Body is the new canvas
His paintings are destroyed about six hours after their application, but Shane said he doesn’t mind. This body painter is just content to be creating something artistic.
Shane, who asked not to release his last name, and his team of body painters are hired at parties, sometimes with Mardi Gras or Halloween themes, to paint people’s bodies or faces. Located in Cache Valley, this group sketches pictures like African landscapes on stomachs, skull and crossbones onto chests and oriental-style dragons onto backs.
“One of the other team members did an awesome dragon on a guy that went across his chest and over his shoulder and then curled around his back,” Shane said. “That was quite spectacular.”
But Shane, who loved art in junior high and high school, said the group can paint whatever the customer wants them to. A full-body tiger was even painted once. The tiger, done by a member of the group, was a six-hour process, he said. But less elaborate paintings can take anywhere from 30 minutes to one hour, he said.
The paint is hypo-allergenic to skin, water soluble and pretty durable, he said. The paint usually rubs off as the night goes on, mostly because of body sweat. But one girl made her painted body last all night long.
“One girl I painted a particular scene on, she was really impressed,” he said. “She actually wore it to bed, and then was careful and wore it to her dance team to show them what it looked like. But she danced, got sweaty, and so by the time class was done, it was gone.”
This hobby for Shane requires a small air compressor that can plug into the wall. A small air hose connects and goes to a tip that looks like a pen with a button on the top, Shane said. The end of the nozzle is adjustable, he said, and a small cup of paint is connected to the bottom. Every time a new color is needed, the cup needs to be cleaned out. Excess paint is dumped out, the cup is swabbed, and rubbing alcohol is used to clean the inside. There are 20 to 25 colors the group uses, and Shane said they try to start with the lightest colors first so the cleaning process is easier. Some colors are pre-mixed before to help save time, he said, but the number of colors are usually adequate for the paintings they do.
“It depends on the type of party you’re looking to do,” Shane said. “If you’re doing something like a Mardi Gras party, you’re wanting bright, vibrant colors, so red, orange, blue.”
The atmosphere of body paint parties are extremely relaxed, he said. Customers aren’t too picky, fussy or demanding, and it’s enjoyable to see ideas from his head take shape on a canvas, even if the canvas has a pulse, Shane said.
“Of course, when the customer is thrilled with it, then it’s good.” Shane said.
Some of the parties are considered more of an adult nature, he said, because the painting happens from the waist up.
“(Customers) are not bashful by any means,” he said. “Most of the parties I’ve been to, guys and girls, most of wearing some sort of a bottom and most people just do topless.”
Several people wear small coverings, Shane said, citing the example from “The Fifth Element” where the actress Milla Jovovich used a small piece of cloth during the film to cover her chest. But body painting can also be done when a girl wears a white bikini top that can be painted around or over.
During the paint job, Shane said he usually visits with whoever he is painting and tries to find out about them.
“I try to find out what they do in their real life, not this secret life-fantasy party they are at,” he said.
Some of his guy friends tell him this hobby is a lucky thing for a guy to do. Although Shane said he enjoys the scenery and the pay, it really just strips down to creating art.
“When you go into it, it sounds exciting and fun and would be the best thing for guys, but really, because you’re trying to do art, you step into it more like a doctor,” he said. “Although your canvas is different than paper, you’re still just doing your work, so to speak. Sometimes you’ve got a really nice canvas, and sometimes you take the good with the bad.”
For more information, e-mail the group at cdedbdboi@aol.com.
-brittny.jo@aggiemail.usu.edu
is an African safari scene. Shane said he paints with lighter colors first so that the cleaning process is easier. (Patrick Oden)