“Monkey & Balloon” came from my obsrevations of primates at the Los Angeles Zoo. They never seemed like they wanted to be there, and I always assumed one or two of them were scheming to get out. Finding a clever way for the monkey to escape was the best part of conceptualizing this piece. Looking back I can see plenty of things I’d change now, but I enjoy how the monkey gets out of the zoo, just not how he expected!