At 450 pounds, she’s no starving artist.
Pigcasso, who is believed to be the world’s only painting porker, is leaving her mark on the South African art scene, Caters News Service reports.
She was rescued from the slaughterhouse last May, when she was only 4 weeks old, by animal-rights activist Joanne Lefson.
Looking for a way to amuse her new pet, Lefson gave her a football.
But Pigcasso soon realized she wasn’t about to be drafted by an NFL team and gave up the sport.
Then Lefson gave her a paintbrush — and the rest is history.
“I do not force her to paint. She paints when she wants to,’’ Lefson told Caters.
“Often, we pack an overloaded picnic basket and she pigs out on organic strawberries, guavas and caramel-coated popcorn in between brush strokes. For Pigcasso, it’s simply hog heaven.’’
Lefson is hoping that “the finest galleries in New York and Paris’’ might one day exhibit the swine art of her protégé.
And why not? Several famous artists, including Pigcasso’s namesake, Pablo Picasso, once lived around Pigalle. The Parisian neighborhood is still home to many of the city’s top galleries.
“[Pigcasso’s] art is probably what you’d call expressionist,’’ Lefson said.
But as these paintings show, she takes some inspiration from her namesake, who was more into abstract art.
To ensure that collectors know they’re buying a genuine Pigcasso, the artist dips her nose in the paint to “sign’’ her work.
Lefson has a more serious motive for wanting to make her painting pig famous.
Pigs, she said, are “amazingly intelligent, exceptional animals’’ who deserve a better fate than being turned into an ingredient in some coffee shop’s BLT special.