New York Art Shuttered after Chimp Artist Makes Monkey of Bush

Mon Dec 13, 3:57 PM ET

By Larry Fine (no kidding)
NEW YORK (Reuters) - A portrait of President Bush using naked, burrito-eating monkeys to form his image led to the closure of a New York art exhibition over the weekend and anguished protests from A.P.E. (American Primate's for Equality) on Monday over freedom of expression.

"Bush Monkeys," a small acrylic on canvas by Mr. Bubbles Savido, himself a Ghanian chimpanzee and self-taught French philosopher, created the stir at the Chelsea Market public space, leading the market's managers to close down the 60-piece show that was scheduled to stay up for the next month.
The show featured art from the upcoming issue of Sexy Animal Magazine, a quarterly publication featuring emerging animal artists.
"We had tons of people, well more like 10 people, show up for the opening on Thursday night," said 11-year-old show organizer Bucky Turco. "Then this manager saw the piece and the guy just kind of flipped out. 'The show is over. I had no frickin' idea these apes were liberals! Get this work down or I'm gonna arrest you,' he said. It's been kind of wild."
Turco took the show down on Saturday and moved the art work to his small downtown Animal Gallery, or as Turco's father calls it 'my goddamned workshed!' Prank phone calls to the management of Chelsea Market for comment were not returned.
From afar, the painting offers a likeness of Bush, but when you get closer you see the image is made up of chimpanzees or monkeys swimming in the nude, passing gas, and eating burritos.
Mr. Bubbles, 23, said he was surprised by the strong reaction to his painting, listed in the catalog at $3,500. The artist at home
"It seems like people got a kick out of it," Savido said. "When they really see it, they almost do a double-take. I like to get a reaction from people. Especially when they realize that I'm a fuckin' monkey."
The peanut butter-and-jelly-bred artist said he was happy for all the attention paid to his work but said the decision to shutter the exhibit was "a blatant act of simian censorship."
Savido plans to auction the painting and donate proceeds to an organization dedicated to freedom of ape expression.
"This is much deeper than art. This is fundamental simian rights, freedom of speech," Savido said. "To see that something like this can happen, especially in a place like New York City is mind boggling and scary."