Painters From Australia

"Everyone agreed that the day was just right for the picnic to — a shimmering summer morning warm and still, with s shrilling all through breakfast from the outside the dining-room windows and bees murmuring above the pansies bordering the drive. ... The boarders at Mrs Appleby's College for Young Ladies had been up and scanning the bright unclouded sky since six o'clock and were now fluttering about in their holiday s like a flock of excited butterflies. Not only was it a Saturday and the long awaited occasion of the annual picnic, but Saint Valentine's Day, traditionally celebrated on the fourteenth of February by the interchange of elaborate cards and favours."

"Had Lindsay not written ', she might now be simply described as the enigmatic and charming wife of – artist and director of the – hostess of their rural mansion , a minor writer and artist renowned for her skills in hospitality and flower arrangement."

"There’s a version of Lindsay’s life story that is defined by the men in her life. She was the daughter of a judge and the granddaughter of a state governor. She was married to painter , the director of the between 1942 and 1956, and later knighted for his services to the arts. Novelist was her cousin, was her drawing teacher and her friend launched Picnic at Hanging Rock."

"... it was written as a mystery, and it remains a mystery. ... like dropping a stone into water ..."

"There is not nearly enough change here, the men have not kept up with the women's movement. In America I found that male artists used feminist ideas in their work. I don't see that here at all. (Hillcoats' experience with the women's movement whilst living and working in North America versus Australia)"

"Women are the consumers in society, but they are also the consumed. My purpose in the work (Down Under Among The Women) is to confirm more than to deny and if women are still portrayed as sex objects in art and society, my aim is to recreate them as sex subjects. I use sexual imagery in the context of the female body in an attempt to reveal the tragedy and comedy of women's lives."

"Both. I think it causes problems, but it's something we must work with, as the North American women did. They included everyone instead of being exclusive. They had so much energy, and they were going parallel to the women's movement. It's a very difficult time now in Australia. We don't want to identify with North America because Australian women have a very different experience. (reflecting on her experience living and working in North America versus Australia, and as a direct answer to the questions: How do you feel at the thought of having contact with women in a Women's Art Movement who are not feminists? Does that seem exciting, or do you see it as causing a lot of problems?)"

"When I've travelled I've been attracted by the human presences imprinted in inanimate objects and structures and I prefer the freedom and directness of watercolours to recall these associations. (discussing the merits of watercolour as an art medium)"

"My work is for my own pleasure and fulfilment. I like to give form to my emotional and visual responses and to explore themes which reflect my attitudes as a socially concious woman artist."

"At the time of my writing, 30 years ago, I felt the works of artists like Frida Kahlo and Dorothea Tanning were not sufficiently known or appreciated. The Bulletin provided a way of bringing these artists to the attention of a much wider audience. (about the importance of the Women's Art Register Bulletin and her own regular column ‘A Look At Books’ in it)"

"For the past 20 years I have been deconstructing 'the nude' through drawing, painting and collage. Collage is a perfect medium for reappropriating and juxtaposing images from many sources and rearranging them as personal metaphors, analogies and ambiguities."

"Women artists need to consider the basic attitudes underlying censorship of women's art work and how it reflects a deep-seated fear in the community. During the past 15 years feminist artists have worked to change patriarchal attitudes towards women. As well, feminist art historians and critics have re-instated many women artists lost in history and made their imagery visible again. The struggle to produce new imagery and to interpret and defend such statements and ideas has often been at considerable personal cost."

"A mad little maid is Rose Madder, As bad as they make 'em and badder. At her window one night Was the scandalous sight Of a lad and, God help us, a ladder."

"The famous nude artist, Pricasso, who uses his member to paint, was kept busy swishing his "brush" over the canvas. He was quite a drawcard - and many a male observer whipped out his cellphone to take a picture."

"I always saw people painting with their arms and feet and I didn't understand why anyone didn't paint with their penis."

"I'm excited to be part of [Sexpo 2011]. Everyone has sex, it's meant to be fun."

"Painted using my penis instead of a brush. A short video of that performance will be sold with the painting."

"It may not be big, but it can stretch."

"I started doing paintings of landscapes in private and wanted to show people what I could do, and to really do that, I needed to do portraits, so I started practising."

"So one day at a friend's party, where there was plenty of alcohol, I decided to do a portrait of someone. And from there it just grew."

"It is really fun, and a lot of people are fascinated by what I do, but it does get tiring because I cannot use my 'brush' for long periods of time."

"Mayor Helen Zille has shrugged off the news that her portrait has been painted by an 'artist' who uses his penis as a brush, saying it is his constitutional right to exercise his freedom of expression 'in this unusual way'."

"This is a free country. A free society throws up these kinds of people, who exercise their freedom in unusual ways. And if this is how he wants to do it, I must accept his constitutional right to do so."

"[Pricasso] has achieved a good likeness and I can't imagine how he painted it without brushes or conventional equipment."

"Still reeling from the buzzing of German-designed appliances, and desperately trying to find a stall that served coffee and muffins instead of edible knickers and herbal elixirs, I watched bemused at the Sexpo as the craggy Pricasso dipped his dangly bit into paint and dabbed at a piece of paper on the easel."

"With his silver shorts and peroxided feather do, this Aussie was more Alex Jay in a low-budget sci-fi porno than rebel retiree with an interest in the Renaissance."

"Wearing silver boots and a hat, armbands and a smile, he whipped out his paintbrush, so to speak, and in 20 minutes painted pictures of his customers with a flourish - while a fascinated crowd gathered, some gaping in disbelief."

"He has had so many people lining up to have their faces painted at previous exhibitions, that other exhibitors, hoping to benefit, have requested being located next to his stand."

"The only 'penile portrait painter' in the world."

"Pricasso, who has been painting with his penis for six years, said painting with his penis could be painful, but he had resorted to making his own non-toxic, washable paint."

"Visitors to the expo were amused and fascinated by portrait painter Pricasso and his unique brush."

"When drag queen Carlotta agreed to compere and sit for a portrait at an R-rated charity fundraiser in March, she was not prepared for the tool of trade of the artist. The painter was Pricasso, who releases his artistic side by using a particular extremity. Not to put too fine a point on it (and Pricasso couldnt), Carlotta hovered between humour and horror as her portrait came to life."

"Now men and their . . . um . . . equipment can sometimes falter under pressure so imagine the stress that artist Pricasso and his 'man thing' brush were under, when he came on stage to paint the one and only Carlotta."

"Of all the exhibitions, Pricasso, the flamboyant painter who uses his penis as his tool of trade, drew, by far, the largest crowds."

"How unflappable do you have to be to go to work, find a stone head on the doorstep, and just go about your day sorting the mail as usual? I'll bet she could pose for a portrait by Pricasso and not bat an eye."

"Pricasso had a long line of people waiting to pay him to paint with his penis. The former builder said he had always been talented at drawing but five years ago came up with the idea of creating art with a different type of implement."

"The man who goes by the stage name Pricasso whips out his member. He dips it in paint and produces an extraordinary resemblance of his bemused subjects."

"What started off as a party trick for the former builder has turned into an industry with requests from all over the world from people who want their likeness immortalised by one man's (not so big) penis."

"He also videotapes every painting he does to prove to people that he actually did it with his penis."

"Fox Business bigwigs are said to be perturbed by a very special guest on the fledgling biz channel the other night - Pricasso, the world's greatest penile artist. That's right, he paints portraits with his private parts."

"He has painted portraits of some of the world's most famous people - from US President George Bush to the Queen of England - and at the Joburg 2007 Sexpo, he was a huge hit."

"At the opening of the Joburg Sexpo at Gallagher Estate in Midrand yesterday, Patch, who paints under the name Pricasso, elicited gasps of amazement from the hundreds of people who looked on."

"Without a hint of shyness, and standing totally in the nude except for a large silver top hat, he took out his "brush" and began sketching portraits of those brave enough to be his subjects."

"The annual Sexpo exhibition comes but once a year, and is not always memorable but this year one of our scouts discovered a truly unique talent at the show - a man who paints portraits with his, errm, manhood. Yes, Pricasso, as he calls himself, took Darling Harbour by storm last week."

"Dressed flamboyantly in leopard-print leg-warmers and matching hat, the chap managed to churn out a quick portrait of the Prime Minister which bears a striking if not fleshy resemblance to the head of government."

"While his brushstrokes are rudimentary, bystanders appreciated the artist's unorthodox style."

"He uses his penis, scrotum and buttocks to create his masterpieces."

"Pricasso can paint with either hand, but prefers using his nether regions. He has been painting this way for seven years and has painted ordinary people, celebrities and politicians."

"He makes his own paint and does not suffer from any erectile dysfunction or infection."

"What had sounded like a great idea in the newsroom, ended up being the longest and most embarrassing moment of my life. Cameras clicked away and Pricasso kept rubbing his bum with colours of purple, pink and orange against my likeness."