How is the life of the chimpanzee who became a painter and is subject of a judicial battle to leave a zoo in Niterói city and go to a sanctuary in São Paulo

By Silvia Rogar

Just like Picasso, Jimmy had his blue phase. But the obsession for the color has gone. His most recent painting, which was exposed until yesterday in an art gallery, combines tones that remind the colors of sun set. Jimmy is a 27 year old chimpanzee, who lives at Niterói zoo, never dated and demands cold water when is thirsty. This year he had even the international media attention for two reasons: he learned how to paint (always with his right hand) and became the subject of a judicial battle.

Animal defense organizations are against his current life style, far away from his equals, and argue that he must be transferred to a sanctuary that hosts 51 great primates in the countryside of São Paulo state. The group entered with a Habeas Corpus request, affirming that Jimmy, as a primate, has the same rights of humans in terms of Justice.

Firstly the request was denied and Jimmy’s destiny must be decided only on February. Meanwhile, he continues is his 120 square meters cage, with a 21 inches TV behind the fence and a noisy construction in the back of his enclosure. He loves jelly beans, guava juice in the can and drinks, daily, a Sustain vitamin. Polite, he gives his hand when someone gets near and does a little noise with his mouth, half a kiss half a tic. He loves to kiss Roched Seba, 25 years, a volunteer of the zoo who taught him how to paint.

– Jimmy is like Hebe (Camargo, a famous Brazilian TV host) – says Roched, who always returns his affection and does not think twice before repeating – Isn’t he beautiful?

Since his childhood, at Romano Garcia Cirus, Jimmy is treated like a person.

– My husband brought from overseas three newborn chimpanzees, but we just kept Jimmy. He used to drink baby bottle, used diapers and slept in a bed – reminds Ana Garcia, Romano’s widow, 80 years old.

Jimmy travelled all over Brazil and had his own showcase: he balanced in a wire and rode a monocycle. In 1987, Romano and Ana got tired of the circus life and sold Jimmy to D’Itália Circus. Jimmy stayed at this circus until 2000, when he had been donated to Niterói zoo. Since then alerts and denounces through e-mails have been arriving to animal defense organizations.

– Alone, Jimmy is not able to he his typical behavior, not to mention the stress caused by the visitation – defends Selma Mandruca, president of Great Ape Project Brazil.

In the sanctuary, there are chimpanzees who read magazines, watch soccer games on TV and paint, like Jimmy. With firm and delicate gestures, the way he uses the brush is impressive. The exhibition of his paints was not only a marketing strategy.

– The idea is to question what is art, what it is to be na artist -, says, in a French way, Nicolas Duvialard, director of French Alliance school, where Jimmy’s paintings got the exhibition.

Jimmy is not the first artist-chimpanzee to become famous. On the 50’s, Congo, of London Zoo, turned to be a compulsive painter. Salvador Dalí was so impressed with his paintings that compared the animal most similar to humans to the master of abstracted expressionism: “The hand of the chimpanzee is almost human; Jackon Pollock’s is completely animal.”

Source: O Globo Magazine – December 19, 2010

Related news:

December 17, 2010: https://www.projetogap.org.br/en-US/noticias/Show/3442,habeas-corpus-of-chimpanzee-jimmy-decision-is-postponed