Photographer Spencer Tunick is best known for his artistic photographs that feature hundreds to thousands of nudes posed in extraordinary locations. Mr. Tunick was born in Middletown, NY, USA not far from the current New York State Headquarters of Mehron, Inc. Spencer originally began his career of photographing nudes in New York City, the birthplace of his artistic vision and the birthplace of Mehron Makeup. His early photographic endeavors was a juxtaposition of the human body against the stark environment of the urban setting of New York City. Flesh imposed upon concrete, asphalt, brick, mortar, steel dirt and decay. His early work is a more intimate look at the human body in opposition to the environment.
By 1994 Spencer Tunick was gathering groups of nudes to pose in the open environs of cityscape. Soon groups totaling 65 grew into hundreds of nude bodies posing in unison to form a celebration of the diversity of the nude human form at locations around the world. The photographic genre of Mr. Tunick soon became known as "Installations", and required a crew to handle the logistics of hundreds of volunteers posing nude at locations around the world.
Just as the name of Photographer Ansel Adams has become synonymous with Nature Photographs, the name Spencer Tunick has become synonymous with the the group nude photograph. Traveling the world, choosing locations that are historical, natural, unique and plain, Spencer Tunick creates Art by joining the human form with its environment. Unlike the Body Painting Artists who use the Human Body as their canvas, Mr. Tunick has always used the blank canvas of the human body surrounded by the art of the living world. Spencer has used his Art to bring awareness to environmental issues including doing installations for Greenpeace, his latest endeavor at The Big Chill Festival in England took a new turn for the Art of Spencer Tunick.
Andy Golub, a Body Painting Artist who also resides near the New York State Headquarters of Mehron introduced Spencer Tunick to Mehron Body Painting Makeup. Churning the idea in his mind, Spencer came up with an installation idea that would combine a mass installation photograph of painted bodies to make a statement about the Gulf Oil Spill. The installation came to fruition on August 10, 2010. Mr. Tunick envisioned waves of human nudes painted in colors to represent the Gulf waters, the sky, beach, and sunset along with a wave of black to represent the oil disaster mixing with the pristine colors of the Gulf Environment.
The Big Chill Installation represents the first Spencer Tunick Photograph with painted nude bodies of the volunteers instead of a blank canvas against the setting of the location. To accomplish hundreds of bodies being painted in a timely and efficient manner, Mr. Tunick reached out to Mehron with a Special Request for Makeup. Mr. Spencer needed a Body Painting Makeup that was creamy, user friendly and water resistant. Mehron Met his needs with a formulation that his volunteers could apply without the need to have hundreds of Makeup Artists on Site. Mehron formulated the colors and kind of body painting makeup that Spencer wanted and packaged it in individual 4 oz bottles so that each of the hundreds of volunteers could be given their own bottle to apply in preparation for the historical Spencer Installation.
Mehron receives Special Requests for Makeup from all around the world for all kinds of productions, to receive a Special Makeup Request from Spencer Tunick was not only a surprise but also an honor to provide him with the Body Painting Makeup that he wanted for this Historic Spencer Photograph.
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