We remove everything as world-renowned body artist Ria Willering gives Frock Paper Scissors an almost naked view into the intriguing world of body painting. Courtney Duncan reports.
The ancient and intriguing art of body painting has always captivated the attention of audiences worldwide. The human body is an ideal canvas to express an artist’s ideas and creativity.
Ria Willering, an artist by trade, says body painting is her preferred form of artwork and really allows her to express her creative side.
“The skin, it’s a fantastic medium, better then canvas… it’s so fine,” she says.
“The challenge is when you paint, you actually ingrain the personality of the person, the shape of the person. It’s quite an experience for the person being painted and for me it’s quite intuitive as well… I have to make it suit the person.”
However it is the transformation of the wearer that Willering loves as a body artist. The paint is just like slipping on a new outfit… a new you.
“I had one model, she was very mousy and quiet – she asked to be made into a cat – and I watched her personality change,” Willering says.
“When I start with them (the models) they are naked but as soon as I begin and paint them, the paint is clothing.”
Willering has even painted clothing on models before. For a competition in South Australia she painted a woman with a lizard costume, including a zipper in the front, to symbolise the dream time – the zipper made it appear like “a piece of clothing, symbolising change” she says.
As a model, Felecity Schubert says she has seen very beautiful work incorporating fashion and clothing.
“I have been to festivals where models have been done up to look like they were wearing dresses or suits… really beautiful,” she says.
And just like models on the runway, body art wearers have to play the part. To really turn her work into art, Willering’s lizard woman had to encompass everything a lizard was.
“I had to teach her to walk like a lizard, not a model, she had to be skittish,” says Willering.
Just like fashion, it also has the power to change the world. During a protest on the beach, Willering painted dolphins on the cheek of every protester, to prevent the destruction of the beach.
And just like the world of fashion, behind the beauty, body painting can often be cut-throat.
Breaking into the industry can often be difficult. Body painters, particularly in Brisbane can often be very cliquey, Willering says, which also makes it difficult for upcoming artists.
“Most body painters are a bit standoffish,” she says. “They’re very territorial and really guard their territory.”
Painting a body can also be a tiresome experience and can take anything from four to eight hours.
For the models being painted, it is an excruciatingly long experience.
“You can’t move so you don’t smudge or crack the paint… it’s very long and incredibly boring but in then end it’s really beautiful,” Schubert says.
“And you’re naked the whole time.”
Both women seem unabashed by the idea of nudity; to them, the paint is clothing.
Despite the long hours, the nudity and the endless strokes of the paintbrush that have left her joints weak with tendonitis, Willering wouldn’t trade her job for anything.
It has taken her all over the world, from Uluru all the way to France.
Body art may just be a coat of paint on an otherwise naked body but to this journalist it’s a wardrobe with endless possibilities.