Bird Goddess, 2002, bodypaint and photo by Fred Hatt
Most of the body art shown in my online portfolios here and here is full-body work done in my studio. But I have also frequently done body painting at festivals such as Sirius Rising, Starwood, Dance New England Summer Camp and the American Body Arts Festival, at pageants such as Earth Celebrations‘ Rites of Spring, and for dance performances, gallery openings and parties. At such events, people often want images that express their personality or symbols that have spiritual meaning for them. It’s just like a tattoo, but more spontaneous, less painful, and far less permanent.
The back is a good surface for painting, because it is relatively flat and expansive, but also because in touching someone’s back I feel directly connected to their essential energy without being distracted by their face. So here’s a collection of images painted on people’s backs.
Botanical imagery expresses vitality and the power of growth:
Flower of Life, 2007, bodypaint and photo by Fred Hatt
Green Man, 2004, bodypaint and photo by Fred Hatt
Yggdrasil, 2002, bodypaint and photo by Fred Hatt
This one is a Tree of Life, one of those archetypal images that appears in many forms in widespread cultures. One of its meanings is making a connection between Heaven and Earth, as the tree penetrates and draws from the powers of both realms. The trunk of the tree adorning the human trunk asserts that human life is poised between and nourished by the same poles. The painting above was made to conceal a surgical scar with a healing symbol.
Another image of uniting the material and the spiritual worlds is the Winged Serpent. The serpent slithering up the spine is also an expression of Kundalini, or the vertical flow of life energy in the body, while the wings express expansion and inspiration. The wings on this one look a bit like a view of the lungs inside the thorax.
Winged Serpent, 2005, bodypaint and photo by Fred Hatt
Quetzalcoatl, 2001, bodypaint and photo by Fred Hatt
The version directly above was made for a performance by the great dancer and choreographer Homer Avila, who had recently lost a leg to cancer.
The butterfly expresses the idea of transformation and rebirth. I find it nearly impossible to capture the beauty of a real butterfly in paint. I reach for the feeling of expansiveness:
Papillon, 2005, bodypaint and photo by Fred Hatt
Birds express freedom and transcendence, power and intensity. Here are three strong birds:
Firebird, 2002, bodypaint and photo by Fred Hatt
Eagle, 2002, bodypaint and photo by Fred Hatt
Falcon, 2005, bodypaint and photo by Fred Hatt
What I love most is when someone gives me free rein to paint whatever naturally emerges from the contact of my imagination and their body, through the divining-rod of the brush. Here’s a proud striding bird:
Walking Bird, 2005, bodypaint and photo by Fred Hatt
Arcs, 2005, bodypaint and photo by Fred Hatt
Here is a pure abstraction, not a symbolic image at all, but I think it expresses something about the complexity and beauty of the person it adorns, something a symbol, with all its cultural baggage, never could.
