has happened. Today, indeed, there are still great painters working here. But you don't hear much about them.

In any case, back then I speculated that if the art world did decline, perhaps the place would become a tourist attraction. Springs, an art Disneyland, would be inundated by tour busses. And they'd see the studio where Pollock painted, and the brushes and paints that de Kooning used, and the bus would slow down where Pollock was in the auto accident and maybe there'd even be a stuffed horse you could look at on what had at one time been the Miller Farm.

It was an interesting article, people told me, and it got them thinking. But of course, even though the importance of the art world in the Hamptons did fade, it never came to pass. Now, however, we seem to be heading in a whole different direction. And it involves chimpanzees.

At the present time, there is a plan in the works to bring a whole herd of chimpanzees out to East Hampton to make abstract expressionist paintings. The chimpanzees will add a whole new dimension to the art scene in Springs.

The way this has come about is through a woman named Auda Allen, who has spent most of her adult life teaching chimps around the world how to paint. She considers it therapy for them. And they seem to like it. She goes to see them in sanctuaries and zoos in London, the Philippines, San Francisco and a whole lot of other places. Some of these chimps have not been outside of their cages since birth.

But Allen has recently moved out here, and she has a new idea. Apparently, she likes the place so much that she is thinking that instead of traveling all over the world to get to her students, perhaps she could get all of her students shipped to her. The light in Springs, as the earlier generation of abstract expressionists discovered, is as magical as it is in the South of France, after all. The chimps will love it.

In mid-December, there was an art show of the works of some of these chimp students of hers held at a gallery at the Ross School in East Hampton. Visitors were quite impressed.

Allen teaches chimps to paint with brushes or with their fingers. Some have taken to it as, well, as a duck might take to water. While still others seem uninterested in learning what she has to teach. Too bad for them.

Some of her students create massive works of art that they sign by stamping paint on the corner with their feet. Others will only use one color of paint. Others seem to have gotten the hang, almost, of painting realistic scenes of what they observe. All of those who choose to paint, it seems to Allen, have found a measure of peace by doing what they are doing. Allen thinks that, as a result of their immersion in this creative process, they have, many of them, come to terms with their captivity. Or they have at least relaxed with their captivity knowing that, along with it, come paint and canvases. As painters before them have learned, creativity brings pleasure and happiness, even if you are a captive behind bars - which her students actually are.

Here in the Hamptons, Allen's idea is to create a sanctuary for the chimps, some large enclosure where they can live and work and paint and live it up with one another. And she is talking it up.

Frank and Carolyn Bistrian have offered a large parcel of land behind their home in Springs where the chimpanzees could have their sanctuary.

Adrienne Kitaeff, a prominent fundraiser, has volunteered her services to put together a benefit party for the sanctuary - it will mean a lot of bananas among other things - and Dr. Jonathan Turetsky, a local veterinarian has promised his help.

The New York Times ran an article about all of this on December 9, 2007. Reporter Chris Colin interviewed Pulitzer Prize-winning author Jay McInerney.

"I find it interesting from the point of view of rescuing and rehabilitating chimps," he said, perhaps missing the point. "And as a naturally curious person, it's intriguing to encounter these close relatives."

What is it, just four genes in the helix that turn a little baby into either a chimpanzee or a human?

Artist John Alexander of Amagansett had this to say.

"If it's beautiful and touches people in a magical way, that's art. But beauty alone doesn't necessarily make art. Neither does self-expression. It has to operate on more than one level. When a bird does its mating call, is that music?"

Many people will open their mouths when what they say will appear in the New York Times.

Sean Yunker, the senior at the Ross School who curated the chimpanzee paintings he received from Allen for his senior project at the school, said this to the Times reporter.

"Certain things stimulate chimps when they paint, just like us too, I guess. Some teachers say, 'How do you know it's art?' But what makes a urinal or Campbell soup cans art? If you're expressing yourself on canvas, that's art."

Dr. Frederick Soroka, a chiropractor from East Hampton, says he will provide periodic adjustments for the chimps. The law firm of Kaye Scholar in Manhattan will provide pro bono legal help. And, according to Allen, a pilot at the East Hampton Airport said that he would be willing to take the chimpanzees up in his airplane for free to have a better look at what they are painting.

As you see, this is moving right along. Hey, nobody ever did this for the human artists out here. Many of them had to wait tables or dig trenches for a living. They were not so lucky.

Of course, there is the matter of zoning and permits. The chimpanzee sanctuary is not planned as just some here today gone tomorrow thing. It's meant to be permanent. Debra Foster, who was an East Hampton Town Board member until this January, said in December that she thought the Town would look favorably on this project. One presumes that if the walls are high enough and the moat deep enough, it will all pass muster.

Still, there are those that oppose all this. (How can anybody oppose something that is just so good for our fine-feathered friends? Or whatever?)

Damien Roman, who does Public Relations for Vered Art Gallery in East Hampton, said, "Monkey painting is a total joke. It's a disservice to artists who've trained and studied for years to call it art when monkeys splash paint on a canvas, even if it happens to resemble something."

You say this now, Damien, but you'll be talking out of the other side of your mouth when you're holding a glass of red wine in your hand as the crowds come in to see the work of the celebrated genius Chimp Charlie at the Vered Gallery.

There are, today, plenty of artists, human artists, going strong in the Hamptons, following in the footsteps of the greats. There are also actors, producers, advertising executives, bankers and stockbrokers with homes out here.

Wasn't a study done about the ten chimpanzees who were told to pick hot stocks on Wall Street, who bested ten human stockbrokers out there doing the same thing?

Is this article discriminating against our friends, the chimpanzees? If it is, we offer our deepest apologies to all. We would be shocked to learn that readers might think of us as bigots. We're not bigots, last time we checked. But, well, we're sorry anyway. So once again, sorry.