12/20/2002: Painting pig

Ladies and gentlemen, your Friday image. I have no further information on it. I don't know where it happened, or the name of the pig, or if he continues to paint or if he donates his works to charity or if they have a cleanup crew on call.

And yet it is strangely compelling.

Hunh.

i like the kid in the black hat sitting just above the pigs ass. he looks like hes having a great time.

~james

This pig's clearly not a serious artist, because he doesn't have his own website, unlike the "Painting Elephants of Thailand."

http://www.elephantart.com/view.asp?page=artgallery

IMHO, the lack of a commericial website makes the pig a more serious artist.

Yes, you're right. Perhaps the word "serious" should have been put in quote marks in my original post...

No beret no latte no arte.

An anonymous lurker sends us the details:

The pig's name is Smithfield

Smithfield the pig demonstrates his artistic talent for an audience at the LaPrade branch library in a file photo from July 31, 2002, in Richmond, Va. The program 'Pet Star' has invited Smithfield to Los Angeles. The Vietnamese potbelly and his 'mom,' Fran Martin, will appear on the program's premiere, Jan. 10 or the following week. (AP Photo/The Richmond Times-Dispatch, Lindy Keast Rodman, File)

Smithfield, Virginia is the home of Smithfield Meats the largest producers of hogs in America.

About Smithfield

For more than two centuries, the colonial town of Smithfield, Virginia, founded in 1752, has been shipping the finest hams to satisfied customers around the world. Today, thanks to the vision of a Virginia family and its patriarch, Joseph Luter, that tradition not only continues but has grown into something of a legend.

In 1936 Joseph W. Luter & Joseph W. Luter, Jr. founded the Smithfield Packing Company along a tributary of the historic James River. Over sixty years later, the “Genuine Smithfield Ham” that brought them worldwide acclaim is still produced only here in Smithfield. And thanks to a new generation of Luters, Joseph III and Joseph IV, Smithfield boasts a line of quality meats so vast, it’s helped make the parent company, Smithfield Foods (NYSE: SFD), the world’s largest producer of pork products.

http://www.smithfield.com/help/faq.html

Smithfield the painting pig has been on Letterman's Stupid Pet Tricks as well as Live with Regis and Kelly.

http://www.pilotonline.com/breaking/br1212pig.html

oink.

Ogg think this nice, but...

Ogg want to know... is he funded? Has he received a grant or a fellowship from a major endowment? How are we supposed to take him seriously if he isn't funded? Won't the purity of his artistic vision be skewed if he's forced to soil himself by grubbing around in the marketplace?

Ogg want to know.

That's nice and all, but can he paint on sheep?
I'd hate to be a pig. Life must be a boar.

Oh please Ogg, any government art funding is just pork barrel spending :p

Was he the star of "The Days Of Swine And Poses".

I have a Smithfield original above my fireplace, it's quite compelling. The snout-marks convey the contemporary hog's plight very effectively.