Paintings by Blair + Laurie Fox PESSEMIER: Artnotes: At the Zoo

White Rhino Laurie Fox Pessemier Acrylic/oil pastel/canvas 27 x "41 70 x 104cm 795.00

Sometime I like animals more than I like people. Animals (excluding humans) are honest, don’t start wars or attack other animals just for the fun of it (well, maybe cats). Animals rarely misunderstand my good intentions, and I can often just admire them from afar.

So it’s a natural, I guess, that I have been painting them. I am painting big canvases of big animals from the jungle, or now, from the zoo. Actually, it’s the Bioparco in Rome, home to two of the two thousand or so remaining white rhinos in the world. WHY there are only that many left? Because of the cruelest and deadliest animals.

Giraffe! Laurie Fox Pessemier Acrylic/oil crayon/canvas 37 x 30" 94 x 76 cm 695.00

I alternate between loving and hating the “zoo”. Today it’s a necessity to protect the few remaining members of a race, like the rhinos. The zookeepers and I are hoping to re-wild the animals if the humans ever stop poaching, or fighting. Many rhinos come from Sudan, and you know what its like there now.

For the life of me, I can’t figure out why we have wars, or why we shoot our neighbors with guns. I look at my terribly abused dog, Berlino, who has a lot to gripe about, walk up to other dogs and get along, or move along. He’s pretty good with humans, too, but dislikes the newspaper deliveryman at the café, and Giuseppe, who met him the first time carrying a big stick (he’s a small man, and often carries a stick). Berlino gives a nice big warning to those few people he fears: a giant bark. He sometimes howls in a particular vibrato, which makes it even more mournful or scary.

Drawings by Blair Pessemier

I was surprised at the number of adults at the Biopark in Rome on Tuesday. They seemed to study the animals long and thoughtfully. I was really impressed by the tigers, and of course, the rhinos I intended to paint. There was a bearcat, and lots of lemurs. The monkeys made me feel sad; the giraffes and camels seemed most content. My favorite exhibit was the African dogs, whose enclosure overlooked the dog play area in the Borghese Gardens.

Drawings by Laurie Fox Pessemier

INVITING All Artists to present their Work: Paint, Literature, Crafts, Food....

Pessemier's Sunday Salon
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How it works: Bring a piece of your ART: that could be visual, like painting or printmaking; or literary, as in poetry or prose; or crafts, like metalwork or knitting; or food, or music. Something you made, or feel particularly inspired by. You have about 5 minutes to present, and we'll ooh, ahh, or answer questions you have. You can also come and see how we work before diving in. Just show up on Zoom at a minute or two before the hour.
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