Artists brighten up London’s streets with dozens of colourful fibre-glass rhinos
Rolling Stone Ronnie Wood is among a group of artists who have designed eye-catching resin rhinos for the Tusk Rhino Trail
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Your support makes all the difference.Rolling Stone Ronnie Wood is among a group of artists brightening up London’s streets with dozens of colourful fibre-glass resin rhinos. The guitarist, who went to art school before becoming a musician, illustrated his model with an African landscape.
Wood, whose devotion to the endangered animals has seen him adopt an African rhino called Spike, said: “My inspiration is that this beautiful prehistoric creature should be around for future generations of our children to see.
“I tried to include motifs from the African flags of the main rhino populated regions. As the rhino wanders the plains, it makes me think - it is Spike in another form.”
Other artists taking part include Gavin Turk, Marc Quinn and the Chapman Brothers. The 21 sculptures are on show across London at sites including Trafalgar Square, Covent Garden and Kensington Gardens. Each one is about 750 cm high and more than a metre in length and weighs in at just over 300kg complete with a plinth and concrete weights to keep them in place.
They will be auctioned off at Christie’s on 9 October with all the money going to conservation charity Tusk which works to protect endangered animals. Its CEO Charlie Mayhew said: “We’re at a crisis point where the threat to rhino from poaching means a very real risk of losing this near prehistoric species forever to extinction.
“Tusk is incredibly grateful to all the amazing artists, generous sponsors and partners involved in the Tusk Rhino Trail for joining forces with us to work towards a future for rhino and other threatened species across Africa. Through the Trail we hope to inspire as many people as possible to join us in the fight.”
For more information go to: www.tusk.org/events/the-tusk-rhino-trail
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