TEXTAQUEEN: UNKNOWN ARTIST

With her utility belt of Sharpies, neo-Tokyo pop aesthetic, fondness for Jane Fonda aerobics videos and years of experience recording females nude in their natural habitat, it’s safe to say that Arlene Textaqueen is drawn in bolder and brighter brushstrokes than most.

From early successes in colouring-in competitions (once bagging a Coke bottle radio for her efforts), the artist has taken her unique style to the world. Cemented in the series of Textanudes (originally earmarked for a soft porn manga site), her work has since been seen on the walls of the Queensland Gallery of Modern Art, the AGNSW, National Portrait Gallery, as well as galleries in the States, Amsterdam and Belgium. It’s an impressive trajectory for a humble felt-tip.

Now at Zetland’s Sullivan+Strumpf gallery is a collection of self-portraits, still bearing the artist’s hallmarks of vibrant colour, disarming frankness, pictorial poppiness and fable-like intensity. In one, the twin image of the Textaqueen – one nude, the other wearing her red uniform with pens strapped on – embrace in a symbol of self-acceptance. In another, she channels both the holy mother and the Animal from the Muppets.

With each tongue-in-cheek tableau Textaqueen challenges you to say they’re silly. And with each international gallery added to her CV, we’re reminded that to do so would be folly.

Until Mar 9, Sullivan+Strumpf, 799 Elizabeth St, Zetland, 9698 4696, sullivanstrumpf.com