ARTnews Magazine, March 2003

The above 2-page spread advertisement appeared in the March issue of ARTnews magazine.  The ad is for a Tempe based artist named Bill Tonnesen who was heralding his appearance at the Armory Show in New York.  The text on the ad reads as follows:

MEET THE ARTIST AT THE SHADE MAGAZINE BOOTH, ARMORY SHOW MARCH 6-10, NEW YORK, NY
TONNESEN STUDIO 1-800-968-7895 - CATALOG AVAILABLE AT ARTONNESEN.COM, 600 PAGES $35
REPRESENTED IN ARIZONA AND NEW MEXICO BY CHIAROSCURO GALLERY, WWW.CHIAROSCUROGALLERY.COM
ART DETOUR, MARCH 7-9 AT THE ICEHOUSE, 429 W. JACKSON ST.  PHOENIX, ARIZONA - PHOTO: RICK RUSING

I was brought into the production team for this ad campaign through my affiliation with the Spirit of the Senses group.  Bill Tonnesen has actively participated in the Spirit of the Senses and had heard about my bodypainting artform.  His vision for this layout included two models painted completely white except for a barcode on their upper torso and called to see if I would be available for the project.

It was nearly an all-day painting and photoshoot.  I started working with the models Jamie (on left) and Sonja at about 10:00am on a cool January morning.  The location for the session was an historic Ice House in downtown Phoenix that is full of character, but lacking a roof.  The assembled team for the production was nothing short of amazing and everything was done first class.

I used Mehron body paint for this project.  Initially it was being applied by an airbrush, but I wasn't getting the coverage that the shot needed and I was dealing with some clogging issues.  I switched to using a small sponge roller and the process went much quicker.  For the barcodes, I meticulously cut out a stencil intending to airbrush the black lines and numbers.  Much to my dismay at the time, I realized that the model's natural curves were just not meant to have a flat stencil used on them.  I did my best and then brushed on the finer details to finish the barcodes.  The white paint became very flaky early on, but the texture seemed to add a nice touch (in my opinion) and I was happy the flat look of the paint.

I was fortunate to have the opportunity to view some of Tonnesen's work that was on site during the shoot and I also saw more of his pieces when I met with him earlier in the day at his office.  I have a copy of his 600-page book and I must say that it was very interesting and inspiring.  I felt a common bond with him as he is an Architect/Artist and I am an Engineer/Artist.  His ties with the Spirit of the Senses were discussed and several of his architectural accomplishments were touched on.  The main point of the text, however, were his assessments of art and his how-to approach that would eventually lead up to his stature as a world renown artist.  I recommend the book highly and feel that the packaging alone is worth the price of admission.

Click on the thumbnails below to see some of the snapshots that I took with my digital camera during the session.

BOOKS ON BODY PAINTING

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Unless noted otherwise, Photography and Artwork by Mark Greenawalt c2002

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