One Thousand and One Dreams

The work above is a combination of Marco Guerra’s photographic figure studies with Yasmina Alaoui’s exquisite pen and ink patterns. Alaoui, of French and Moroccan descent, studied Sculpture at the Beaux Arts Institute in Paris. Her elaborate pattern usage is heavily influenced by Koranic illustration and Islamic architecture. In contrast, Marco Guerra is a New York City based fashion photographer, inspired by Pablo Neruda’s sultry poetry. Their unique collaboration is enriched by these two contrasting styles; both combine mysterious beauty with rich cultural heritage to create a modern, and yet classical version of “painted lady”. See more of their works after the jump. more…

• Nelly Recchia

For Nelly Recchia, the body is her canvas. Whether it’s to your taste or not, this French artist definitely took body painting beyond the simple concept of “painter of bodies”. The body paintings of Nelly Recchia are sometimes intense and diverse, many have somewhat dense complexities, they play with feelings, fetishes and even with surrealism. Her concepts and themes have diversity too, be it by working with her model and generating ideas from the form, shape and/or its intrinsic capabilities of expression.

Apparently, Nelly Recchia does not use photoshop nor any form of digital image manipulation for that matter. Everything you see, all the effects and deformations are the result of body paint alone. The creation of her body paintings, Like the Bushido painting (pictured above-top), can take up to 13 hours. It’s not hard to believe that someone putting so much effort in the search for perfection is an admirer of my all time favorite master painter Caravaggio. And it’s not only the body paint that’s of an intense beauty, the photography displaying her art is adding even more layers.

The talents of Nelly Recchia have not remained unnoticed, shes won several awards in Make Up and Body Art competitions. And she worked for music videos and promos for giants like Britney Spears, Madonna and Marilyn Manson among many others. Lets view [15] more of Nelly’s beautiful body art after the jump. more…

Mexican artist Tatiana Parcero’s series entitled “Interior Cartographies” consists of constructed photos (transparency overlays) in which anatomy diagrams and ancient Aztec codices adorn parts of her body - her face (as above), hands, feet, mouth, and pregnant abdomen. Using her body as a subject, she superimposes engravings from 19th century medical books and veiled and coded by her anatomy Intricate maps, charts, medical illustrations, symbols, and diagrams are all mapped onto parts of the human body. Conceptually, her self-portraits blend biographical and mythical retrospection, and relate to the intersections of gender, identity, memory, and territory. In Parcero’s powerful icons, physiology and individual memory are embodied expressions of cultural lineage. [15] more of Parcero’s absolutely wonderful artworks after the jump. Enjoy. more…

For Korean born artist Kim Joon, the human body not only exists as physical matter, its embellishment is a medium for inner expression. Tattoos on the surface trace the individuals social frame from the traditions, education, laws, habits engraved within. In this set, couples are posed together and painted with a rich sheet of color, both traditional prints like clouds and dragons, or more whimsical patterns, like superheroes or Heineken logos. He uses the human body as a canvas for a most magnificent 3D effect.

[19] more photographs of Joon’s body paintings after the jump more…