A Bald Artist Uses His Head As A Canvas: Meet James Kuhn

above: James Kuhn as Mr. T (note the doll's arm stuck up his nose)

Self-described artist, drag queen, former nudist, born again Christian, average 46 year old guy (hardly!) James Kuhn likes to paint his face. And I'm not just talking about a little gloss and guyliner. I'm talking complete transformations! In some cases he even adds doll parts, paper extensions and more. But there's no sense in trying to describe it, you simply have to see his self-portraits.


above: just a few of his hundreds of transformations, also available as a poster.

The following are a few of my favorites from his extensive sets on flickr. They are high res, so they may take awhile to download. Click on them to enlarge and see the details.

Conan (note the one 'shared eye'):

Cat with mouse:

Donkey:

Bluto and Popeye:

Woody the Woodpecker:

Polar Bear and Eskimo:

The Marx Brothers (he's upside down):

Bathing Beauty (her breasts are his nostrils):

Baby Doll (with plastic body glued to his head-he's upside down):

Pretzel Lion (yes, the mane is made of pretzels):

Flying Monkey (from the Wizard of Oz)

Pluto:

Stripper:

The Lollipop Guild (from the Wizard of Oz):


Check him out as a Gremlin, A moving Gremlin!


from his flickr profile:

I am not a photographer, but i take alot of photo's! My camera is a Canon Powershot A610 5.0 Mega Pixels, and i love it!!! I am an artist, drag queen, former nudist, born again Christian, average 46 year old guy...well maybe not exactly average! I love to paint on anything, including flesh! Mostly i paint images from the bible in a style i call "Paint Mosaic" a collage style made up of painted watercolor paper, cut up and assembled onto canvas.

Currently i am having fun making photographic self portrait's, involving face painting. Face paint is the most exciting thing that has happened to me in a long while! I believe it may have magical powers! My "normal" painting has taken a back seat to my face work lately.

For my face paints, i use Kryolan Aqua Color, Snazaroo, and Paradise by Mehron. I attended Burning Man in Nevada three years in a row and it was amazing!!! I believe it completely changed the way i think about art and perhaps the purpose for which i even make art. Art should never be a product. It should be a gift of love and a prayer. Art is silly, and fun, and can be powerful and sacred.

I do show in galleries, but selling should never be your motivation for creating art. Check out my websites www.bibleartwork.com and www.myspace.com/jameskuhngallery. I attend a gay affirming church and its great! Jesus died for EVERYONE! I am not a gay Christian, i am a Christian [ in progress! Gods not finished with me yet! ] who happens to be gay.

I'm Male and Single.
http://www.myspace.com/hawhawjamesworld

See tons more of James Kunh's transformations on flickr here.


If you'd like to purchase one of his books, or posters or more, you can do so at his Qoop store here.

If you're into body painting, don't miss these amazing artists:

Guido Daniele


Emma Hack


Temptu

Emma Hack Takes Body Art To A New Level With Her Latest Collection

We've seen body painting before. I've posted about well-known hand painter, Guido Daniele and the body painting of shoes on feet by Temptu. And how could I forget Veruschka?* But it wasn't until I saw her work on the cover of India's Platform magazine, that I was introduced to Australian artist and body illustrator Emma Hack.



Above: The image used on cover of Platform magazine from last year that piqued my interest in the work of Emma Hack.

An artist with several skills; sculpture, multimedia, photographer and more, I'm sharing images of her body painting for this post because it's simply amazing. Her work uses the naked bodies of both men and women as canvases and incorporates the backgrounds to give us the illusion of a flat surface in which the bodies are so well camouflaged against wall coverings, it's hard to even see them.

About this stunning collection: Emma’s Wallpaper 2005, 2007 and 2008 collections feature Florence Broadhurst wallpaper designs mixed with her body illustration. Emma continues to work blending her ‘wallflowers’ with the beautiful designs of Broadhurst.

Emma’s recent 2008 collection, featured during the Adelaide Fringe Festival, features exotic Australian animals, nude landscapes and a continued collection of Florence Broadhurst wallpapers. Emma photographed this collection herself, evolving her talents further. Here are her most recent works from her Wallpaper series:












And earlier works in the series:










In her Evolution collection, she actually painted animals!
An alligator, a possum, a dragon and turtles:






A bit about the artist:
Emma began her career as a make up and hair stylist and painted children's faces. She has evolved into a world-class body illustrator with several awards and acclaim, as well as a sculptor, a photographer and more. She's involved in several projects and continues to stretch and hone her talents.




Emma is represented in Adelaide by:
Art Images Gallery
32 The Parade Norwood
SA 5067
Phone: 08 8363 0806

*addendum:
I had to amend this post to answer to the several emails I've received reminding me of the amazing body painting and transfigurations by Vera Lehndorff (aka Veruschka). I was remiss in not referencing her work in a post about body painting- because it is superb and especially since my colleagues worked with her to produce a Lexus TV and print campaign in the mid 90s.

After beginning her career as a model in the 60’s, Lehndorff used the Veruschka pseudonym to enter the public domain, becoming one of the most sought-after and heavily publicized models in international fashion. Prior to crossing over to the art world with a renowned series of camouflage body-paintings, Lehndorff worked with many prominent photographers, including Helmet Newton.


above: self portrait by 'Veruschka'

Vera von Lehndorff (aka Veruschka)'s myspace page.