‘Monkey’ business
Sock monkeys emerge as a classic American toy
The Daily Mail
July 10, 2009

CATSKILL — Ron Warren was given a sock monkey in 1985 by a friend. The friend had no idea that sock monkeys are a classic, hand-made American toy crafted from a particular type of sock and that every one looked different, Warren said.

So, to prove the point that the monkey had a place in American folk culture, Warren started looking for other examples of the unique creations. Now, he has a collection of thousands of monkeys, hundreds of which have been photographed by Arne Svenson and publicized in two sock monkey books.

The two men will be at Hood and Co., in Catskill, for a book signing from 6 p.m. until 8 p.m. on Saturday.

Warren said that although each monkey is make from the same type of red heel sock and by following the same pattern, each monkey’s creator may have put a bit of their own personalities in their creations. And, he said, some monkeys end up looking unfinished, scary or nothing like a monkey.

“They are not all created equal,” he said. “There are some that are much more expressive and interesting than others.”

Warren, who runs a gallery in New York City, said that although finding monkeys in the city is rare, he did come across a monkey in a pile of discarded items on 19th Street.

“I saw this very distinctive little arm sticking out of this pile of junk,” he said, “and I pulled on the arm and it was this amazing sock monkey. An old beautiful sock monkey that has a lot of personality.”

The monkey, which, Warren said, wears a sort-of bellhop cap is included in the new book.

Svenson and Warren released their first book of sock monkey portraits in 2002. Photographs in that book are black and white and the book includes short stories inspired by the monkeys written by authors, commentators and entertainers including Jonathan Safran Foer, Isaac Mizrahi and Penn and Teller.

Their new book, “Sock Monkey,” has color photographs of the monkeys but no text.

“The book is about what someone can imagine about them by looking at the photographs,” Warren said.

About 600 monkeys were photographed for the books, 20 or 30 at a time. But not every monkey was included.

Some monkeys did not photograph look good on film, Svenson said. Others did not express their inner life.

Warren said Svenson’s different way of looking at the monkeys made the collaboration fun.

“We would mock-bicker about the merits of some,” he said.

For Warren, the more sad and bedraggled monkeys strike a chord.

“My favorites are the ones where I wonder, ‘what was the maker thinking,’” Svenson said.

He said collectors and creators of the monkeys he has met appreciate the sock monkey books because they give or recognize the toys’ cultural and individual importance.

But, Svenson said, he does not photograph the monkeys as toys.

“I wanted to treat them as personalities and photograph them as personalities,” he said.

Svenson said the techniques he uses for taking pictures of the monkeys are the same for his portraits.

Not only is the lighting the same, he said, but he looks for a defining characteristic of each monkey as he would with a human subject. He focuses his lens on the monkeys’ eyes and allows some of their bodies to become blurry in the image. The resulting photographs are classic portraits, he said.

The monkeys, he said, are treated as if they are living, breathing, reanimated things.

“I am looking at something that a grandmother or mother would have made for a child out of love, and can I put that back into it,” he said.