Search

Body Context

Lucy Archer
Mar 8, 2017
2 min read

Since most of my drawings were designed as tattoos, I decided to go back to that idea and take it a step further by drawing/painting my designs onto people’s skin. I did a small experiment on my wrist before doing some research on the Body Art movement, finding that when I moved, the image would distort in different ways, which I found quite interesting. I attempted to add paint to one of my designs I had drawn on a peer, however as it was acrylic paint, it began to dry out and crack on the skin, this did give it an interesting texture, but it was not my desired effect. For my next experiment, I decided to only use pen for my designs, similar to Sophie Gibbon’s patterned animals. I had also recently purchased a white permanent marker which I thought could add more depth to the Minotaur design, and it succeeded. With having such an interest in tattoos, exploring Body Art further is a good idea.

Body Art is a contemporary movement in which the human form, usually the artists own body, becomes the canvas or artwork. It includes a wide range of disciplines including body painting, tattoo art, face painting, nail art, piercings, makeup, mine and living statues and photography. In some extreme cases, it can involve drug taking or self-mutilation to shock the audience. Body Art dates back to the era of prehistoric art, including body painting, face painting and tattoos. Modern forms of body art began to appear in the 1960’s before declining, then reappearing in the 1990’s, the most relevant forms of body art for my work would be body painting and tattoo art. Body painting was first practiced in the Stone Age, however it has become a prominent feature of post-modernism. One of the most famous examples would be Joanne Gair’s (b.1958) ‘Demi Moore’s Birthday Suit’, photographed by Annie Leibovitz, which appeared on the cover of Vanity Fair August 1992. Tattooing has been a popular form of body decoration since the Neolithic Art period. Modern tattooing dates back to the mid-18th century, when explorers came into contact with tattooed Indians and Pacific Islanders.