PIGCASSO | LEFSON
OINK!
A COLLABORATION TO CONNECT & INSPIRE A KINDER, MORE SUSTAINABLE WORLD
Artmaking is making the invisible, visible MARCEL DUCHAMP
PIGMENT WITH PURPOSE: ‘Pigcasso and Lefson also represent the first human-animal art collaboration of its kind’ Pigcasso was rescued just before slaughter in 2016 by Joanne Lefson and taken to Farm Sanctuary SA in Franschhoek, South Africa. When Joanne noticed that Pigcasso ate or destroyed everything except some old paint brushes that were laying in her stall, she decided to nurture the pig’s potential talent. It didn’t take long before Pigcasso began to paint – and over time, the painting process developed into an extraordinary collaboration between human and pig. Lefson selects the colours while Pigcasso takes the brush into her mouth and creates her magic across the canvas. Lefson watches from afar, able to stop Pigcasso if she observes an interesting form developing that is relatable to the human eye. Every original is signed by Pigcasso’s nose-tip, countersigned by Lefson and includes a Certificate of Authenticity. Proceeds from the sale of every artwork benefit Farm Sanctuary SA where both Lefson and Pigcasso reside. Their unrivalled story has been prominently featured on all leading media networks including BBC, SKY News, ZDF and CNN and their artworks are collected by an impressive global audience including Jane Goodall and Sir David Attenborough. Pigcasso also designed the 2019 SWATCH watch and a wine label from the grapes that have survived her robust appetite at the sanctuary was released in 2020. A gallery showcasing the artworks of Pigcasso and Lefson opened in Amsterdam in September 2021 while the OINK! Exhibition is planned to be showcased in London, 2022. Through their extraordinary collaboration, the creatives aim to challenge the status quo; igniting debate on the definition of art, while highlighting the detrimental effects of animal agriculture on the welfare of farmed animals and the environment in order to inspire a kinder, more sustainable world.
We love animals, but we eat them. We abhor animal cruelty and yet we pay for someone else to torture and kill animals on our behalf. We don’t think about it. It’s just the way it is. But every day, billions of farmed animals endure horrific conditions on today’s industrialized factory farms. They are hidden from public view and consciousness. The neat packages and the happy marketing ploys deliberately distance all trace of the suffering than endures. But that’s not all. Animal agriculture also accelerates climate change; It drives disease, deforestation, world hunger and species extinction. It threatens our existence. Through their extraordinary collaboration and unrivalled artworks Pigcasso and Joanne Lefson aim to reawaken a conscious connection between our food, animals and the planet in order to inspire a kinder, more sustainable world.
This is not exhibition on whether to eat meat of not. Those who want to eat meat will argue that they need the protein and that eating meat is normal, natural and necessary. Those opposed to eating animals will argue that there is absolutely nothing normal or natural about how animals are raised on today’s industrialised factory farms - and that if we don’t need to eat meat in order to survive, why would we endorse the unnecessary violence and destruction associated with consuming animals? This journey not an argument at all. The atrocities associated with modern animal agriculture are well documented and if asked the question whether they are acceptable, most of us would agree that something is fundamentally very wrong with this system itself. There is common ground. The question is therefore not whether to eat meat or not - but to rather ask what we are prepared to do – or not do – in order to change a system that we don’t believe in and which we know is not right.
UP OR DOWN? PIGCASSO / LEFSON 2020
Acrylic on 300gsm cold press paper 950mm x 1200mm
‘There is no more neutrality in the world. You either have to be part of the solution, or you’re going to be part of the problem’. ELDRIDGE CLEAVER About this Artwork: Sometimes the simplest strokes present the perfect picture. This is special for two key reasons. Going up, or going down – what decisions do we make – or not make – to align with our values. The brushstrokes also spell the letters ‘S’ and ‘Q’ – representing ‘Status Quo’. If there was ever an artwork to represent Eldridge Cleaver’s quote, it’s right here! LEFSON: The childlike dance of this artwork reminds me of something out of a Dr Seuss Book’: I know, up on top you are seeing great sights, but down here at the bottom we, too, should have rights.’
MOUSE
PIGCASSO / LEFSON 2021
Acrylic on 300gsm cold press paper 790mm x 935mm
All things bright and beautiful, all creatures great and small. About this Artwork: On this particular morning Pigcasso seemed uninterested to paint. I still set everything up for her, and waited to see what she would do. She slowly walked to the canvas and made a slow short stroke in black. She meandered off for a while and returned to do one last stroke, in yellow. I didn’t take much note, until one final dot, perfectly positioned, in the final second, made it magical! It’s not how long it takes, but what she paints that makes a Pigcasso extraordinary. As Pablo Picasso said of his second-made masterpieces: ‘It takes a lifetime; LEFSON: I have always had a deep love for animals. Even the field mice - they all have their way. They all have their belonging, their own purpose and will to live, just as we have ours.
PENGUIN
PIGCASSO / LEFSON 2019
PENGUIN
PABLO PICASSO 1907
Winston Churchill once said: ‘Dogs look up to us. Cats look down on us. Pigs treat us as equals’ In the case of penguins and pigment, Pigcasso can even meet Pablo, eye to eye. About this Artwork: In our collaboration, Pigcasso paints, and I guide her to create works of art that the human eye can relate to. I select the colours, move the canvas and from side to side (or upside down) and I am able to stop her if I see her paint something that could be ‘something’. When I saw the unique stroke that she painted (depicted here for the penguins face), I immediately stopped her. I then turned the canvas into a portrait position and took a closer look. The rest is history! LEFSON: Creating alongside Pigcasso has taught me much about pigs. They are intelligent, gentle, creative (and yes, stubborn!) individuals. Pigcasso loves her life at the sanctuary - and has an acute desire to avoid pain and suffering.
Neat packaging. Nice marketing. No connection to the origins of the body parts. About this artwork: I had the bacon image printed and then placed it before Pigcasso – a brush dipped in pink paint awaited. In those few seconds that followed, Pigcasso proceeded to paint the side profile of a pig’s face in the centre of the bacon image. These types of ‘unbelievable’ moments happen so often at the sanctuary, it not only defines how magical and intentional this partnership is, but it reminds me how destined it is, for all the right reasons in all the wrong times. LEFSON: Many kids that come to meet Pigcasso have no idea that bacon is Pigcasso. As one young Pigcasso fan recently said to me: “But Pigcasso is big and she’s an artist; bacon is small and it comes from a supermarket”. This entire creative effort between Pigcasso and I is, through art, to bridge this great divide; the deliberate or unconscious disconnect between what we eat and the living life of a sentient being. This artwork wraps it up for me - so sweetly.
PIGCASSO WAS HERE PIGCASSO / LEFSON 2021
Acrylic on Photographic image 1400mm x 900mm
BULL
PIGCASSO / LEFSON 2020
Acrylic on 300gsm cold press paper 800mm x 1300mm
Worldwide, an estimated 70 billion farm animals are produced for food each year; two out of every three being factory farmed. Caged, crammed. confined and mutilated and hidden away; these animals are electively bred, genetically modified, artificially impregnated and exploited as production units. About this artwork: This artwork was never something that grabbed my attention - until the need for an image of a farm animal for this exhibition arose. This work is perfect because of the emotion it evokes. This is not supposed to be inspiring; A bull, its head low; In its bland, blackness and depressing form, this is a remarkable artwork. A fitting symbol of the plight of the billions of cows in todays’ industrialized food, entertainment and leather industries. LEFSON: Most farmed animals are hidden away. Secrecy is a vital aspect of keeping the industry alive. If you were to call an apple farm and ask if you could come and see how your apples were produced and packaged, you’d be welcomed any time. If you called a factory farm or a slaughterhouse and asked the same question, the answer would be no. Why?
MEAT RAIL
PIGCASSO / LEFSON 2021
Acrylic on 300gsm cold press paper 800mm x 1200mm
After stunning, the animals is suspended by a hind limb and moved down a conveyor line for the slaughter procedures -otherwise defined as ‘processing’ About this artwork: Such rare angular movements very seldom made by Pigcasso, so this is another artwork that blew my mind. At first, she painted the two 90 degree angle. When she returned to the canvas, she added the loop, perfectly ‘attached’ to the corner of the angular lines. When I turned it sideways, I saw a hanging chair, but upon further contemplation I knew exactly what it had to be. An extraordinary rare piece; within its Zen, it hold the key. LEFSON: I’ve never been to a slaughterhouse, but I’ve watched footage and interviews from those that work inside. Farm animals don’t wilfully walk onto the slaughterhouse floor – they are forced there. Abattoir workers also suffer from multiple mental health problems. Suicide is common. I remember watching one interview where one such worker recalled the moment when he witnessed tears falling from a calf’s eye moments before he had to stun it. It was the last calf he ever killed.
LOVE
PIGCASSO / LEFSON 2017
Acrylic on 300gsm cold press paper 660mm x 560mm
DOG
PIGCASSO / LEFSON 2021
Acrylic on 300gsm cold press paper 1160mm x 900mm
Carnism is the invisible belief system that conditions us to eat certain animals when we would never dream of eating others. It drives us to act against our own interests and the interests of others without fully realising what we are doing. About these artworks: One of Pigcasso’s earliest works, ‘Love’ is such a small artwork in comparison to her later works. The heart in ‘Love’ was obvious the moment she painted it and remains the most popular limited edition print to this day. DOG, while painted three years later, was also obvious the moment she dropped the brush, and aligns with ‘Love’ in perfect union and precession. LEFSON: Many people never wonder why they eat certain animals but not others, or why they even eat any animals at all. Eating certain animals in certain countries is a cultural given, but just because certain behaviours have been normalised over generations doesn’t make it morally ethical or applicable in a modern society, does it?
STAND BY ME PIGCASSO / LEFSON 2021
Acrylic on 300gsm cold press paper 950mm x 1200mm
Today’s leather industry is not a by-product of the meat but rather a co-product. About this artwork. I wanted to connect everyday ‘invisible’ dead farm animal objects to the their origins. The cowhide was donated through an online marketplace and I stapled it to the barn façade readily positioned for Pigcasso. I chose pink to reflect Pigcasso, white to symbolise an awakening, and black to connect the violence. People walk over an animal hide as if it doesn’t exist. The experiment was to notice whether people would walk over this particular hide now that there was a ‘piggy on its back’. I tested it out; the general public stepped aside. The point being that the paint gave it awareness – but the intrinsic life of the animal did not. What does this say? LEFSON: Whenever I see a cow hide, I wonder What sort of a life it have before it was immortalized for decorative purposes? An dead animal part lying on the living room floor – doesn’t it seem absurd?
The elephant in the room is a problem that everyone knows is there but no one wants to acknowledge. About this artwork: It was lockdown, and I wanted to try something different. A longer canvas meant that I would have to keep moving the pot across the floor so that Pigcasso could paint across the entire surface. One small stroke on the left reminiscent of a trunk, and a light, circular eye above coined it as an elephant. Amazingly, this artwork was completed before I even knew we needed it! The theme, a key issue, meant that we would have tried to have painted this at a later stage in order to encapsulate the theme itself. LEFSON: Everyone seems to talks about climate change and its devastating effects; fires, floods and the melting Arctic etc, yet few talk about the leading driver of climate change. Animal Agriculture. If we aren’t prepared to make personal changes as basic as to what we eat, is their hope?
PINK ELEPHANT PIGCASSO / LEFSON 2020
Acrylic on 300gsm cold press paper 970mm x 2600mm
The vast majority of the world’s antibiotics are used on farmed animals in order to survive in the intensive conditions. This misusing and overusing of antibiotics is causing increasing resistance in humans and is an increasingly serious threat to global public health. About this artwork: The black ‘base’ of the artwork was painted on one day. The next morning, Pigcasso painted the blue shape. At first it reminded me of a fish, but then I decided to focus the shape to be a mouth instead. All I needed were two eyes to create the face. As her signature is a circular shape, it was a case of positioning the artwork in the location where she would likely ‘sign’ it, and pray!
SUPERBUG
PIGCASSO / LEFSON 2020
Acrylic on 300gsm cold press paper 750mm x 1100mm
One of the most heavily trafficked animals in the world, pangolins have been linked to the outbreak of Covid-19. Scientists believe that 3 out of every 4 new or emerging infectious diseases in people are zoonotic and arise because of the ways in which humans treat animals. About this artwork: Pigcasso painted this during lockdown in 2020. With so much discussion on Pangolins, what might have been called ‘Anteater’ under normal circumstances, but which naturally become Pangolin based on the timing. The loop on the right represents the long tongue, with the eye giving the positioning of the eye with a dance of pink underneath. LEFSON: From Bovine TB, BSE, H5N1, Bird Flu, Swine Flu, Mers, Sars, new zoonotic are appearing on a regular basis. Does it not make sense to address the cause in order to prevent further outbreaks in the future? Have you ever wondered why no one is addressing this or shedding light on it? Are we being deliberately manipulated and controlled by a handful of individuals or industries in order that we, the masses, blindly support their agenda?
PANGOLIN
PIGCASSO / LEFSON 2020
Acrylic on 300gsm cold press paper 950mm x 1200mm
AFRICAN MASK PIGCASSO / LEFSON 2019
Acrylic on 300gsm cold press paper 1200mm x 800mm
BLUE MASK
PIGCASSO / LEFSON 2020
Acrylic on 300gsm cold press paper 800mm x 1200mm
All societies end up wearing masks
JEAN BAUDRILLARD
About these artworks: ‘AFRICAN MASK’ was painted inside the barn on a cold winter morning. It was a dance of blues and I just let Pigcasso paint as long as she pleased without any influence at all. When she was done, I turned the orientation to portrait and noticed a golf flag with the hole below. (As an ex pro golfer, this was my natural inclination). The painting was a favorite amongst the staff, they all told me that it reminded them of an African Mask. I loved both concepts, but as African Mask was true to Pigcasso’s geological origins, (and golf certainly not) the staff got the credit for naming this iconic Masterpiece! As in ‘SUPER BUG’, to create the two eyes, it was a case of positioning the artwork in the location where she would likely sign it, and repeating that positioning twice, one for each ‘eye’.
REFLECT: HTTPS://WWW.THEGUARDIAN.COM/ENVIRONMENT/NG-INTERACTIVE/2020/SEP/15/COVID-FARM-ANIMALS-AND-PANDEMICS-DISEASES-THAT-CHANGED-THE-WORLD
SNOWMAN
PIGCASSO / LEFSON 2020
Acrylic on 300gsm cold press paper 900mm x 1160mm
Animal agriculture is responsible for more global greenhouse gas emissions than all transportation combined. It’s not as much about driving a car than it is about changing what we eat. About the artwork: There’s a reason why I video Pigcasso painting every artwork – and here it is. Who would believe that a pig could paint this perfect snowman, especially with two eyes in such perfect alignment. The right eye was the last stroke of her brush too – and it made it the Masterpiece that it is. LEFSON: One of the saddest images I have ever seen is that of an anorexic polar bear stranded on a drifting piece of melting ice somewhere in the Arctic. Species extinction, raging fires, floods and droughts. What are we doing?
BLUE SKULL PIGCASSO / LEFSON 2020
Acrylic on 300gsm cold press paper 1650mm x 1100mm
Without doing something today, we could face a world in which thousands and thousands of species go silent. JANE GOODALL About these artworks: I always like the rusty colours of Autumn and the plan was to continue with some additional orange and yellow hues. I added in blue as a ‘palate cleanser’ between the two variations, but when Pigcasso painted the perfect skull, I immediately stopped her. The Masterpiece was done. LEFSON: The blue skull represents death; the end - the mass extinction of species caused not only by accelerated climate change, but also the destruction of natural habitat. Cattle ranching is responsible for over ninety percent of the Amazon rainforest deforestation. The far reaching consequences of eating animals extends far beyond the plate. Is it really worth it?
SURFING BLOWFISH PIGCASSO / LEFSON 2020
Acrylic on 300gsm cold press paper 950mm x 1200mm
HAMMERHEAD SHARK PIGCASSO / LEFSON 2020 Acrylic on 300gsm cold press paper 1225mm x 800mm
Longline fishing lines can be as much as 62 miles long and have as many as 10,000 hooks. Spectacularly non-selective, longline fishing hooks up everything in its wake. Sea turtles, seals, whales, dolphins, penguins and sharks, this ‘bycatch’ is responsible for the dramatic decline of marine life populations around the world. About this artwork: When Pigcasso painted the black shape that looked like a diving fish, I immediately stopped her. I then turned the artwork into portrait orientation so that the ‘fish’ was positioned in a linear perspective. I then raised the canvas on a piece of wood in order that Pigcasso’s next few strokes of blue ‘ocean’ couldn’t reach the ‘fish’. This remains one of my personal favourites for its wonderful and youthful simplicity. LEFSON: Documentaries like My Octopus teacher show how incredibly intricate sea life is; just how intelligent, unique and fascinating these animals really are.
BLUE SKULL SHEEP IN SHIT PIGCASSO / LEFSON LEFSON 2020 2021
Acrylic on 300gsm cold press paper 1650mm x 890mm 1225mm 1100mm
Every year, an estimated 2 billion farm animals are crammed onto trucks or ships on journeys that can last for months. Dr Lynn Simpson, one of Australian most experienced live export veterinarians was removed by the federal government in 2016 after she exposed the cruelty and the appalling conditions: ‘I loved shipping for its sheer scale and adventure. Tragically I was quickly seeing the live export trades similarities to the historical human slave trade. In the 19th century, empires were built on the backs of slaves, kidnapped and sold from their home countries. High mortality rates on voyages, and poor treatment in destination countries once sold. Replace human slaves with live animals in your mind’s eye and, well, it’s the same scenario.’ About the artwork: This artwork was completed on the 30th January 2021. On the same day – possible the exact same moment - a Minke whale drowned in a Japanese fishing net halfway around the world. The whale’s fight for its life at the merciless hands of the fishing crew was caught on camera which the BBC aired the story the following day. It was then that I realized the significance of this painting. That purple face was the face of that whale. Was I seeing pies in the sky – not at all, everyone could see it The artwork’s title was changed from ‘Minke whale struck in fishing net’ to “Sheep in Shit’ to encompass that theme of farm animal transport. LEFSON: Of all the atrocities bestowed upon farm animals, Farm animal transport is probably the hardest one to fathom; It is the most unnecessary and the one which causes the most suffering.
OSTRICH
PIGCASSO / LEFSON 2021
Acrylic on 300gsm cold press paper 900mm x 1300mm
The ‘Ostrich Effect’ is a cognitive bias that causes people to avoid information that they perceive as potentially unpleasant. About this Artwork: Pigcasso’s initial strokes were made in black paint. I noticed what looked to be the face of an peacock – there were even two perfectly positioned splatters of paint that represented the eyes and a small proportionate stroke for the beak! I turned the painting into a portrait position and selected bright colours to create a bodily form. The painting was sold as ‘Peacock’ but was renamed Ostrich for the purpose of this Exhibition to represent the symbol of bias and convenience. LEFSON: It so easy to turn away from suffering and situations that challenge our views or niggle us to need to change. But burying the issue and turning away doesn’t do anything to the system - nor does it make the problem go away.
MAMMOTH
PIGCASSO / LEFSON 2021
Acrylic on 300gsm cold press paper 1250mm x 000mm
The worlds’ strongest animals are all plant-based. Top athletes also include Lewis Hamilton, Novak Djokovic and NFL super star Tom Brady. About the Artwork: When Pigcasso completed the black strokes, the protruding ‘tusk’ on the right reminded me of a mammoth. I added the browns to link in to the mammalian-like colours. Something different, but yet so strong! LEFSON: There are many indoctrinated excuses that are made to eat meat; ‘canine’ teeth, protein, religion etc – but even if they were all true, when better alternatives are readily available, why would we chose to support the cruelty, violence and destruction associated with meat when given the opportunity to make an alternative choice?
MAN WITH A LONG TONGUE PIGCASSO / LEFSON 2020
Acrylic on 300gsm cold press paper 1120mm x 930mm
You are what you do, not what you say you’ll do. CARL GUSTAV JUNG About the artwork: We were developing the concept of a colourful bird on the canvas, but had finally given up on that wishful composition when the explosion of colours were creating more chaos than form. I turned the canvas sideways and suddenly, there it was: a face with a long tongue. The figure even had a perfect eye! This remains one of our favourite paintings - the colours, the message alongside, and the fact that we never saw it coming, until the colourful figure got off his couch potato and stuck his tongue out! LEFSON: Many people say they love animals - but then they eat them. Most of us detest animal cruelty yet pay industries to kill animals. We concern ourselves about climate change and yet directly continue to support and endorse the industries that accelerate and exacerbate these concerns. Isn’t it all a little bizarre?
BUTTERFLY
PIGCASSO / LEFSON 2020
Acrylic on 300gsm cold press paper 900mm x 1200mm
The butterfly effect is the idea that small things can have an impact on a much larger, complex system. No one is alone in this world. No act is without consequences for others. The smallest action really can change the world. About the artwork: While some artworks need explanation, this requires none. Perfectly executed in a landscape orientation by Pigcasso. It was obvious what it was the moment she dropped the brush - all I had to do was to turn the orientation to portrait, sign it and add the name. LEFSON: It’s so easy to think we can’t make a difference and influence change. As a South African I think of Nelson Mandela. Would we still have Apartheid if he had believed that ‘one man’ can’t change the world?
We need another and a wiser and perhaps a more mystical concept of animals. Remote from universal nature and living by complicated artifice, man in civilization surveys the creature through the glass of his knowledge and sees thereby a feather magnified and the whole image in distortion. We patronise them for their incompleteness, for their tragic fate for having taken form so far below ourselves. And therein do we err. For the animal shall not be measured by man. In a world older and more complete than ours, they move finished and complete, gifted with the extension of the senses we have lost or never attained, living by voices we shall never hear. They are not brethren, they are not underlings: they are other nations, caught with ourselves in the net of life and time, fellow prisoners of the splendour and travail of the earth. HENRY BESTON About the artwork. Painted around the same times at ‘Pink Elephant’, the same technique and positioning was applied. Once the canvas was in position, I kept moving the paint pot along the floor so that Pigcasso could access the entire surface. One red curve at the very end gave it the impression of an abstract head, and the vision of the Rainbow Man was born, bridging the gap between their world and ours, a pathway leading to the light. LEFSON: I remember reading this quote when I was 7 years old - and its lived with me my whole life. When we rethink our place in the universe, peace, empathy and compassion is possible.
RAINBOW MAN
PIGCASSO / LEFSON 2020
Acrylic on 300gsm cold press paper 850mm x 2600mm
PEACE DOVE PIGCASSO / LEFSON 2021
Acrylic on 300gsm cold press paper 1060mm x 800mm
‘You may say I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one. I hope someday you will join us, and the world can be as one. JOHN LENNON About the artwork: It was ‘just another morning’ at the sanctuary and around the exact time that I was beginning to consider the prospects of an exhibition – and she painted this in one flowing dance. Even an eye on the doves face. It simply blew me away. There is also a large image of John Lennon hanging in the barn. Combining the theme of both made perfect sense and this simplest artwork, the perfect, inspired closing to this exhibition. LEFSON: Reconsidering what we eat and developing awareness around where our food originates empowers us with choice over our health, our moral judgements, and a vision for a sustainable future planet. May you be inspired to live the change.
The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step LAO TZU