Art comes in many forms and is created on numerous types of “canvases.” One modern-day form of art utilizes paint and a living canvas. The human body is frequently the subject of art, but this exhibit focuses on the human body, not as the just subject, but as the medium for the true painted subject. The works of a few artists stand out to me: Danny Setiawan, Evgeny Freeone, and Craig Tracy.
Craig Tracy is an amazing artist and below are a couple of my favorite works by him.
His paintings are so detailed and quite impressive. Though the models are nude, they are portrayed in an artistic, tasteful way. He is an american artist and unfortunately the locations and dates of many of his works were not posted on any of the sources I could find, including Tracy’s actual web site. However, he does state that a majority of the works were painted in his New Orleans, Louisiana studio/gallery, which he opened in 2006. The colorful image (bottom, right) of the woman laying on the floor with her back arched is titled “Three Weeks” and I chose this work because I loved the shapes and colors chosen. The image on the bottom, left that displays a blues, Harlem Renaissance feel is beautifully painted and titled “Quartet” and is one of his only works that had a year attached to it. Tracy states that the idea of it was construed in 2005, but it was not painted until 2008. Finally, the last work of his on exhibit (top) is his work called, “Koi.” It is serene, lovely and again the year it was painted is not posted, but it was created in his New Orleans’ studio. He almost always only paints a model once and each model is a different model who he describes as becoming a part of his “extended family” after he has painted them. If you would like to see more of his works I suggest you visit his website: http://craigtracy.com.
This next artist is based in New York, but is originally from Indonesia and is often inspired by the works of other painters. Danny Setiawan has been body painting for several years now and works to use body painting to further “increase the relevancy of his art” according to his website, http://denartny.com. My favorite works by him are posted below.
The painted model in the top, left image is an actual tango dancer and painted on her is, “Tango After Fabian Perez” and as the name implies it is based on the works of Fabian Perez. I enjoy the contrast of the light and dark paints and the body position of the model. Top, right image is my favorite by Setiawan and is titled, “Before the Storm After Cot.” I love how the digitally added haze and Romantic Era brushstrokes give it the feel of the model being in a storm. This work is based on the Romantic painter Cot. Unlike Craig Tracy, Setiawan implements a lot of digital alterations into the photographs of his works.
Evgeny Freeone is a Russian photographer and body painter and is the final of the exhibit artists. Often his works are very dark and focus on themes of death, darkness or the Seven Deadly Sins, but those are not my favorite works by him. My favorites are those below:
In the top work “Night City” Freeone uses water to reflect the bright colors of his night city. I chose this one because I love the rich blue he uses and the city he creates on the model. His work directly below “Night City’ is another wonderful work by Freeone and is called “Meditation.” As the name states, it is a person meditating with gears painted upon her to represent the process of thought. She wears a headset to indicate silence. I enjoy the concept and lighting of “Meditation.” Lastly, is “Zone” which is the very last image shown. It shows a woman painted in wild swirls and stripes with equally wild hair sitting on dry, barren ground. Her shadow holds a great deal of meaning as it is projected directly behind her, but is shaped like a cross despite her body position not matching that. Behind her is also an old book, possibly meant to be The Bible.
Titles of works were not posted on his website (www.freeone.ru), but he has been body painting professionally for the past five years in Moscow, Russia, which is where these works were created. All works had no specific dates, but were created in the last five years.
Cited Sources:
http://photo.net/photodb/photo?photo_id=6009586
http://body-paint-body-art.blogspot.com/2009/01/evgeny-freeone-full-body-paint.html
enmayak 
I really love Craig’s piece in which quay fish are entrapped in a ying-yang that is created by a woman’s body in the backdrop. I find it very interesting how he is able to take 3 completely different figures and collaborate them into a single image. The piece titled “Zone” is also fascinating, again we see the manipulation of light. However, in a place that is consumed by light such as a desert, Evgeny uses the inverse and manipulated the shadows in which the woman’s body cast upon the water-deprived soil behind her.