Human flesh is a degrading canvas. It doesn't matter how talented your tattoo artist. It doesn't matter how intricately wrought the design. It's irrelevant how deeply that symbol speaks to your soul. That micturating Calvin protruding his middle digit on your right ass cheek may very well be the best way to symbolize your world view, but that won't stop it from melting away in a slurry of cellulite on your toneless ass cheek as age ravages you.
Of course, if the problem with tattooing is that it's so impermeable, the problem with body painting is that it lasts only as long as it takes you to shower.
Which is part of why I find Kim Joon's latticed, multi-layered body painting so moving. Joon paints vibrant patterns (the texture of pink and purple lace; silver piscine; product logos and Audrey Hepburn) over the clutching flesh of sensually entwined models. They exist for just the space of a snapshot and then they melt away on an effluvium of sweat, designs intricate and impermanent as snowflakes.
Kim Joon Body Paint Gallery [Official Site]
