VISUAL ARTS + MUSEUMS

The Houston Zoo and G Gallery present Pongos Helping Pongos: Paintings by Orangutans, for Orangutans (Art Auction & Event), March 27th, 6pm-8pm, at G Gallery in the Heights, 301 East 11th Street, Houston, Texas.

The Houston Zoo's 4th Pongos Helping Pongos Art Event will be held at the G Gallery beginning at 6pm on March 27th. This very special evening will feature over 40 individual paintings done by our orangutans, elephants, siamangs, babirusa and clouded leopards. Each painting will be professionally framed thanks to our partners at YolArt Fine Arts and accompanied by conservation information and an animal artist biography.

The paintings will be displayed at G Gallery in the Heights for a single night in a fine arts setting, including a wine and cheese reception and photographic portraits of the featured artists (but taken by humans). Professional photographs of wild orangutans and Bornean elephants will also be available for sale thanks to Houston photographer Paul Swen. The auction event concludes at 8pm.

All the paintings, photographs and portraits will be sold by silent auction which will end at 8pm with all the proceeds donated to the preservation of orangutans in their natural habitats.

The benefits of this program are many. It provides Zoo animals an outlet to express their intelligence, personalities, and abilities. It allows them to fulfill their mission as ambassadors for their species. It generates precious funds that support conservation actions on the ground and behavioral enrichment initiatives at the Zoo. At the same time, this program engages the local community, creating a deeper appreciation for the lives of all animals and inspiring a greater concern for their well-being. And all of this is achieved through the exhibition and sale of the animals’ own art, an annual event that we call Pongos Helping Pongos. Pongo is the scientific name for orangutans, so this translates as Orangutans Helping Orangutans.

Since 2004, Pongos Helping Pongos has raised over $100,000 for the Kinabatangan Orangutan Conservation Project and Elephant Conservation Program in Sukau, Sabah, Malaysia and $20,000 in support of field conservation efforts at Indonesia’s Gunung Palung National Park. Both projects are located on the island of Borneo and represent some of the last remaining habitats for wild orangutans. In addition, a portion of the annual art sales are applied toward orangutan behavioral enrichment projects at the Houston Zoo. The Houston Zoo is proud to be a partner of the Kinabatangan Orangutan Conservation Program, supporting research, education, and awareness programs for orangutans, elephants, and habitat protection in the region.

We look forward to hosting the best Pongos Helping Pongos event we have ever held so call your friends and hold a space on your calendar for a truly memorable evening that supports our artistic animals and the field conservation efforts focused on their wild counterparts.

For more information or to help support this event please contact conservation@houstonzoo.org.