Florida

Singer Bryan Adams has collaborated with several musicians, but his latest one is bananas. He has chimpanzees painting on canvases prepared by him to raise money for the 150-acre Save the Chimps sanctuary in Fort Pierce, Florida. The Save the Chimps collection was unveiled for Miami Art Week and comprises 36 acrylic-on-canvas paintings, The Times reported. All of them have been created by Adams and 15 chimpanzees who live at the primate sanctuary.

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The chimps living here have been rescued from research laboratories, the exotic pet trade and the entertainment industry. Not all of them enjoy painting, but there are a few who were happy to pick up the brush for Adams' collection.

“Only about 10 per cent of chimpanzees enjoy painting and I was delighted to collaborate with the ape artists at Save the Chimps to raise money for the sanctuary … it’s art that gives back,” said Adams.

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All the paintings have been named after the Grammy-winning artist's songs. They are on sale for between $950 and $10,000 and debuted at Spectrum Miami.

Chimps kiss canvases, some even use brushes

Save the Chimps has 223 primates who spend a leisurely time there. All of them combined eat 1,150 bananas each day, which is a part of a 1,100kg diet of fresh fruit, vegetables and legumes. The food costs the sanctuary about $900,000 each year.

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Adams painted the canvases with a background colour and carved his initials on the corner. They were then shipped to the sanctuary where the chimps added to them with their own creativity to turn them into masterpieces. The paints used were non-toxic to ensure their safety.

Dan Mathews, director of Save the Chimps, said that a lot of the chimps loved smearing the paints on themselves before adding their impressions on the canvas. “There are chimps that eat as much paint as they put on the canvas. Some like to put it on like lipstick and kiss the canvas. Some do finger painting. Some use their tongues. We have 10 per cent who like doing it and the other 90 per cent look at them like ‘What are you doing?’”

The works on sale include Cloud Number 9, Midnight Storm, Reckless, and California Red, among others.