New York artist Trina Merry, who specialises in bodypainting, lines her subjects up and photographs them as they appear to blend right into the scenery around them. The backdrops to her eye-catching art include the White House, Freedom Tower, Grand Central Station, the Golden Gate Bridge, and even Ireland’s Giant’s Causeway.
By painting her subjects into a modern background, Trina is putting a modern twist on the oldest art form known to man.
Trina said: “I paint on people and, with great care, photograph them using single perspective point photography. This creates a hyper realistic illusion that they are blending into their surroundings. “Bodypaint is the eldest art form that we know of, predating cave paintings.
“I am fascinated by how these indigenous markings were used to identify stages of life, rank within a tribe and a distinction between tribes.”
She added: “We have a very similar behaviour in contemporary societies via consumerism, fashion, the cars we drive and houses we buy to represent status. “However while indigenous tribes accept and embrace the individual as a part of their community, knowing them by name, in our contemporary culture, our individuality is lost and our ‘markings’ only homogenise.
“I’ve never felt more alone and disposable than while living in New York. It feels like I could disappear and no one would know.
“My work shows that experience. It uses marking the body to show what we put on our bodies to identify ourselves within a ‘tribe’ actually cause us to disappear. Working quickly, it usually takes Trina between one and three hours to paint a person.
However, the work requires to subject to remain completely still. It can be a test of endurance. Taking the art into public spaces mean that Trina’s work, as well as her subjects, are instantly exposed to people’s opinions.
She said: “People love it, they hate it, they think I’m a genius, they don’t get it and ask questions, they are scared of the nudity, they embrace the human body and complement the models on their beauty and bravery.
source: thesun.co.uk
