Pricasso’s Sexpo masterpiece of Rolph Harris painting the Queen was purchased by the National Museum of Erotica.

Pricasso! Portrait of the Artist as a Hung Man...

James Joyce may not have appreciated the comparison but watching Pricasso, aka Tim Patches, paint with his penis is something that would surely impress even a dour Dubliner. Pricasso (‘Picasso with a Prick’) was one of the standout features of the last Sexpo with queues forming to watch him paint his loving portraits of young couples. How does he do it and why? Eros thought it was time to approach the former Gold Coast builder, owner of Hellfire Pottery and father of four, to ask him a few questions.

Eros: What got you going in this unique artistic endeavour?
Pricasso: I thought of it years ago while watching Puppetry of the Penis. Then one day I mentioned the idea to a friend and she organised my debut at a New Year’s party. Everyone was so impressed that I just continued to do it.

Eros: What are the main differences between painting with a brush and with your dick?
Pricasso: The main difference is perspective. Because you have to hold your canvaas ‘down there’ you tend to get a very distorted image which you have to continually have to compensate for. Brush size can also be a problem. Squashing ‘the head’ changes the amount of surface area in contact with the canvas and covering large areas takes longer than with a brush as the penis dose not suck up paint in the same way that a brush does. If I scrub too hard or too long the skin on the head wares off and ooouch!!! Sometimes I can throttle one of my balls next to my penis to get a double brush effect and I also occasionally use my bum to get a background colour going.

Eros: Do you ever get sex out of a sitting?
Pricasso: Yes….it’s one of the occupational hazards in this line of work! But really most people see the humour in what I’m doing and are fascinated by the process. I try not to have sexual thoughts no matter how sexy the person is in front of me. It would be embarrassing for both of us if I got erect – although it has happened. Both times in front of gay men actually.

Eros: What sort of responses do you get?
Pricasso: Every response possible from ‘you’re disgusting’ to ‘you’re a genius’ but I still have a problem being taken seriously by the art establishment. I’m working on it though. A lady painter I know wants to paint a joint self-portrait, which should be pretty interesting as we’d have to take turns using the brush.

Eros: We hear that you’ve been rubbing shoulders with the rich and famous recently….
Pricasso: In Melbourne I painted MMM’s breakfast show hosts James Brayshaw and Brigitte Duclos, live. The portrait was auctioned off for charity and fetched $2000. Since then I have done a couple of lifestyle TV shows – one British called Sin City which is exported to 60 countries and one for a Japanese prime time New Year comedy special which starred the famous Takashi Okamura. He flew over just to film the show at my house. He stripped off and I had to teach him how to paint like me. He was only a little guy but had a very big brush!

Eros: Can anyone commission you to do their portrait?
Pricasso: Yes. I charge $50 at Sexpo and at parties and take about 20 minutes to do a canvas 500mm x 600mm, including a DVD of the picture being painted. Larger pictures can take longer and editing the film takes longer, sometimes days, so I work on an hourly rate of $40 per hour +  postage. I’ll also appear at parties with a minimum of four portraits guaranteed and I charge for my travel as well.

Eros: Do you have a day job?
Pricasso: I’m still a registered builder and my Hellfire Pottery is now very collectable fetching up to 15 times on Ebay what I used to wholesale it for and I’m not even dead yet! I'm pretty busy but it’s a great life.

Eros: Does a day at the office mean you’re too tired for sex in he evening?
Pricasso: Squashing, stretching and rubbing my penis against the canvas in front of hundreds of beautiful people can be quite a turn on. Sleep is impossible without a good old wank or two. I've had some of the best sex ever after performing.

www.eros.org.au