Following success in cities across the world, a herd of 40 life size fibreglass cows, decorated by emerging and established artists and fashion designers, will be grazing in Perth from November.
The CowParade has been featured in nearly 80 cities across more than 30 countries, making it one of the largest and most successful public art events in the world. At the close of the event, the cows are auctioned off, with the money going to local children’s health charities. This year, the auction will take place during the Lexus Ball for Telethon on Saturday 15th October, an annual highlight of the WA social calendar.
With such a huge global reputation, Lord Mayor Lisa Scaffaldi has great expectations for what the CowParade could mean for the city of Perth, saying: “Large-scale, unique events like the CowParade attract a broad range of visitors to Perth and inject solid economic benefits to our State – helping business and retail sectors to flourish.”
A selection of designers and artists from WA have been invited to decorate their own cows, currently en route from Poland to a secret Perth location. These creatives will join the likes of Romero Britto, Patrick Hughes, Kate Spade, Vivienne Westwood, Radiohead, David Lynch and Christian Lacroix, all of whom donated their time and decorated a cow for previous parades.
“The CowParade Perth offers a unique opportunity to showcase the depth of artistic practice and our local creative talent,” says Nathan Giles, Executive Director of the Perth Public Art Foundation, who will be collaborating with the City of Perth Council for the project. “Western Australia is home to the most extraordinarily talented visual artists and fashion designers. Given recent funding cuts across the sector the importance of providing alternate opportunity for showcase and fostering of our local talent has never been more critical. […] There is no other public art event that provides such a broad showcase for artists. The opportunity for the entire community to get up close and experience the best artistic practice and talent Western Australia has to offer through this free public event is unprecedented”.
Complementing the CowParade will be the inaugural Festival Fromage, a celebration of all things cheese, running from November 11-14th. High end restaurants will be invited to create their own unique cheese dishes, which will be available to purchase throughout the CowParade’s stay in the city, with customers voting on an eventual winner.
The CowParade Perth 2016 will launch in early November, running for six weeks, with 40 cows painted by local designers and artists scattered around various Perth locations. For more information on the CowParade, see their website.
Featured image: Rainbow Cow by Vikki Gibbon, sponsored by GA Telesis, part of CowParade Surrey Hills 2016.
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