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| Columbia Cow Fetches $25,000 |
by Danielle Haas
Staff Writer |
Columbia bid an “udderly” fond farewell to the “How Now Brown Cow” on Nov. 9, when it was auctioned off for a final bid of $25,200.
The cow spent the summer in front of Columbia’s campus, perched atop a pedestal in the middle of Michigan Avenue at Harrison Street.
The cow, which was created by Columbia art graduates Jon Stein, Susan Rooch, and Ann-Marie Rounkal, was purchased by Ohio businessman, Jim Dickee. The cow’s permanent home will be in a converted barn where Dickee’s company holds its meetings.
The “How Now Brown Cow” was in the top 10 percent of cows sold through the auction and ranked 14th among 78 cows sold online through Metromix, a Chicago-based Web site.
Phil Berkman, faculty advisor to the artists, found the bid hard to believe. “The school paid $2,500 for it, which is one tenth of what it got at auction,” he said. “I’m always impressed when somebody pays a lot of money for art done by a group of unknown artists.”
The money garnered from the auction will be put into the Columbia Student Scholarship fund. Jon Stein, one of the artists who worked on the cow, said, “I think it’s good for Columbia, putting the money into the scholarship fund. We all got a lot of publicity out of it.”
The idea for “Cows on Parade” arose late in 1998, and Stein heard about in January, before Berkman announced the project to his class. “I knew it was going to be big,” Stein said. “If every block had a cow on the street people were going to notice them. You couldn’t ignore these life-size cows.”
The “Now Cow” took about three weeks to complete. Although the three artists had painted the cow brown, they had yet to come up with a final design. It was only four days from deadline, and finally it was a friend visiting that saved the day. After looking at the cow, he exclaimed, “Look at that ‘How Now Brown Cow.’” Stein had made up his mind. That was the cow.
There were some difficult aspects in designing the cow; Stein had three separate designs rejected by the city. “It was frustrating at times— having our designs turned down from the city,” Stein said. “But on the whole, it was a very fun experience.”
Stein and Berkman agreed that the success of the cows had to do with the fact that it was a “universally accepted, public art that had a lot of meaning to Chicagoans.” But Stein was disappointed that the artists behind the cows weren’t recognized.
“They never revealed the artist behind the cow,” Stein said. “That’s the difference between cute and serious art. The city wanted it to be ‘cute art.’ [With] cute art, people really don’t care who’s behind the work.”
Although the Chicago exhibit is over, the cows have caught on nationwide. Thirty-one cities, including New York City, are planning on hosting “Cows on Parade” next year. |
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