Miripolsky "Punkaphant" Joins the Elephant Parade

Andre and his Punkaphant.



Detail of the Punkaphant's leg.



The "official" Punkaphant photo.

Andre's fabulous "Punkaphant" (above) was created for the Elephant Parade, an organization devoted to saving the endangered Asian elephant:

Elephant Parade® is the world’s largest open-air exhibition of life-sized, decorated elephant statues created by local and international artists to generate worldwide attention, public awareness and support for the endangered Asian elephant. To date, Elephant Parade has raised more than $5 million for Asian elephant conservation and approximately 8 million people worldwide have experienced the expositions.

The Elephant Parade has had art events all over the world, including London, Singapore, Milan and Amsterdam. When Dana Point in Southern California was selected to be the site of the first parade in America, Andre was invited to decorate one of the thirty elephants. The Elephant Parade will be on exhibit from August 23th through November 17th.

Learn more about the parade in Dana Point and see more photos of the elephants here. See a slide show and read an article in the LA Times here. Find the official Elephant Parade Fan Page on Facebook here. And take a look at the happy reaction of a few of Andre's fans at the opening event this past weekend:

Opening weekend at Dana Point brought out all ages in support of the elephants.