Author Archives: Christopher Agostino

Transformations — Clients

In addition to the hundreds of appearances we have made at schools, libraries, theaters and festivals, here is a partial list of the public, corporate and event clients for our Agostino Arts Theatre performances and our Transformations Face & Body Painting

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——-  Public Events  ——

Wildlife Conservation Society — The Bronx Zoo 

(special events since 1993, plus our Transformation Facepainting concession since 2005)

Central Park Zoo  •  NY Aquarium • Prospect Park Zoo • Queens Zoo

NYC Parks and Recreation Depart., including  Socrates Sculpture Park, NYC

NYC Housing Authority

Parrish Museum of Art •  Hudson River Museum  • Neuberger Museum of Art

Nassau County Museum of Art  •  Materials for the Arts

Philadelphia International Festival of the Arts

The World Science Festival  •   US Open Tennis Family Day

FirstNight Events for:   Hartford, CT  •  Westport, CT  •   Albany, NY  •   Moristown, NJ;

St. Francis Day Fair at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine (1985 — 2008)

——  Promotional Events  ——

New York Knicks and New York Liberty

New York Rangers and the NHL – National Hockey League

Target (Read Across America Press Launch)

Macy’s  (in-store events since 1986 and Thanksgiving Day Parade) 

Scholastic Publishing (Grand Openings; Harry Potter Book Releases, Tribeca Film Festival) Nickelodeon/Viacom (Rugrats Movie Premieres, NY Stock Exchange “Family Day”) Disney (Pocahontas Premiere in Central Park, Animal Kingdom Promotional Film) Clairol • Whirlpool • Ford • Pfizer • NBC Nordstroms • Sears • IKEA • Blockbusters • NBA Store • FAO Schwartz The Mall at Westchester Grand Opening Christiana Mall • Cherry Hill Mall • Roosevelt Field • Bridgewater Commons

——-  Corporate Event Clients  ——

Pepsico • Bloomberg LP • Goldman Sachs •  New York Stock Exchange Citibank • Moody’s • IMB • GE  • HBO • MTV • Viacom • CNBC • NBC • Fox • MGM UPS • Barnes and Nobles • NY Mets • New Yorker Magazine • Olympus

——  Print, Television, Live Events  ——

Abercrombie and Fitch Quarterly: Cover and 18 photographs by Bruce Weber Photo Sessions for: Lynn Goldsmith, Amy Arbus and WWF Magazine

CBS Early Show: Halloween Specials 2003-2010    •        NBC Today Show

Bodies Alive!

The Odd Ball at Real Art Ways

Disney’s “Out-of-the-Box” TV Program  •  CD Cover “Making Fun” by Patricia Shih

——  Conventions and Conferences  ——-

NSN – National Storytelling Network

FABAIC – The Face and Body Art International Convention

The World Bodypainting Festival

IMATS – International Makeup Artists Trade Show

New York Makeup Show

TransWorld Halloween Show

US Institute of Theater Technology Conference

Balanced Mind Conference

Art Educators of New Jersey Conference

New York State Art Teachers Conference

including Face and Body Painting Demonstrations for Kryolan, the world’s largest independently owned manufacturer of professional makeup.

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Face Painting Gallery — Prospect Park Boo at the Zoo

 

Now that the power is back on, here are fotos from this past weekend’s Boo at the Zoo festivities at the Prospect Park Zoo. Last year the Halloween weekend was wreaked by a freak snowstorm. This year we made it through the weekend events and then the hurricane hit. Halloween Day was effectively canceled — only one group of trick or treaters came by my house. We used to only have to worry about whether it would be chilly or not on Halloween.

“Octopus” by Britt

Britt, Jennifer and I painted at the Boo at the Zoo event at the Prospect Park Zoo. It’s a wonderful annual neighborhood event, with whole families coming in costume and getting painted. Britt continues to paint remarkable images of dancers on little girl’s faces, though my favorite of hers might be this octopus. I only have the one foto I took of a face Jennifer painted. She lives in a flood zone by Coney Island and that’s what she is dealing with this week.  We learned yesterday that the NY Aquarium at Coney Island was devasted by the storm and they are asking for donations to help re-build: http://nyaquarium.com/

“Choreography” by Britt

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Japanese Demons and Kabuki Spooky —re-post

by Christopher Agostino
(the heaviest traffic on the site these past few days are people searching for scary stuff like demon imagery, so I am re-posting one from last Halloween season  — and come see me at the Prospect Park Zoo this Sat and Sunday (Oct 27+28) to get your face painted — and I will be telling a new mix of demon tales from my storytelling show: The Eye of the Demon)
I paint a lot of demon faces this time of year, many inspired by Japanese imagery and folktales. In 2008 particularly, I put an effort into exploring new face designs based on Japanese masks and kabuki makeup. That year I was painting at the Transworld Halloween Show  for Kryolan Professional Makeup and took the approach at the event to paint horror faces based on world mask designs, as a contrast to the traditional zombies and skulls, so most of the examples here are from around that time.
     
This mask is a contemporary example of a Namahage Demon from the Akita Prefecture. It is worn for a traditional Lunar New Year celebration which sounds like Halloween in reverse, as young men wear the masks and visit people’s houses to scare their children and admonish them to listen to their parents—or the demons will come back! The parents reward the young men with sake and food. Although frightening, Namahage are said to be gods who bring good fortune, an example of the beliefs connected to spirit worship traditions in which powerful demonic spirits can become protective when they are appeased. Check out the Japanese movies Onmyoji and Onmyoji 2 for a fun depiction of demonic possession and the Ying-Yang master that has to restore the balance.
      In folktales, Japanese demons come with various descriptions. Some may be red or blue faced, with fangs, horns and one, two or three eyes. In the tale of the famous samurai Raiko and his battle with the Goblin Earth Spider, he is attacked by an army that drops out of the storm clouds, including animals that walk like men, beings with three claws and three eyes—one with eyes in its hands—and long serpents with human heads. There’s a few ideas for facepainting. At an exhibit of prints by the artist Kuniyoshi last year at the Japan Society I was very jazzed to see two illustrations of Raiko vs. the Earth Spider with imagery that has re-invigorated the way I tell and depict that tale through faces.
     
The prevalence of such beliefs within the medieval Japanese culture allowed for the growth in Edo province of “Aragato,” the style of Kabuki theater which produced the famous makeup for its samurai hero and for the ghosts and demons he would battle. The origin of Kabuki and other Japanese theater in shamanic ritual and spirit worship is evident in the hero’s ability to do the impossible because they have allowed themselves to be possessed by a powerful kami (“supernatural deity”) and thus have become hitokami (“man-gods”). Continue reading →