July 25, 2022
It’s not the heat, it’s the humanity, right? Nah. It definitely was the heat yesterday, and the humanity probably helped us cope with it somewhat. With temperatures in the 90s all week long, many New Yorkers may have been a little more envious than usual of the brave souls who doffed their clothes in public for Art.
We suspect there were more than a few sweaty onlookers yesterday in Union Square wishing they could swap places with the models at the 9th NYC Bodypainting Day and take it all off. But alas, the sad news for them was good news for everyone else: Human Connection Arts, the event’s sponsor, already had a full complement of models on hand to become living canvases for more than a dozen bodypainters.
The Northwest corner of the Park was ground zero for the day’s creative fun in the Sun. While one artist/model team worked atop the brightly decorated HCA van, party music blasted from inside of it. A couple hundred art lovers surrounded the adjacent bodypainting area, which had bike rack style barriers all the way around and a blue tarp overhead. The organizer of the event, Andy Golub, kindly invited the Gazette inside to cover it…
Model Jack VanRiper and Artists Maria Naranjo and Sebastian.
Fresh off the boat from New Jersey, Artists Maria Naranjo and Sebastian shared model Jack Van Riper. Maria’s a veteran Bodypainting Day artist and yesterday was her third time with HCA. Sebastian was here for his first time at one of these, and Jack’s a veteran model. Maria painted Jack’s front while Sebastian did his back. Although working independently, both the front and back combined wonderfully on Jack’s body, and his gold painted face was stunning.
Artist Kirkworx was painting a portrait of John Lennon on Emma that we ‘imagine’ made the rock legend smile up above. Both Emma and Kirk are, like John was, also New Yorkers. Kirk’s day job is painter, too. If you’ve seen a show on Broadway you might have seen some of his other work. He paints stage sets.
David Ward popped in from Ohio, of all places, for this event and it’s not even the first time he’s made the journey. He’s a veteran model of five or six of these ‘Days.’ His Artists weren’t around when we met David, but he said their names are Daniella y Marina. David’s body painting seemed to reference the war in Ukraine, combining the familiar blue above yellow design of that country’s flag with an olive branch toting yellow Peace Dove. Trails of dripping paint evoked the blood, sweat, and tears of the People of Ukraine.
Human Connection Arts Presents:
Circle of Hope
“Following our 9th NYC Bodypainting Day, up to a thousand people will join hands in our first Circle of Hope.
“The opposite of hope is hopelessness, which can be an underlying feeling for many people in a World of bad news and challenging circumstances. It is essential that we all stand together in unity for a wonderful future filled with love and beauty that we can all share and pass along to those after us.
“We will hold hands, form a giant circle, sing, share our hopes and dreams, listen to music, and watch a live dance performance from Naked Theater! See you there!”
