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70 kilo designer elephant for PS4,500
Designer elephants dressed by Manish Arora, Abu Jani Sandeep Khosla and Chintan Upadhyay are going on auction in London this month. Relax, it's for art and charity and they're not real anyway
Artist Chintan Upadhyay's elephant "The Empire is Not Striking Back" (L), followed by fashion designer Manish Arora's hippy "Hathi" (R).Elephant Parade, London's biggest outdoor art exhibition, is lumbering along from May till July 2010. With an estimated audience of 25 million, the campaign aims to raise over £2 million for the endangered Asian elephant, and will benefit 17 UK conservation charities and more than ten projects in Asia before travelling to Copenhagen next year.
The event has over 258 brightly painted elephants located across central London through June and each "model elephant" is decorated by a different artist, designer or celebrity. Who's playing for India? Fashion designers Manish Arora, Tarun Tahiliani, Abu Jani and Sandeep Khosla, former Indian Premier League commissioner Lalit Modi, contemporary Indian artists Chintan Upadhyay, Jitish Kallat and Kriti Arora and HH Maharaja Ranjitsinh Gaekwad of Baroda. (For the entire list of who's who involved from India check the Asian Age.)
We found out you you can bid to own these 70 kilo artworks. Manish Arora's vibrant fibreglass "Hathi" for example (148 cm (H) x 165 cm (L) x 75 cm (W). Sponsored by Lekha Poddar, distinguished patron of the arts, the auction for Hathi will conclude live on June 30 2010 at the Elephant Parade Mela. Hathi's minimum bid is currently £4,500.
Online bidders are invited to be part of the evening via their phone bidding desk. Contact Georgina georgina@elephantfamily.org or phone +44 207 580 3184/07747 402 970 if you'd like to take part. They also recommend you register your maximum bid online by 2pm on June 29 2010 when the online auction for Hathi will close.
For a full list of the Elephants, their artists and, where applicable, their live auction dates, go to Giving Lots.
