Body painting

Body painting involves applying artwork directly to human skin. Unlike tattoos, it is temporary, lasting from a few hours to a few weeks. When limited to the face, it is called face painting. It is also considered a form of temporary tattoo. Full-body or large-scale work is typically called body painting, while smaller, more detailed pieces may be referred to as temporary tattoos.

In many tribal cultures, body painting uses natural pigments like clay, chalk, ash, and cattle dung to create grey or white paint. This practice is traditional in Indigenous Australian communities, parts of Africa, Southeast Asia, New Zealand, and the Pacific islands. It is often worn during ceremonies and is thought to help regulate body heat; striped patterns may also reduce insect bites. In India, a semi-permanent form called Mehndi uses henna leaf dye (often mistakenly called a "henna tattoo") and is common on brides. Since the late 1990s, Mehndi has gained popularity among young women in the Western world. Indigenous peoples of Central and South America paint jagua tattoos or designs using Genipa americana juice. South American indigenous groups traditionally use annatto, huito, or wet charcoal for face and body decoration. Huito is semi-permanent, taking weeks for the black dye to fade.

In Western society, body painting is not always large-scale or on nude bodies; it can involve smaller designs on visible areas of clothed people. A revival began in the 1960s, partly due to changing social attitudes toward nudity, often appearing in sensationalist or exhibitionist forms. Debate continues over its legitimacy as an art form. The modern revival can be traced to the 1933 World's Fair in Chicago, where Max Factor Sr. and model Sally Rand were arrested for causing a public disturbance after he painted her with his new Hollywood makeup. Today, body art includes works focused on personal mythologies by artists such as Jana Sterbak, Rebecca Horn, Michel Platnic, Youri Messen-Jaschin, and Javier Perez. Body painting is also used in political protests, like those by PETA against Burberry. Joanne Gair, a body paint artist, had her work featured in the 2008 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue for the tenth consecutive year. She gained fame with the August 1992 Vanity Fair cover of Demi Moore titled "Demi's Birthday Suit." Her "Disappearing Model" appeared on an episode of *Ripley's Believe It or Not!*.

Annual body painting festivals worldwide bring together professionals and amateurs. Body painting also appears at football matches, rave parties, and certain festivals. The World Bodypainting Festival, a three-day event that began in 1998, has been held in Klagenfurt, Austria since 2017; the associated World Bodypainting Association promotes the art. North American festivals include the North American Body Painting Championship, Face and Body Art International Convention in Orlando, Florida, Bodygras Body Painting Competition in Nanaimo, BC, and the Face Painting and Body Art Convention in Las Vegas, Nevada. Australia hosts the annual Australian Body Art Festival in Eumundi, Queensland, and the Australian Body Art Awards. In Italy, the Rabarama Skin Art Festival focuses on the artistic side of body painting, emphasizing the emotional impact of the painted body in live performance, a form known as "Skin Art."

The 1960s supermodel Veruschka inspired body paint artists after images of her appeared in the 1986 book *Transfigurations* by photographer Holger Trulzsch. Other well-known works include Serge Diakonoff's books *A Fleur de Peau* and *Diakonoff*, and Joanne Gair's *Paint a licious*. More recently, Dutch art photographer Karl Hammer has combined body painting with narrative art, or fantastic realism. Following trends in Western Europe, body painting has become more accepted in the United States since the early 1990s. In 2006, the first gallery dedicated exclusively to fine art body painting opened in New Orleans by World Bodypainting Festival Champion and Judge Craig Tracy; the Painted Alive Gallery is on Royal Street in the French Quarter. In 2009, the late-night show *Last Call with Carson Daly* featured New York-based artist Danny Setiawan, who creates reproductions of masterpieces by artists like Salvador Dalí, Vincent van Gogh, and Gustav Klimt on human bodies. Since 2005, Australian visual artist Emma Hack has photographed painted naked human bodies that merge with patterned background walls inspired by Florence Broadhurst's wallpaper designs. Hack is best known for the Gotye music video for "Somebody That I Used to Know," which uses stop-motion animation body painting and has over 800 million YouTube views. Michel Platnic is a French–Israeli contemporary visual artist known for his "living paintings," using photography, video, performance body-painting, and painting. He builds three-dimensional cinema sets for his work and paints the bodies of living models placed within them.