We’re lucky here in Seattle to have a pretty decent arts scene, with a lot of great local galleries (like BLVD whose urban art focused show on globalism, Trade Bloc opens this Friday, Feb 8 with a party from 6 - 10 pm and runs for a month) and lots of great artists, too.

Artists like Towan, who will be celebrating his 40th birthday later this month, probably with a nice fruitcake. It just so happens that Towan is not just a painter, he’s also an orangutan who lives at the Woodland Park Zoo.

The Seattle Times has a nice story about Towan [here] which explains that Towan is one of five zoo orangutans who enjoys creating art with non-toxic paint and, usually, their tongues. Towan is unique in that he prefers to use a paint pen and also that he doesn’t tear up his work like the other apes.

In order to raise funds to support the International Conference of Zookeepers, the zoo is putting two of Towan’s paintings up for auction on Ebay, [here and here]. The auctions end tomorrow so get your bid in soon if you’re interested in one.