Body painting is a form ofbody art where artwork is painted directly onto thehuman skin. Unliketattoos and other forms of body art, body painting is temporary, lasting several hours or sometimes up to a few weeks (in the case ofmehndi or "henna tattoos" about two weeks). Body painting that is limited to theface is known asface painting. Body painting is also referred to as (a form of) "temporary tattoo". Large scale or full-body painting is more commonly referred to as body painting, while smaller or more detailed work can sometimes be referred to as temporary tattoos.
Body painting with a grey or white paint made from naturalpigments including clay, chalk, ash and cattle dung is traditional in manytribal cultures. Often worn during cultural ceremonies, it is believed to assist with the moderation of body heat and the use of striped patterns may reduce the incidence of biting insects. It still survives in this ancient form amongIndigenous Australians and in parts ofAfrica andSoutheast Asia,[1] as well as inNew Zealand and thePacific islands. A semi-permanent form of body painting known asMehndi, using dyes made ofhenna leaves (hence also known rather erroneously as "henna tattoo"), is practiced inIndia, especially onbrides. Since the late 1990s, Mehndi has become popular amongst youngwomen in the Western world.
Manyindigenous peoples of Central and South America paintjagua tattoos, or designs withGenipa americana juice on their bodies.Indigenous peoples of South America traditionally useannatto,huito, or wetcharcoal to decorate their faces and bodies. Huito is semi-permanent, and it generally takes weeks for this black dye to fade.[2]
Body painting is not always large pieces on fully nude bodies, but can involve smaller pieces on displayed areas of otherwise clothed bodies. There has been a revival of body painting in Western society since the 1960s, in part prompted by the liberalization ofsocial mores regardingnudity and often comes insensationalist orexhibitionist forms.[3] Even today there is a constant debate about the legitimacy of body painting as an art form. The current modern revival could be said to date back to the1933 World's Fair in Chicago whenMax Factor Sr. and hismodelSally Rand were arrested for causing a public disturbance when he body-painted her with his new make-up formulated forHollywood films.[4] Body art today evolves to the works more directed towards personalmythologies, asJana Sterbak,Rebecca Horn,Michel Platnic,Youri Messen-Jaschin or Javier Perez.
Body painting is sometimes used as a method of gaining attention in political protests, for instance those byPETA againstBurberry.
Body painting led to a minor alternative art movement in the 1950s and 1960s, which involved covering a model in paint and then having the model touch or roll on a canvas or other medium to transfer the paint. French artistYves Klein is perhaps the most famous for this, with his series of paintings "Anthropometries". The effect produced by this technique creates an image-transfer from the model's body to the medium. This includes all the curves of the model's body (typically female) being reflected in the outline of the image. This technique was not necessarily monotone; multiple colors on different body parts sometimes produced interesting effects.[citation needed]
Joanne Gair is a body paint artist whose work appeared for the tenth consecutive year in the 2008Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue. She came to prominence with an August 1992Vanity FairDemi's Birthday Suit cover ofDemi Moore.[5][6] HerDisappearing Model was part of an episode ofRipley's Believe It or Not!.[7]
Body painting festivals happen annually across the world, bringing together professional body painters and keen amateurs. Body painting can also be seen at somefootball matches, atrave parties, and at certainfestivals. TheWorld Bodypainting Festival is a three-day festival which originated in 1998 and which has been held inKlagenfurt, Austria since 2017. Participants attend from over fifty countries and the event has more than 20,000 visitors; the associated World Bodypainting Association promotes the art of bodypainting.
Body painting festivals that take place in North America include the North American Body Painting Championship, Face and Body Art International Convention inOrlando, Florida, Bodygras Body Painting Competition inNanaimo, BC and the Face Painting and Body Art Convention inLas Vegas, Nevada.
Australia also has a number of body painting festivals, most notably the annual Australian Body Art Festival inEumundi, Queensland[8] and the Australian Body Art Awards.[9]
In Italy, theRabarama Skin Art Festival (held every year during the Summer and Autumn, with a tour in the major Italian cities), is a different event focused on the artistic side of body painting, highlighting the emotional impact of the painted body in a live performance[10] more than the decorative and technical aspects of it. This particular form of creative art is known as "Skin Art".[11]
The 1960s supermodelVeruschka has inspired bodypaint artists, after influential images of her appeared in the 1986 bookTransfigurations by photographerHolger Trulzsch.[12] Other well-known works includeSerge Diakonoff's booksA Fleur de Peau[citation needed] andDiakonoff andJoanne Gair'sPaint a licious. More recently Dutch art photographerKarl Hammer has taken center stage with his combinations of body painting and narrative art (fantastic realism).[citation needed]
Following the already established trend in Western-Europe, body painting has become more widely accepted in the United States since the early 1990s. In 2006 the first gallery dedicated exclusively to fine art body painting was opened in New Orleans by World Bodypainting Festival Champion and Judge,Craig Tracy. ThePainted Alive Gallery is on Royal Street in theFrench Quarter.[citation needed] In 2009, a popular late night talk showLast Call with Carson Daly on NBC network, featured a New York-based artist Danny Setiawan who creates reproductions of masterpieces by famous artists such asSalvador Dalí,Vincent van Gogh, andGustav Klimt on human bodies aiming to make fine art appealing for his contemporaries who normally would not consider themselves as art enthusiasts.[citation needed]
Since 2005 the Australian visual artistEmma Hack has been creating photographs of painted naked human bodies that visually merge with a patterned background wall inspired by the wallpaper designs ofFlorence Broadhurst. Hack is best known for theGotye music video for the song "Somebody That I Used to Know", which usesstop-motion animation body painting and has received over 800 million views onYouTube.[13] Hack now creates her own canvas backgrounds and her work is often featured with live birds, representing nature. Hack's artworks are exhibited worldwide.
Michel Platnic is a French–Israelicontemporary visual artist. He is known for his "living paintings". He uses multiple mediums including photography, video, performance body-painting and painting . Platnic builds three-dimensional cinema sets that are a backdrop for his video and photography works and then he paints directly on the body of the living models he places within the sets. Using this technique, Platnic brought to life several scenes of paintings made famous by artistsFrancis Bacon,Egon Schiele,David Hockney andLucian Freud and placed them in a different context.[14]
Los Angeles artist,Paul Roustan, is known for his work in body painting and photography which spans both the fine art and commercial worlds. His body painting has garnered numerous awards, including winner of the North American Body Paint Championships.[16]
Trina Merry is a body painter known for camouflaging models into settings, backgrounds and, in her "Lust of Currency" series, famous paintings. Merry's collection was exhibited during MiamiArt Basel in 2017[17] and at the Superfine! New York art fair in May 2018.[18][19]
Peruvian artistCecilia Paredes is known for her style of painting her own body to camouflage herself against complex floral backgrounds and natural landscapes.[20]
Many artists work professionally as body painters for television commercials, such as the Natrel Plus campaign featuring models camouflaged as trees. Stills advertising also used body painting with hundreds of body painting looks on the pages of the world's magazines every year. Body painters also work frequently in the film arena especially in science fiction with an increasing number of elaborate alien creations being body painted.
TheSports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue, published annually, has frequently featured a section of models that were body painted, attired in renditions of swimsuits or sports jerseys. AlsoPlayboy magazine has frequently made use of body painted models. In the 2005Playmates at Play at the Playboy Mansion calendar, allPlaymates appeared in the calendar wearing bikinis, but PlaymatesKaren McDougal andHiromi Oshima actually appeared in painted-on bikinis for their respective months.
The success of body painting has led to many notable international competitions and a specific trade magazine (Illusion Magazine)[22] for this industry, showcasing work around the world.
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Face painting is the artistic application of nontoxic paint to a person's face. The practice dates fromPaleolithic times and has been used for ritual purposes, such ascoming-of-age ceremonies and funeral rites, as well as for hunting. Materials such as clay, chalk or henna have been used, typically mixed with pigments extracted from leaves, fruits or berries and sometimes with oils or fats.[23]
Many peoples around the world practice face painting in modern times. This includes indigenous peoples in places such as Australia, Papua New Guinea, Polynesia and Melanesia. Some tribes inSub-Saharan Africa use the technique during rituals and festivals, and many of theindigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast of North America now use it for ceremonies, having previously also used it for hunting and warfare. In India it is used in folk dances and temple festivals, such as inKathakali performances, andMehndi designs are used at weddings. It is also used by JapaneseGeisha andChinese opera singers.[24] Women inMadagascar paint their faces with designs featuring stars, flowers and leaves using contrasting yellow and white wood paste calledmasonjoany.[25]
In some forms of Westernfolk dance, such asBorder Morris, the faces of the dancers are painted with a blackpigment in a tradition that goes back to theMiddle Ages. In the 18th centurycosmetic face painting became popular with men and women of the aristocracy and thenouveau riche,[26] but it died out inWestern culture after the fall of the French aristocracy. During the 19th centuryblackface theatrical makeup gained popularity when it was used by non-black performers to representblack people, typically in a minstrel show.[27] Its use ended in the United States with theCivil Rights Movement of the 1960s.[28] At about the same time thehippie movement adopted face painting,[29] and it was common for young people to decorate their cheeks with flowers orpeace symbols at anti-war demonstrations.
In contemporary Western culture face painting has become an art form, with artists displaying their work at festivals and in competitions and magazines. Other western users include actors and clowns, and it continues to be used as a form of camouflage amongst hunters and the military. It is also found at entertainments for children and sports events.[30]
For several decades it has been a common entertainment at countyfairs, large open-airmarkets (especially in Europe and the Americas), and other locations that attract children and adolescents. Face painting is very popular among children attheme parks, parties andfestivals throughout the Western world.[citation needed] Though the majority of face painting is geared towards children, many teenagers and adults enjoy being painted for special events, such as sports events (to give support to their team or country) or charity fund raisers.[citation needed]
It is common in armies all over the world for soldiers in combat to paint their faces and other exposed body parts (hands, for example) in natural colors such as green, tan, andloam forcamouflage purposes. In various South American armies, it is a tradition to use face paint on parade in respect to the indigenous tribes.[31]
As well as paint, temporary tattoos can be used to decorate the body. "Glitter tattoos" are made by applying a clear,cosmetic-grade glue (either freehand or through a stencil) on the skin and then coating it with cosmetic-gradeglitter. They can last up to a week depending on the model's body chemistry.
Foil metallic temporary tattoos are a variation of decal-style temporary tattoos, printed using foil stamping technique instead of ink. On the front side, the foil design is printed as a mirror image in order to be viewed in the right direction once it is applied to the skin. Each metallic tattoo is protected by a transparent protective film.
Modern water-based face and body paints are made according to stringent guidelines, meaning these are non-toxic, usually non-allergenic, and can easily be washed away. Temporary staining may develop after use, but it will fade after normal washing. These are either applied with hands, paint brush, and synthetic sponges or naturalsea sponge, or alternatively with anairbrush.
Contrary to the popularmyth perpetuated by theJames Bond filmGoldfinger, a person is notasphyxiated if their whole body is painted.[32]
Liquid latex may also be used as body paint. Aside the risk ofcontact allergy, wearing latex for a prolonged period may causeheat stroke by inhibitingperspiration and care should be taken to avoid the painful removal of hair when the latex is pulled off.
The same precautions that apply tocosmetics should be observed. If the skin shows any sign ofallergy from a paint, its use should immediately be ceased. Moreover, it should not be applied todamaged, inflamed or sensitive skin. If possible, a test for allergic reaction should be performed before use. Special care should be paid to the list of ingredients, as certain dyes are not approved by the USFDA for use around the eye area—generally those associated with certain reddish colorants, as CI 15850 orCI 15985—or on lips, generally blue, purple or some greens containingCI 77007.[33][34] More stringent regulations are in place in California regarding the amount of permissiblelead on cosmetic additives, as part ofProposition 65.[35] In the European Union, all colorants listed under aCI number are allowed for use on all areas. Any paints or products which have not been formulated for use on the body should never be used for body or face painting, as these can result in serious allergic reactions.
As forMehndi, natural brown henna dyes are safe to use when mixed with ingredients such as lemon juice. Another option is Jagua, a dark indigo plant-based dye that is safe to use on the skin and is approved for cosmetic use in the EU.
Hands and faces can be marbled temporarily for events such as festivals, using a painting process similar to traditionalpaper marbling, in which paint is floated on water and transferred to a person's skin. Unlike the traditional oil-based technique for paper, neon or ultraviolet reactive colours are typically used, and the paint is water-based and non-toxic.[36][37]
"Hand art" is the application ofmake-up or paint to a hand to make it appear like an animal or other object. Some hand artists, likeGuido Daniele, produce images that aretrompe-l'œil representations of wild animals painted on people's hands.
Hand artists work closely withhand models. Hand models can be booked through specialist acting and modeling agencies usually advertising under "body part model" or "hands and feet models".
The application of glitter and reflective ornaments to a woman'sbreasts, often in the shape of abikini top orcrop top and sometimes alongsidenipple tassels, is known as glitter boobs. Like body paint, this decoration is popular with festivalgoers.[38][39] Buttocks are also sometimes decorated in a similar manner,[40] and the adornment of the a woman's pubic area is known as avajazzle.
Body painting features in various media. The popular TV variety show,Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In, featured bodies painted with comedic phrases and jokes during transitions.The Pillow Book, a 1996 film byPeter Greenaway, is centred on body painting. The 1990American filmWhere the Heart Is featured several examples of models who were painted to blend into elaborate backdrops astrompe-l'œil.Skin Wars is a body painting reality competition hosted byRebecca Romijn that premiered onGame Show Network on August 6, 2014.
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