I have to admit that when I posted a video yesterday showing Johannes Stötter’s body-painting “installation” of five humans making a remarkably realistic frog, I was taken aback when several readers said that this “creeped them out.” I don’t quite get that, as I see that form of body-painting as art, using the human body as a canvas—just as choreographers use movements of the human body to convey emotion.
But I can’t change what creeps people out, so for those of you who didn’t like the frog, here’s a TRIGGER WARNING: MORE BODY PAINTING!!!!!
In a comment on yesterday’s post post, reader Steven Q. Muth (the one-man staff of Butter the Roosevelt cat) called our attention to this post in the Daily Mail about another stunning example of Stotter’s animal-themed body painting. Since it’s a parrot, I have a feeling that at least our coterie of parrot-loving readers will like it.
As the Mail notes (all quotes indented):
The 35-year-old artist, who lives in Italy, spent four weeks painstakingly planning how he could transform the female model into a parrot.
He took four hours to paint the woman’s body using special breathable paint – adding intricate detail, dark shading and even a bright green eye.
He then spent a further hour positioning her on a tree trump, before taking a series of photographs.
Check this out (all photos and captions from The Daily Mail). It’s not a parrot but a a human!
Look closer: This parrot is, in fact, a woman whose body has been cleverly painted to resemble the tropical bird
The finished creation sees the model’s outstretched left leg become the parrot’s tail feathers, while her right leg and arm become its wings.
And her left arm – wrapped around her head – forms the tropical bird’s head.
Mr Stoetter, who was crowned World Body Painting Champion in 2012, said he had chosen to position the model on a tree stump to enhance the ‘parrot’s’ life-like appearance.
‘Getting the scene set up took about five hours, then it took about another four hours to paint the model and an hour to get her position right,’ he said.
- Amazing: The spectacular work of art was created by 35-year-old Johannes Stoetter, a former world champion body painter. He spent weeks painstakingly planning how he could transform the female model into a parrot.
It was quite hard to take the photo, to tell the model how to pose to make the parrot seem as real as possible and also to find the right point of view for me to take the photo.
‘It was not easy for the model to hold the position either. The whole process took about four weeks from start to finish.’
He added: ‘I feel very happy with the final work. Most people’s reaction are “nice photo of a parrot, where did you photograph it?”
‘Even some of my closest friends who know me and my art didn’t notice that it is not a real parrot.
‘When they found out, they were really amazed, stunned and surprised.’
Incredible: The finished creation sees the model’s outstretched left leg become the parrot’s tail feathers, while her right leg and arm become its wings. Her left arm – wrapped around her head – forms the tropical bird’s head.
Sweet… nice to have merited a re-post, even if the original article came from the Daily Mail.
uh… perhaps I should mention that link is NSFW, unless you work for yourself. (from one of Charlie Brooker’s shows, maybe Screenwipe).
Parrots aren’t safe for work?
(Not an argument, Stephen! … just in case 😉 )
mrfldbxtr checkbox.
Not if they’re dead… and if you want to go about arguing, you’ll have to pay for another five minutes. 😉
One must be careful how one says things!
(sorry if I harped a bit strongly earlier… sometimes I get set off, too. Not sure why — besides it generally being a function of the antecedent events affecting me). I sure don’t want to be shutting anybody up… (unless it’s myself, from time to time)
I see the parrot…but where’s the nightjar?
b&
If Mr. Stoetter painted a nightjar it would look just like the human it was painted on.
So it’d be like my best painting — a polar bear in a snowstorm? Only in body paint?
Sounds more like Playboy than body painting….
b&
In the small of the woman’s back.
Sounds uncomfortable.
b&
Reblogged this on The Road.
Inspired by this, I did a google search for “body painting cat” but unfortunately the results were not so impressive 🙁
Hate to be a downer, but look at the first picture, and you see that the Parrot’s eye is a dot on the model’s forehead. In the sugsequent photos you see that the parrot’s eye is painted around the model’s eye.
Unless he did this multiple times, methinks there’s some photoshop going on here.
Also, A lot of blur in the torso. Probably could tell it wasn’t a parrot with nipples on the wing.
I think others in the Daily Mail’s commentariat noticed the same thing (as did I). Not sure that this necessarily means a Photoshop, though… it’s a small matter of doing mid-course corrections — doesn’t detract from the feat, as far as I’m concerned. I notice on the close up, that the eye placement could end up wrongly if such a correction were not made… which all depends on the ultimate camera angle and pose. Having recently been exposed to area artists’ details of their production technique, I was awed at how quickly they went about their business, and the techniques of their mid-course corrections made constantly.
Knowing this stuff, I’d say it would be tougher to Photoshop it than merely to correct it on the fly in meatspace.
Reblogged this on Mark Solock Blog.
amazing and stunning!
It looks like really parrot, Amazing idea.
This was really cool. I liked seeing your opinion on it, I didn’t realize people could be freaked out about this stuff. It’s awesome seeing new art techniques coming out instead of just using regular canvas. Using the human body as a canvas is amazing. This must take a long time because not only does he have to paint the woman, he has to take her pictures, too. Great post. It reminds me of this artist who paints on people as well. http://www.geekologie.com/2010/04/real-people-painted-to-look-li.php
This was really cool. I liked seeing your opinion on it, I didn’t realize people could be freaked out about this stuff. It’s awesome seeing new art techniques coming out like this, using the body as a canvas is something fresh and entertaining that I know I will not get tired of for awhile. Thank you for stating how long it takes for him to finish this, it’s awesome to see such devotion to a craft. This reminds me of Alexa Meade who also paints directly onto people. http://www.geekologie.com/2010/04/real-people-painted-to-look-li.php
Thanks for the post! Johannes Stötter pictures are amazing… I found some Body Art pictures of Johannes Stötter in Art Days, here is the link! http://www.art-days.com/johannes-stotter-body-art/ Enjoy!