contacted The Oregonian and they did a story. Then the
news ran with it. Then a radio station, a magazine in
England, a magazine in Russia, and I’m thinking, ‘Are you
guys serious?’ After about a month or so of interviews I
figured I’d take a shot at putting it back up. Facebook had
changed their rules and in there it says you can have art
in relation to nudity.”
Matt still gets flagged for images of his work from time
to time. Someone electing themselves the decency police
will flag what they think is inappropriate. You’ve gotta
take it with a grain of salt and know that if you’re putting
yourself out there for scrutiny to basically the entirety of
socially connected humanity, you’re going to have some
haters.
Toward the end of the painting, as the blending of colors
and the airbrushing begins to take shape, you stop seeing
Gretchen.
She sees me looking at her: “I can always tell when we’re
almost finished by the way photographers look at me
differently.”
A mix of Harley Quinn and some kind of striking,
demonic geisha, you start seeing the artwork. You
scrutinize the details and take the body of paint in as
14
a whole. Five hours later, I don’t even recognize the girl
disrobing when we started.
Gretchen poses and contorts, playing to the cameras for as
long as the paint will keep from cracking or running from
sweat. She let’s her hair down and the look is completed.
This is less Gretchen and more Matt’s handiwork while he
cleans up and gets out of the way for all of us to photograph
her as fast as we can.
In a few hours it’ll wash away and Gretchen will be
swabbing paint out of her ears and navel (among other
places) for the next week. What took five hours to create
will disappear. Unlike other works which may stand the
test of time to be marveled at like the pieces on display
across the world, this is art with a shelf life. You literally
need to be there to appreciate it for as long as it lasts before
the canvas needs to get home or go to work.
For more of Matt’s work, go to his Facebook fan
page by searching FB for Bodypaint by Numbers.