Image Courtesy: Gesine Marwedel
She can turn anyone into a bird or an animal and even into an object. She can even transform them into something interesting or grotesque. And she isn’t even a magician! Meet GesineMarwedel, an incredible body painting artist, who is enthralling all by her stunning pieces of art, using live models as her living canvases.
Marwedel is currently based in Germany and holds expertise in creating birds, animals and other objects using the bodies of models and her masterful strokes of vibrant colors. Her selective use of human body parts in creating her subject is a treat to watch.
Marwedel was born in Eckernförde, Germany and spent her childhood in Dortmund, Germany. She grew up like any other child, finishing her schooling in 2005 and BA graduation in 2008. After this, she took up speech therapy as a profession and also took up creative therapy as an additional subject that she completed in 2011 with a diploma.
Working as an art/creative therapist at center for autism therapy during 2016 was probably what inspired Marwedel to become a body painter. That year itself she turned into a freelance artist. She soon gained mastery over this form of art.
Marwedeltakes between four to seven hours to paint a body on an average. In some complex works, she may take up to 12 hours or more. Once she photoshoots her work, her models are free to wash away the paints. Her unique form of body painting is being extensively used in promotions, events, and private photoshoots.
As far as models for body painting are concerned, anyone can become her model; age, size, and figure just doesn’t matter to Marwedel. According to her, women are usually more interested in getting their bodies painted, than men. She doesn’t paint children since she fears that her pictures may be used in child porn.
Marwedel has not only held exhibitions all around the world, but has also won a number of national and international competitions, such as Masquerade 2015, Espelkamp Bodypainting Festival 2016, Heringsdorf Bodypainting Festival 2016, World Bodypainting Festival 2017, Art Prize Revier Art 2018 and Heringsdorf Bodypainting Festival 2018, and was declared runners up in many other competitions.
Asked about her favorite works, she said, “My favorite works are the seahorse on a pregnant woman and the desert landscape.” For her body painting is not only a form of art but a therapy too. She has even penned a book on the virtues of body painting as therapy.
Gesine Marwedel
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