Evoking the beauty of dawn, this abstract composition is painted by Luuk Khang, an elephant from Thailand. Luuk paints with tones of yellow, red, soft pink, and black. These solemn tendrils rise up the paper like flame.
Asian elephants are an endangered species. By making the Asian elephants' paintings widely accessible to the general public, NOVICA hopes to help increase awareness, encourage conservation, and raise significant funds to assist endangered elephants throughout Asia. For more information, please refer to the elephant's biography.
The reverse side of this original painting features the Elephant Conservation Center's seal of authenticity.
Please note: The elephants hold the paintbrush carefully, by the tip of their trunk - which is also the elephants' delicate nose area. Slight smudging, and an occasional water droplet here and there are to be expected on most elephant paintings. We like to consider that these imperfections add to the conversation value of each piece.
Made in Thailand
Acrylic on paper
Arrives unframed
Authentic artwork featuring the official seal of the Thai Elephant Conservation Center as well as the elephant's name
Luuk Khang's artwork is notable for its long vertical slashes, always starting at the top of the page and usually running off the bottom. Although she is now experimenting with a new style....
Luuk Khang is a young elephant who enjoys painting. Her artwork is notable for its long vertical slashes, always... starting at the top of the page and usually running off the bottom. Although she is now experimenting with a new style, which coincides with the arrival of her new mahout, or keeper. Luuk Khang is an inseparable buddy of another artistic elephant named Prathida, both being mischievous and full of life.
For centuries, elephants earned their keep by hauling trees for Asia's logging industry. Deforestation and logging restrictions led to massive unemployment for the elephants, with the result that many, dependent on keepers who could no longer afford to care for them, simply died of neglect. The Asian elephant population dwindled, and these magnificent animals became an endangered species.
In 1998, searching for new ways to raise rescue funds and worldwide public awareness, elephant expert and author Richard Lair, advisor to the royal Thai Elephant Conservation Center (TECC), conceived of a novel plan. He invited to Asia two media savvy, New York-based conceptual artists — Vitaly Komar and Alexander Melamid — to help him create a publicity campaign while training rescued Asian elephants to paint. Art Historian Mia Fineman traveled with Komar and Melamid to Asia, helping write "When Elephants Paint," a fascinating book about the venture. (The book notes that wild elephants naturally doodle on the ground with twigs and pebbles — a proclivity that might explain the ease with which they take to painting.)
As a result of Lair's project, numerous elephants learned to paint in Asia, and hundreds if not thousands of news reports have brought the story of this endangered species to the world's attention.
Today, under the ongoing tutelage of Richard Lair, ten of the TECC's 48 elephants participate in regular painting sessions. During these sessions, the sanctuary elephants stand contentedly before easels, entertaining themselves by wrapping the tips of their trunks around artists' brushes, dipping those brushes into buckets of colorful paints, and then sweeping the paint up, down, and across paper canvases.
The TECC artists are now the most famous paintings elephants in the world. Their paintings, compared by some critics to the works of such renowned abstract expressionist artists as Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning, and Franz Kline, have been exhibited internationally and have auctioned for thousands of dollars apiece at such august venues as Christie's.
In 2002, Novica offered to assist Richard Lair by featuring the Asian elephants' paintings online, making them more accessible to the general public. Since then, a new wave of media attention has again focused on the plight of the Asian elephant, and thousand more people have purchased paintings — helping raise considerable funds for the TECC in Thailand, and for a separate rescue center in Bali.
Richard Lair provides Novica with the TECC's highest quality elephant paintings, directly overseeing special "Novica Sessions" with the TECC elephants. For these sessions, the elephants paint on French archival paper, using high quality acrylic paints. (This in contrast to the elephant paintings sold in Asia to tourists — typically composed of low-quality paints on non-archival paper.) Lair completes the process by embossing each painting with an official stamp of authenticity. For Novica, Lair comments that he rejects all but the most intriguing and unblemished paintings, as an additional way to thank Novica's customers for their considerable support, while providing a high quality painting in return.
Interestingly, the TECC is also home to the Thai Elephant Orchestra, the world's first elephant orchestra and the first orchestra in which animals play instruments (as opposed to their own song) with "serious musical intent." The Thai Elephant Orchestra, under the direction of Richard Lair and Dave Soldier, has produced three fundraising CDs, available through Amazon.
Meanwhile, Richard Lair continues his efforts to raise awareness and financial support for the elephants of Asia. In 2008 Lair traveled to Nepal to teach yet another group of eager elephant artists to paint, in the hopes that they, too, would enjoy learning how to help fund their own upkeep.
Novica asked Lair about the legitimacy of a much-talked-about 2008 elephant "self portrait" (the making of which, at a different Thai elephant camp, was captured on video). Lair explained that the elephant's mahout (handler) clearly directed the painting, standing just off-camera, holding the elephant's "tush" (small, sensitive tusk) to carefully guide the elephant's trunk in precise flourishes, creating the sensational result.
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WOMEN
S
M
L
XL
XXL
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
18
20
22
BUST
35 - 36
37 - 38
39 - 41
42 - 44
46 - 48
WAIST
27 - 28
29 - 30
31 - 33
34 - 36
38 - 40
HIPS
37 - 38
39 - 40
42 - 43
45 - 46
49 - 50
MEN
S
M
L
XL
XXL
CHEST
36 - 38
39 - 41
42 - 44
46 - 48
50 - 52
WAIST
30 - 32
32 - 34
35 - 37
38 - 41
43 - 45
NECK
14 - 14.5
15 - 15.5
16 - 16.5
17 - 17.5
18 - 18.5
SLEEVE
32.5
33.5
34.5
35.5
36.5
FINDING YOUR SIZE
Take your measurements with the tape measure over your under garments. If your measurements fall between sizes you may prefer the next larger size. Inseam, skirt and dress lengths vary by style and will be listed in the item description. Our sweaters are knit in standard American sizes, however actual measurements vary by style.
BUST / CHEST
Measure around the fullest part of chest under the arms and over the shoulder blades keeping the tape measure level.
WAIST
Measure around the smallest part of the waist keeping the tape measure comfortably loose. Most garments use the low waist measurement noted below.
LOW WAIST
Measure around the body approximately 1.5" below the natural waist (above). This is the area where most pants and skirts actually fit.
HIPS
Standing with your heels together, measure around the fullest part of the body approx 7"-8" below the waist.
NECK
Measure around the base of the neck keeping the tape measure comfortably loose.
SLEEVE
Bend elbow slightly and starting at the center back of the neck, measure across the shoulder, to the elbow and down to the wrist.
INSEAM
Our standard inseam length for women is 32" and 34" for men; however inseam measurements will vary slightly by style.
Belts with buckles are measured in inches that correspond to a waist size however, most people do not wear belts on the waist, they wear them closer to the hips. A buckle belt measurement is take from the end of the "pin" of the buckle to the middle hole on the belt. Generally there are 5 holes for size adjustment, with a 1" space between each, so the middle hole will the be average size of the belt.
For at tie belt (no buckle) measure the belt portion end to end and half of the tie portion. This again is the medium size of the belt.
For a soft fabric tie belt it can be called "1 size fits most" and the entire length of the belt should be measured and listed.
See buckle/tie belt size standards below.
WOMEN
S
M
L
XL
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
18
20
22
inches
26 - 30
28 - 32
31 - 35
34 - 38
38 - 42
cm
76 - 86
81.5 - 91.5
86.5 - 96.5
91.5 - 101.5
96.5 - 106.5
+/- tolerance: 0.5 inches or 1.25 cm
MEN
S
M
L
XL
XXL
inches
30 - 34
32 - 36
35 - 39
39 - 43
43 - 47
cm
81.5 - 91.5
86.5 - 96.5
91.5 - 101.5
96.5 - 106.5
109 - 119
+/- tolerance: 0.5 inches or 1.25 cm
Sash tie length
Lay sash/tie out flat away from the garment and measure from end to end.
Belt with buckle
Measure from the end of the pin of the buckle (where it touches the buckle) to the middle hole.
Belt without buckle
Measure from the belt portion end to end and half of the tie portion. This is will give you the medium size of the belt.
Download our printable ring sizing chart to find the perfect fit!
We refer to these items as "discounted wholesale". Such items carry a deeper wholesale discount than other items, and have greater potential to provide your business with healthier resale margins.
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UNICEF Market offers triple win pricing, where YOU the consumer, Children from around the world, and Artisans all benefit.
WIN # 1 You Save!
Handmade goods from developing nations usually pass through a series of intermediaries before being purchased by retail consumers. Each of these intermediaries adds cost to the product, and that cost is passed on to the customer. UNICEF USA partnered with NOVICA, who works directly with artists through their regional offices in Asia, Africa and Latin America, allowing purchases from UNICEF Market to go directly from the artisans to fulfilling customer orders. By skipping steps in the traditional supply chain, you can buy high quality items for less than the regular retail prices.
WIN # 2 Children Benefit!
Each item purchased from UNICEF Market will benefit UNICEF's programs that provide lifesaving nutrition, medicine, education, clean water, emergency relief and more to children in need.
You can learn more about UNICEF's work, on About UNICEF.
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