Hello everyone, my name is Brian a.k.a. The Painted Guy (Bonez). I am writing this blog to tell you a little of my story and how I came to love Body Paint so much. The story can be a bit long so I will try to sum it up as best I can. When I was 12 years old I was enjoying life with a promising dancing career or somewhere in the entertainment field. It was a very good time in my life (so I'm told). However, things kind of moved in a different direction after I was involved in a nearly fatal car accident. This accident was a transformation in my life that completely changed who I was, what I remembered and how I felt. It also gave me scars that would give me reason for my insecurities.
I remember the first time getting painted, my body was not used to standing for long periods of time but I was able to stand for close to 5 hours. I think I was able to do that because there was something meditative about the process. It is as if that brush has some kind of healing power. I was truly amazed with the outcome of my first body paint. I was painted as a skeleton and my niece was painted with me as well (so we kinda looked like twins). The traffic that stopped and the pictures taken that day were overwhelming. But as a person who craved attention (when I was younger) it was amazing. That feeling is what made me want to always be painted. So whenever I had the opportunity, I would take it.
There is another side to body painting that goes back thousands of years and there is a spiritual connection between the artist and canvas. I am careful not to let just anyone paint me because their energy is being put onto me and vice versa. After you wash the paint away there is always residual energy that can be felt for hours or days, usually with me I take the next day to just relax and enjoy the energy.
When my sister. Alicia first told me she was involved in body painting, I was not around to see it; but I saw pictures. It seemed fascinating to me, and I immediately told her that when I come back I would be her model.
Needless to say I have currently been painted more than a dozen times; and each time it's a new experience.One day while at one of the venues in downtown Bridgeport, CT I was asked why I like getting painted so much because every time I am in public I seem to have paint on. My response surprised even me because I never really thought about why I loved doing it. My response, "We live in such a judgemental world, it seems the only time I am not judged about my characteristics is when I'm painted, no one seems to care whether I'm black, white, Hispanic, gay, straight or anything like that; they only see the art!" That quote was a revelation to me and it happens to be the very reason why being painted is something I love.
Washing the paint away is probably one of the saddest moments I have experienced, it's like I just want to keep it on forever and live through the eyes of the painted man so I don't have to deal with society. At the end of the day "Nothing lasts forever" so they say, however the experience of being body painted will be grafted into my eternal memory because it's the place I feel alive (even when looking dead).
I would like to thank my sister ArtSimplicated for her kindness, generosity, and love throughout our journey together. She is a very amazing individual "UnFram3d", a girl who was known once only to be Brian's little sister, to now flapping her own beautiful wings and flying into her destiny. Thank you sis and love you - "Ride or Die"