At one point in your life, you might have seen a creative art form using cows. Of course, I am not talking about the real cows you see in green fields and farms.
CowParade is the largest public event in the world and began in 1999. The concept began in 1998 by a sculptor in Zurich, where he made approximately 800 life-size fiberglass cows for local artists to get creative. After the colorful cows were placed all over the city, the event drew 1.5 million tourists to Zurich.
The following year, artists in Chicago decorated approximately 300 cows that paraded through the city before being auctioned off in November 1999. Thanks to the colorful cows, $3 million were raised for charity. This marks the inaugural event for CowParade.
But that did not stop there. Thanks to the successful public art event in Chicago, CowParade events have been staged in more than 80 cities worldwide. Examples include London (2002), Tokyo (2003), Mexico City (2005), New York City (2000) and Paris (2006).
According to the CowParade website, the cow "represents different things to different people around the world." The cow's body form and flexibility provide artists with unique ways to create works of art like never seen before. The sky is the limit!
The cows are painted by all kinds of artists - the professional and amateur, unknown and famous and young and old. So far, over 10,000 artists have participated in CowParade. For their hard work and creative designs, each artist is paid, on average, $1,000 per cow.
While the average CowParade event has between 75 to 150 cows, the event can have any amount of cows. For example, there were 32 cows in Auckland, New Zealand and 450 cows in New York City.
Typically, the public display part of the event lasts two to four months. It is followed by the auction part, which takes place two or three weeks after the public display concludes.
CowParade's main purpose is to benefit worldwide charitable organizations through the auctioning of the cows, raising over $20 to $30 million. This is done through the auction of the cows, which works just like a traditional art auction.
Examples of some charitable organizations that have benefitted from Cowparade include:
Texas Children's Hospital (CowParade Houston)
Manchester Kids (CowParade Manchester)
BRIS (Stockholm, Sweden)
Dana Farber Cancer Institute (Boston)
Thanks to the phenomenon of CowParade, similar statue decorating projects have spawned worldwide. For example, United Buddy Bears (started in 2002 in Berlin) also use painted life-size fiberglass figures, but with bears instead of cows. The bears stand "hand in hand," symbolizing a future of a peaceful world.
Want a piece of CowParade history? CowParade has a line of figurines that are exact replicas of an authentic cow created as part of a CowParade event. Visit the CowParade shop to view the figurines.
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