CowParade is the largest and most successful public art event in the world. Cow Parade events have been staged in over 75 cities worldwide since starting in Chicago in 1999 and over 300 million people have seen at least one Cow Parade. In excess of 30 million dollars has been raised for worldwide charitable organizations.
Over 10000 artists have received an opportunity to express their creativity and in a unique way and be compensated for their work. Three shapes are used: standing, grazing, and reclining.
Funds for the charities are raised in a variety of ways, chief among them the auctioning of the cows after the exhibit. The cow that sold for the most was exhibited in Dublin, Ireland and was covered in pieces of colored Watreford Cyrstal. It went for $146000. The other major fund raiser is the sale of minature replicas of the cows from CowParde. Over 1 million replica figurines have been purchased by collectors in 100 countries.
Why cows ? Why not ? Seriously though, the cow is a universally liked and recognized animal. It does good things for us, makes us smile, is friendly and has a fun personality. Most every child begins his or her vocabulary with the word "Moo". The words cow and moo provide a very special bonus for the artist when naming the sculptures, as you'll see as you look at the gallery..... Most of the information for this description comes from the CowParade website at the link below.
The majority of the pictures are from CowParade NYC 2000. The rest are from CowParade West Orange, N.J. 2000.
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