Pretty On The Outside

David Gilmore + Paul Roustan Pop Up Art Show March 31, 2016

Not Your Traditional Body of Art

LOS ANGELES, CA – March 31, 2016 – The SOHO Design House on Melrose presents a unique pop up exhibition featuring live body art paintings, photography, and video by award winning artists Paul Roustan and David Gilmore on March 31, 2016 One Night Only!

Open to the Public

The human body is an elemental canvas, something which has been decorated for a variety of aesthetic and ceremonial purposes for millennia. Combining fine art, pop culture, and performance with human skin, Gilmore and Roustan create living artworks that transcend traditional boundaries of painting. The process includes detailed painting and skilled technique, the performance and presentation, and carefully staged photography. This work is experiential, collaborative, and time-based, elevating the art of body painting to a conceptual realm.

Gilmore has a paint on everything approach to art-making and that “everything” includes: canvas, paper, panels, walls, furniture, surfboards, cutout heads, and bodies. With a focus on figures and faces, my work explores identity and growth. Pop culture: the good, the bad, and the ridiculous all influence my work……. celebrating and deconstructing the odd and quirky. The process of body paint has greatly influenced his work on canvas and panels which in turn influences his body paints…. pushing forward and expanding…… a creative cycle which grows and evolves. Gilmore’s most current work would be on large wooden cutout heads. On those, he explores patterns, ornamentation, and pushing forward– combining body paint with those heads. A true fusion of both his worlds.

For Roustan, body painting becomes a method of storytelling. He often develops the concept as a reflection of the model’s personality, a collaboration between his/her spirit and the artist’s aesthetic. Each model is wrapped in a story, written on skin, which creates multiple layers of narrative through the balance of vulnerability with strength and power.

The photography serves as documentation, an evocative fixed image, capturing the ephemeral moment of collaboration between model, location, and photographer. These images, elaborate constructions and scenes, are often conceived before or in conjunction with the body painting itself. Each painted figure becomes an element of a larger work, the photographic image that tells its own story.

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David Gilmore’s mural work has spanned from coast to coast for clients: Mariah Carey in her LA and NYC homes, Tamera Mowery for her Style Network show “Tia and Tamera”, The Discovery Science Center in Santa Ana, CA, The McGarryBowen Ad Agency in NYC, THCG Venture Capitalists in their NYC Offices, and countless private residences. His paintings and illustrations have been appeared on: Bravo TV, The Huffington Post, Gawker.com, Defamer.com, Towleroad, Oh La La Blog, DListed, Perez Hilton, TMZ.com, NPR blog, LA Times, and dozens of entertainment blogs.
His body paint clients include: MAC Cosmetics, Selena Gomez, Instagram (yes Instagram itself), Mariah Carey, Beyonce, Bravo TV, AT&T, Mr Turk, Tennis Star Jan-Michael Gambill, Jai Brookes of The Janoskians, Todrick Hall, Numero Magazine, On Makeup magazine, Next Magazine, TED2, SYFY Network, GSN, Showtime, Comedy Central, BET Awards, VMAs, Teen Choice Awards, and served as a mentor at the 2013 Makeup Show in LA for the Powder Group.

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Paul Roustan is an award-winning artist based in Los Angeles, known for his work in body painting, photography, and conceptual performance. Roustan is recognized as one of the world’s leading body painters, whose style combines traditional fine art, pop culture, and reflections of the contemporary world to create conceptually-based body painting.

Roustan earned a Master’s Degree from Rhode Island School of Design and a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. He has since returned to both schools as faculty, as well as teaching workshops at a wide variety of locations around Los Angeles and nationally.

Roustan’s career spans both the fine art and commercial worlds, as his work has been commissioned for corporate, private, television and nightclub events worldwide, including work for Playboy, Bacardi, Tupperware and Absolut. His body painting has garnered numerous awards, including being named the 1st Place North American Body Paint Champion at the North American Body Paint Championships. It has also been featured in a wide variety of fashion shows, community events, parades and workshops. His work has been covered by media including, Spike TV, Sabado Gigante, the Chicago Sun-Times, the Providence Journal, Playboy Magazine, Airbrush Action Magazine, Univision, DIG Boston, and more.

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The Soho Design House juxtaposes contemporary art designed by world renowned artists and high-end design through its beautiful utilitarian art rugs. With a firm grasp of formal design and a visceral love for the arts, Soho Design House offers the most stunning and luxurious art rugs in the world. The Soho Design House space will be temporarily opened to display the body artwork of Paul Roustan and David Gilmore for a one night only experience in a traditional gallery setting.

The Pop-Up show is One Night Only March 31, 2016 from 6-10pm at the SOHO Design House in Los Angeles. Admission is free, wine and hors d’oeuvres will be served.

Contact Information:

SOHO DESIGN HOUSE
6912 MELROSE AVENUE
LOS ANGELES, CA 90038
www.sohodh.com

My Butterfly MiMi

Twenty five days ago I found a monarch butterfly in the street--- on its left side, flapping its right wing wildly. I grabbed a couple leaves and tried to set it upright but no luck, it fell back onto its left side.  Couldn't leave it there in the middle of the road as it would either get run over, eaten by ants, or chewed up by a dog...... so I put my finger next to it and it crawled up and into my palm. Got it home and googled what and how to feed a butterfly. Turns out they like a concoction of: simple syrup, juice, and soy sauce.  The website even said you don't have to like it, it's for the butterfly.  Oh and they like bananas and watermelon.  I honestly thought it would die that day but fortunately.... that's not the case.

First thing was to stop saying "it" so I named the butterfly Mimi, just because. Mimi has never to this day flown.  She'll flutter her wings but never ever gets any sort of lift.  My guess is she flew into the side of a car and sustained some sort of injury that's preventing her from flying.  She lives on a large shallow serving bowl covered in paper towels as that has a texture she seems to be able to maneuver around on.

I slowly started taking photos with her and this is what I've come up with:

In front of our Christmas tree. 

In front of our ode to insect nook.

On my face.

On my hand as I draw.  (And yes, she's packing on the pounds.  Too many bananas apparently.)  

On my painted fingers.  That's MAC Cosmetics body paint.

On my partner's back.  He's body painted with MAC Cosmetics and Wolfe FX.

In front of my face.

On a friend's hand body painted with Mehron and Paradise AQ.

On my hand with a line drawn on me and that paper with a Tombo pen.

In front of me on our bed.

 

Here's a little video of Mimi eating.  Turns out they taste with their feet so she'll put a leg onto whatever she's about to consume and if she's really into it, she will continue to stir her foot around.  :)

Don't know how much longer my little winged friend will be around but I plan to fully document her life and make it fully fab! 

#GG2D

Here's a little show and tell from yesterday....... I was hired to paint 35 quite fit fellas to promote Bravo's new show Girlfriend's Guide to Divorce. #GG2D.

In total 35 guys were airbrushed with six different slogans and walked around first Beverly Hills followed by Santa Monica. It's terrible terrible terrible work but someone had to do it. Couldn't have done it without my talented team of: Cristina Waltz, Paul Roustan, and Marky Make Up. 

Here's a peak at how it went.

Not entirely a bad way to spend a sunny day. 

Check out Girlfriend's Guide to Dating on Bravo.

NeNe Leakes and some bad makeup......

Someone slap me for drawing this... Nene Leakes was on Watch What Happens Live last night with the oddest makeup--- the upper portion of her face was way way way overly highlighted looking like a searchlight was shining on it leaving the lower half too dark in contrast. It was bad drag makeup. She looked like she had a beard which meant I had to draw it. #hadtodrawit #bearded #beardedlady #nene #neneleakes #bravo #wwhl#badmakeup

Painted surfboard by David Gilmore

I painted two surfboards which were created by the fantastic fabricator Album Surf and the one we entered won best in show at the Board Room Show in Del Mar, CA 2014.

 

Here's our other board front and back.

David Gilmore + The Fight Magazine

And article on my artwork appeared in the July issue of The Fight Magazine.  

David Gilmore + Andy Cohen + Commission

A woman with the initials KB just tagged me in a photo from Andy Cohen's dog Wacha's instagram.  I love that his cute doggie has an account! About six years ago Andy commissioned me to do a drawing of six of the housewives from the various cities. I know it's a fuzzy instagram photo but the drawing is hanging in the upper left part of the picture and those housewives would include: Lauri and Vicki from the OC, NeNe and Kim from the ATL, and Luann and Ramona from NYC.

The Glamorous Monique on Botched on E!

There's a show on the E! Network called Botched and I guess it would be considered a guilty pleasure although I feel zero guilt watching. On the finale of this misadventure in the world of plastic surgery, we met an exquisite creature appropriately named The Glamorous Monique. She's everything I never knew I always wanted. Thank you E! for this glamorous gift.

Commissioned painting

Saying goodbye to this commissioned painting......... He's headed to Vancouver to meet his new papas. Safe travels.

David Gilmore commissioned painting

Commission accomplished! Someone who purchased a painting from me last year, found a piece on my website and asked if I could make something in that direction and feel for him. The oil on canvas painting he liked I'd done in 2001 when I'd moved back to Cali after a time in NYC and it served as my goodbye to the endless stream of colorful people I'd see roaming the streets of Manhattan. It was really fun revisiting this style and finding new meaning in these characters. Very grateful to those who support my work.

Beyonce + the 2014 VMAs + body paint + David Gilmore

I had the good fortune of painting one of Beyonce's backup dancers for the 2014 VMAs in Los Angeles held at the Forum.  Queen B closed the event with a super-sized medley of her current hits..... I think her entire performance was 15 minutes long.  I got to watch her rehearse the day before in the empty auditorium and oh my god was that cool.  My task was to paint one of her dancers solid white which if you ask any bodypainters, it's one of the more challenging things to do.  Her segment actually starts with the dancer I painted in her lap.  

That's my painted girl front and center.  Insane!

Funny thing, about an hour before the performance happened, Beyonce decided she wanted all the women in that opening segment to be painted white as well.  It wasn't humanly possible to do that so a bunch of people had to pitch in and try and paint the other ladies.  Beyonce posted a video on her facebook showing behind the scenes and I'm in it.  Kind of a blink and you miss me type thing but hey, I'll take it.

That's me in the back!

Why not one more?  :)

So that was my adventure in the world of Beyonce.... a nice world to be in.

Oh, here's one more of my lovely lady almost finished.....

 

FIFA World Cup face paint fun!

I'll admit I'm not the most in touch when it comes to sporting events.  I knew the World Cup was happening but that was about the extent of my knowledge.  I was in a Sports Authority a few days ago looking for some undergarments for a body paint project and that's when I saw the FIFA World Cup logo for the first time on some giant display.

And it seemed like a great face paint opportunity.  So I first enlisted the help of my beautiful friend Monica and this is the fun we had.

She let me give her the Mariah Carey hair treatment here.  :)

And because a girl needs her options, I put her in this fro wig.

Thank you Monica!  Also wanted to do that face paint on a guy so I got my friend Khalif, who I've body painted now 7 times, and here's what we came up with.

No wig needed for him, that's his real hair and it's real magic.

Thanks for viewing my face paint fun. Have a look here for further bodyart work. http://www.davidgilmorestudio.com/

Starcasm + Farrah Abraham + David Gilmore

Recently the very funny site Starcasm commissioned me to draw Teen Mom Farrah Abraham's cry face.  I wasn't familiar with this phenomenon but after a quick google search I was hooked.

Please click here to read the whole article.  And if you've got an art need, please feel free to contact me about commissions.  Thanks!

Well hello Shannon Beador and Heather Dubrow

Somebody please...... slap me for drawing these women from The Real Housewives Of Orange County.  Slap me twice actually--- one slap per drawing.  That's Shannon Beador on the left and Heather Dubrow on the right.  Two very fun faces that are very fun to draw.  #slapme

Numero Magazine + David Gilmore + Body Paint + Constance Jablonski

I had the honor of painting supermodel Constance Jablonski for the cover of and spread in Numero Magazine.  The July  2014 Art Issue.

 

My task was to recreate the artwork of Alex Israel onto this model.  

Above are examples of his work.  A canvas is covered in a heavy stucco-like texture and then a gradation of saturated colors move up the canvas.  Then there are side sprays of vibrant covers creating a chamelion-like experience walking around his pieces.  The model I essentially glued sand all over her body in a wetsuit coverage area and then applied MAC Cosmetics chromacakes to do the gradiation of colors.  I used European Body Art airbrush colors to do the side sprays.  

What a fun and long day. I'm attaching all the images from the spread so please click on them to see larger.

Thanks to the talented team:

Model Constance Jablonski

Photographer Benny Horne,

Beauty makeup Tyron Machausen

Hair Mark Hampton

Styling Gillian Wilkins

And a big thanks to my friend Cristina Waltz who assisted me. 

Bianca Del Rio from Rupaul's Drag Race. Again.

Here's the hilarious The Bianca Del Rio from RuPaul's Drag Race. This drawing is from the beginning of the show which picks up where the previous episode has just ended. The four remaining queens have returned to the workroom post: runway walk, judges elevations, lip-sync (if needed), and filming the after-show where the cocktails fly. Watching them de-drag at the top of the show creates some of the best visuals as the lashes, wigs, and makeup comes off. Even with glitter all over the place and wig-hair, Bianca still looks ravishing. Go get that crown girl!

David Gilmore + World Bodypainting Festival

I have the unbelievable honor and absolute pleasure of attending the World Bodypainting Festival in 2014 as the sponsored artist of MAC Cosmetics. Thank you so very much MAC, I hope to do you proud!

 

 

 

Welcome for the first time at the World Bodypainting Festival 2014, David Gilmore from the USA sponsored by MAC Cosmetics.

www.bodypainting-festival.com

#wbf #worldbodypainting #mac #macpro #bodypainting — with MAC Cosmetics and David Gilmore.

NeNe Leakes and her sour puss.....

One more drawing from last night's RHOATL reunion show. This is NeNe sporting a drag race season one (no offense) lace front wig paired with an awkward bun that was an entirely different color and texture. And, it was starting to unravel by the end of the night which I believe was telling...... it's a mood bun. Hit pause on my dvr remote as NeNe served this sour, pouty, mean moose expression.
#fixitjesus

Phaedra Park's dazzling buffet of faces......

Phaedra's endless array of expressions on the RHOATL reunion shows continue to be the gifts that keep on giving.

Someone, please..... slap me for doing these drawings.

Adore Delano from RuPaul's Drag Race

This is the ferocious Adore Delano shutting it down during this week's lip sync on RuPaul's Drag Race. Go Azusa on them all my queen!