Pockets Warhol (born 1992) is a capuchin monkey, and one of 23 residents (as of 2022-07-21) at Story Book Farm Primate Sanctuary near

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...

, Ontario, Canada. Pockets came to media attention in 2011 when the sanctuary held a fundraiser featuring 40 paintings by the monkey.

Early life

According to the sanctuary, Pockets was born on April 1, 1992, and lived his early life as a pet in British Columbia. In 2009, Pockets' owner was finding herself challenged to look after him, and searched for a place that could take him. On finding Story Book Farm, she flew herself and Pockets to Ontario, and stayed with Pockets for a week to get him comfortable in his new home. The former owner still keeps in touch with the sanctuary.

Start as an artist

Shortly after Pockets arrived at the sanctuary, one of the volunteers, Charmaine Quinn, gave Pockets his surname of Warhol because his white hair reminded her of Andy Warhol. This also prompted Quinn to give Pockets some children's paints to keep him busy. In December 2011, having accumulated 40 of Pockets' paintings, the sanctuary arranged an exhibition of the paintings at a Toronto diner, helping to raise funds for the sanctuary. The event was covered in the ''Toronto Star'', which in turn triggered international media coverage in/on: CBC, Global News, the Huffington Post (USA), ''Maclean's'' magazine, and ''Vv Magazine''. A few months later, Pockets paintings were made available for sale online.

Art collaboration

In September 2013, Brent Roe and Scott Cameron (aka Scotch Camera) joined an art show with Pockets Warhol at the Gladstone hotel in Toronto. In September 2014, ''MacLeans'' listed Pockets as the #8 top selling art animal in the world, based on the top price fetched for a single item. According to Quinn, Pockets' work has been featured in art shows as far away as Estonia, Finland, and Italy, and purchased online from as far away as Tasmania. In May 2016,

Anita Kunz Anita E. Kunz, OC, DFA, RCA is a Canadian-born artist and illustrator. She was the first woman and first Canadian to have a solo exhibit at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C.Dabu, Christl“Anita Kunz: Illustrator Illuminator” ‘’ ...

visited Pockets at the sanctuary, and subsequently donated one of her own paintings for Pockets to 'enhance'. Ms. Kunz later organized an art show with 80 other artists as a new fundraiser for the sanctuary, held at The Papermill Gallery, Todmorden Mills from April 6–16, 2017. Other participants in this collaboration included: Barry Blitt,

Marc Burckhardt Marc Burckhardt is an American fine artist and illustrator. Burckhardt's work focuses on historical symbolism with contemporary themes. He uses a mix of both oil and acrylic paints in a modern variation of the Old Masters techniques of monochroma ...

, Cynthia von Buhler, Seymour Chwast, Sue Coe,

Yuri Dojc Yuri Dojc (/doy-dge; born May 12, 1946) is a Slovak-Canadian fine arts photographer. Dojc currently resides in Toronto, Canada, with work internationally exhibited in countries such as Brazil, Slovakia, Rwanda as well as across Canada. Life ...

Louis Fishauf Louis Fishauf (born 1949) is a Canadian award-winning graphic designer, art director and illustrator known for creating logos, magazines, websites, packaging and brand identities for such companies as Sympatico, Adbeast, Alias, Roots A root is the ...

, Jill Greenberg,

Terry Mosher Christopher Terry Mosher, (born 11 November 1942) is a Canadian political cartoonist for the ''Montreal Gazette''. He draws under the name Aislin, a rendition of the name of his eldest daughter Aislinn (without the second 'n'). Aislin's drawing ...

, Tim O'Brien, Ralph Steadman,

Ann Telnaes Ann Carolyn Telnaes (born 1960) is an American editorial cartoonist. She creates editorial cartoons in various media—animation, visual essays, live sketches, and traditional print—for the Washington Post. She also contributes to T ...

and Martin Wittfooth.

Celebrity interactions

In April 2012, sanctuary volunteers Charmaine Quinn and Izzy Hirji presented Jane Goodall with a photo of Pockets and a painting by Pockets for her birthday at the Jane Goodall Institute in Toronto. In March 2015, the sanctuary sent a painting by Pockets to

Ricky Gervais Ricky Dene Gervais ( ; born 25 June 1961) is an English comedian, actor, writer, and director. He co-created, co-wrote, and acted in the British television sitcoms ''The Office'' (2001–2003), '' Extras'' (2005–2007), and '' An Idiot Abroad' ...

and Jane Fallon as a 'Thank you' for their support of animal rights. In June 2015, Ricky Gervais tweeted that he was donating an acoustic guitar to the sanctuary, with mention of Pockets Warhol. After his performance in Toronto in September 2015, Gervais donated the guitar he used there, which subsequently raised US$4,150 in an online auction. The winning bidder lives in the United Kingdom. As of February 15, 2019, the guitar was up for auction again having been signed by several other celebrities: Brian May,

Peter Frampton Peter Kenneth Frampton (born 22 April 1950) is an English musician and songwriter who was a member of the rock bands Humble Pie and the Herd. As a solo artist, he has released several albums, including his major breakthrough album, the live ...

, Will Ferrell, Bryan Cranston, Dhani Harrison, Ricky Warwick,

Steve Cutts Steve Cutts is an illustrator and animator based in London, England. His artwork satirises the flaws of modern society. His style is inspired by 1920s cartoons, as well as modern comic books and graphic novels. Animations Before becoming a ...

. This time the proceeds were split between Story Book Farm Primate Sanctuary and Brian May's

Save Me Save Me may refer to: Film and television * ''Save Me'', a 1994 film starring Lysette Anthony * ''Sauve-moi'' (''Save Me''), a 2000 French film directed by Christian Vincent * ''Save Me'' (film), a 2007 American film directed by Robert Cary * ' ...

organization. In 2020, Martin Gore of

Depeche Mode Depeche Mode are an English electronic music band formed in Basildon, Essex, in 1980. The band currently consists of Dave Gahan (lead vocals and co-songwriting) and Martin Gore (keyboards, guitar, co-lead vocals and main songwriting). Depeche ...

commissioned artwork by Pockets to be used as the cover art for his latest EP, ''

The Third Chimpanzee ''The Third Chimpanzee: The Evolution and Future of the Human Animal'' is a 1991 book by academic and popular science author Jared Diamond, in which the author explores concepts relating to the animal origins of human behavior. The book follows ...

'', see photos at right. Art by Pockets Warhol used for The Third Chimpanzee EP by Martin Gore

The artwork is also featured in the accompanying music videos. Martin Gore discussed this collaboration in an interview with '' Rolling Stone'' magazine on 2021-01-27. The EP was released by

Mute Records Mute Records is a British independent record label owned and founded in 1978 by Daniel Miller. It has featured several prominent musical acts on its roster such as Depeche Mode, Erasure, Einstürzende Neubauten, Fad Gadget, Goldfrapp, Grinderm ...

on 2021-01-29. One track, Mandrill, was released early on 2020-11-17. A second track, Howler, was released 2021-01-07. Pockets painting art for Martin Gore 1

References

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External links