A heartbeat means energy. A heartbeat means strength. And a heartbeat means life. So, while it may seem silly to some, with body painting I am addicted to the fact that my canvas has a heartbeat - that it's alive. Every person I paint is breathing and moving as I transform their bodies into works of art.
Even if it’s not an actual “heartbeat,” every car, home and building has its own rhythm of activity. That was the case with an old abandoned building I came across on New York’s Rockaway Peninsula a few years ago.
The structure, part of Fort Tilden, was featured in 2014 during “Rockaway!” a public arts festival. The festival was sponsored by a number of local art organizations to celebrate the reopening of Fort Tilden after the devastation of Hurricane Sandy in 2012. As part of the exhibit, German artist Katharina Grosse painted a site-specific installation at the decaying aquatics building.
As I approached the structure from a distance, I knew it had a heartbeat. Even those it remained a shell of a building, all hollowed out inside, with nothing but sand as a floor and the beach breeze blowing through where the windows should be, Katharina had brought it back to life. Maybe it was the vibrancy of the color or the way the painted waves created an aura of movement, but even those I couldn’t put my finger on it, this building spoke to me.
I could hear its heartbeat.
As I moved closer, it felt like when I first came to New York. I was extremely lonely and was struck by this feeling that I could just fade into the background and no one would even know where I went. It was that image I took with me that day to Rockaway Peninsula.
It was actually that same feeling that lured me to body painting in general. I am absolutely in love with the fact that body painting is here for one moment and then gone the next.
As many of you are aware through my social media sites, my specialty is blending people into the different architecture of New York. I literally make them stand out by having them blend in. That was the case at Rockaway Beach. I was delighted to mimic Katharina’s sweeping use of red, orange and white that represents the colors of the sunset at the beach.
As I painted those shades on my model, I could feel a number of heartbeats: Hers, mine, Katharina’s, the building’s, the waves. It was a unique experience.
As a body painter, I’ve realized that there is so much more that you can do outside of four white walls with the Internet and I'm really interested in the possibilities of that. I hope that my work makes everyone think about the power of their own bodies and helps them develop a more positive body image by accepting their body as it is – cellulite, freckles, age spots, scars and all.