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Artist Andy Golub has celebrated July 25 as “Body Painting Day” in New York City over the past few years. The observations include Golub and other body painting enthusiasts convening in the city, stripping off their clothes and using the nude body as a canvas. The bold celebration of the body as art will take place again this month, with the festivities kicking off in Union Square Park.
Over 30 artists and 50 nude models are set to take part in the inclusive, body-positive event. This years’ theme is “resilience,” which, as Golub tells Time Out, was inspired by difficulties of “the past year” and him wondering “what is New York if not people getting together?” He says the event as fitting into the larger recovery of the city and more jubilant mood filling the city, saying, “Now seems to be the time we can go back to the normal of being crazy.”
In past years, participants have transformed their bodies into famous paintings, like Van Gogh’s popular Starry Night, and created abstractionist, Cirque Du Soleil-esque designs. Anyone interested in joining the main action, i.e. getting naked, will need to complete an application and get approved beforehand. After getting painted from noon to 4pm, participants will march from Union Square to Washington Square Park. Then, they’ll hop on a double-decker bus and head off to enjoy some live music and entertainment at Brooklyn venue The Space.
For Golub, the day is aimed at more than the inherent shock-value built into public nudity. (Typical reactions of passersby seem to include open jaws paired with wide eyes and picture-taking.) “Body painting seems to be very light and silly,” he says. “And it is. But on the other hand, there is something very deep about it. Because it deals with people being comfortable enough with their own bodies to share it in some of the most public spaces in the world. I think that, ultimately, accepting your own body is very much connected to accepting yourself.”
"NYC Body Painting Day" initially grew out of Golub highlighting a little-known law that permits public nudity in the city. Being nude in public is actually legal [in New York City] if it’s for artistic purposes,” Golub says. So he decided to test the boundaries of the law in 2011 with his own art spectacle—and got arrested. After the arrest charges were dropped, and Golub received a lot of publicity for activism, other artists reached out and pitched a collective nude body painting event, to further deter any negative consequences. And just like that, “NYC Body Painting Day” was born.
Since then, Gloub and body-positive activism has grown in popularity. Golub and other activists have staged nude body painting events across the globe, including Berlin, Amsterdam, Zurich, and Brussels.
Golub looks forward to a more vibrant “NYC Body Painting Day” this year. Last year's slightly re-tuned affair was held in Times Square. “Times Square was really quiet at the time,” Golub says. “Well, quieter.”
Read more about "NYC Body Painting Day" on July 25 here.