COW PARADE COMING TO HOUSTON
Manuel Duenas
“El Dia”
Houston, Texas
Saturday June 9, 2001, p. B1

Houston TX- The outside exhibition “Cow Parade” which started in Switzerland in 1998 will be coming to our city to show our public this event that has received international acclaim in only two years of its existence.

Designed to expand the arts to multiple communities and to raise funds for local charities, “Cow Parade” has had success in different cities in the United States, including Chicago and New York.

In Chicago, the Mayor proclaimed that this event was one of the most successful events in the city, raising more than $50 million dollars, including $3.5 millions in art auctions.

In the Big Apple, Mayor Rudy Giulany was very impressed with this event, which more than 11million people visited, and raised $4 million dollars for non-profit organizations.

After London and Kansas City, this Cow Parade World tour comes to Houston.

Some critics consider this exhibition as highly original, and point to its success on the friendly image of a cow.

One of the most accomplished artist in this Cow Parade will be the Puerto Rican Georges Le Chevallier, who will be exhibiting “Tattooed Bovine” and Livin La Vaca Loca”.

This young artist talked to us yesterday through a telephone conversation, and explained what inspired him to create his works. “I wanted to create something that would move people, especially people who appreciate tattoos”, said Le Chevallier, adding that “there is a significant deficiency of art in our daily lives”

“In ‘Livin la Vaca Loca’ I contrast multiple visual patterns and colors with words that represent Hispanic traditions for the Latinos living at the turn of a new century’, explains Le Chevallier.

Le Chevallier, born in 1966 in Paris, France, but raised in San Juan, Puerto Rico, has lived in different cities throughout the World, receiving his art degree from the Fine Arts Academy of San Fernando in Madrid, where he used to live.

Some of his artistic influences have been Goya and El Greco, as well as contemporary artists such as Antoni Tapies, Miguel Barcelo, and Jose-Maria Sicilia. At 24 years old, he came back to the United States where he started exhibiting his works, and painting murals with the help of low income urban young artists.

In 1994, this artist had his first one person exhibition in New York City at Denis Bibro Gallery. A year later he received his Masters of Fine Arts from Hunter College, studying under celebrated artists Robert Morris, Juan Sanchez and Susan Crile.

Cow Parade will take place in Houston from September 6 to November 7, covering an area from downtown to Memorial area. The goal is for everyone in the city to be part of this event.

For more information please visit www.cowparadehouston.com