Category Archives: Facepainting

The Kinetic Art of Face Painting — Pt.1: Sending Art off into the World

by Christopher Agostino

 This is the distinctive difference of painting faces as an art, isn’t it, that the art we create moves and is alive—and, once painted, the art we create has a life of its own. Unlike a Calder mobile or other kinetic sculptures, the work of art we create is on an independent, conscious life form who then puts the art into motion following their own determinations. Once painted, we have no control over the art we have created and it just goes off into the world to have its own adventure. Face painting is a kinetic art, an art that moves, with a will of its own.

The thought that my art goes on to its own adventures is a significant part of what keeps face painting exciting for me. As the commercial opportunities of artistic body painting begin to expand in the U.S. I have continued to focus primarily on painting faces because of the greater numbers of people it gives me a chance to transform. A painted body has quite an impact, but not as great, I think, as the dozens or hundreds of faces we can paint at a an event—and, of course, we are giving so many more people the experience being art, kinetic art, as they move through the event. I particularly appreciate painting like this at large public events, and have constructed my Transformations Facepainting company with this type of event in mind, because it affords the greatest opportunity to send a multitude of faces off into the world, leading to the surprising discoveries by passersby of painted people in everyday settings  (like the woman in the previous post telling me of looking for our faces throughout the village of Southampton), and remarkable juxtapositions like in my favorite “face in the Crowd” photo of the man in a face from Papua New Guinea eating potato chips on the roof of the Port Authority Bus Terminal with New York City in the background

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Alice and John at his reception

This past Sunday I was able to send one piece of my day’s kinetic art on a mission. I was painting at the Darwin Dayfestivities of the Long Island Ethical Humanist Society. As a woman sat down to be painted she asked for something appropriate to going to an art gallery, where she was heading to next, and after a few questions we realized  she was going to the opening reception of an exhibit by my friend and mentor, John Fink.

In Professor Fink's class I worked with the same themes that inspire my face and body designs

I had started the day disappointed that my gig prevented me from attending his reception and here came a serendipitous opportunity to be there at least in spirit. Alice was enthusiastic about being a human greeting card and I did a design based on cave paintings, like the work I had been doing in the last ceramics class I took with Professor Fink. Check at John Fink’s very playful sculptures, ceramics and constructions: www.johnfinkart.com

To learn more about our programs and performances:  http://www.agostinoarts.com

When I first started using cultural sources for face designs I recognized that they stand out in modern settings in a way that draws the attention of spectators and enhances the effectiveness of the transformation

Painting adults also draws more attention to the art, because it is more surprising to see a painted adult than to see a painted child

Another way in which a painted face is a kinetic art, as the movement of the face brings the design itself to life...more on this in a future post

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45,000 Views — 2008 Transformations

by Christopher Agostino

I was checking out a colleague’s video on You Tube when I saw one of mine come up in the column of suggested videos, and I was very surprised to see it had 45,811 views, way more than any of the others I’ve posted. [Shortly after this post, it was age restricted on YouTube, so here it is on Vimeo]

2008 was an adventurous year. The impulse to start collecting faces in slideshow videos came in response to a comment by an artist I met while painting at a Parrish Art Museum event. She came in to the gallery where we were painting and told me she had seen our faces all through the village of Southampton on her way to the museum (there’s a few photos in this video from a Parrish Art Museum event.) What she wanted to tell me was that we were creating a “kinetic art form”—particularly, that the style of our facepainting, with very colorful faces and every one different, made her look for them as she saw the painted people moving through the village, wanting to see each face. “kinetic art is art that contains moving parts or depends on motion for its effect. The moving parts are generally powered by wind, a motor or the observer.” (from Wikipedia)

Facepainting at an event is a collective art. It is the sum total of the faces we paint that is the art form, rather than each individual face. Her description of this as a kinetic art had me thinking about this collection of faces in motion, and how to try to document that. That led to creating  “Every Face” videos, in which I photograph every face I paint at an event and put them in to a slideshow in the order painted, and that led to taking a selection to put a year together in 2008.

The music is “I am An Animal” by Pete Townshend. I felt ok using it because he gave it away as a free download on his web site, on an album of odds and ends and some unreleased “Scoop” tracks, which are the demo versions he recorded of his songs as he wrote them before bringing them into the studio to be done by The Who.

See more of our  Videos.

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New Shows for Library Summer Reading Theme — Dream Big READ

Dream BIG this Summer with Timeless Tales in Two GREAT Shows!

———     SHOW #1:      THE LITTLE MOUSE THAT DREAMED BIG     ——–

Christopher Agostino returns with a special selection of stories for this Summer Reading Club theme. 

The Mouse that becomes an Eagle

Featuring  “The Story of Jumping Mouse”, a traditional Native American folktale that captures the power of our dreams to transform our lives. This inspirational tale, made into a children’s book by John Steptoe, is about a brave little mouse that follows his dream and against all odds reaches the far off  land where he is transformed into a mighty eagle. Plus the show includes other exciting tales that encourage young people to dream big and never give up, brought to life through Christopher’s playful storytelling and amazing facepainting.

Magic Frog gives him his Name

Christopher Agostino’s Transformations Storytelling is a very different kind of a show. Audience volunteers are brought on to the stage and facepainted very quickly to illustrate the stories he tells. The amazing facepainting holds kids attention while they listen to folktales from around the world and his original tales. With his extensive repertoire of stories he can perform successfully for any size audience and any age: kids, teens and adults, and each summer he crafts a new selection of stories to fit the Reading Club Theme. In most shows he paints 8 to 12 volunteers while mesmerizing the audience with a theatrical storytelling style and tales that range from the comic adventure of the first time a man met a crocodile to the heroic tale of the boy Punia and the King of the Sharks. It’s surprising and delightful theater for any age. Several themes are available and special shows can be crafted to feature specific cultures and special topics.  Christopher has appeared on the NBC Today Show and the CBS Early Show and performed for hundreds of theaters, schools, libraries and festivals.

See the Transformations-Storytelling video at:

for additional information and videos see: https://thestorybehindthefaces.com/storytelling-show/

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———  SHOW # 2:      The BODACIOUS Book Show CLASSICS    ———-

Including our special version of Jack and the Beanstalk starring kids from the audience and a 60’ beanstalk!

Beatrice the Bookworm

Beatrice the Bookworm is back in the show that’s so much fun it gets everyone inspired to pick up a book and read. Our Bodacious Book Show Classics edition is all about the books that have kept readers dreaming big for generations, from Dr. Seuss and Charlotte’s Web to timeless fairytales like Jack & the Beanstalk. Also featuring the Quiz Show Game that gets the entire audience thinking and talking about great books:“Have You READ It?”

"Have You READ It?" Quiz Show

This fast paced variety show really gets kids inspired to read, because great books make great readers. It features The “Have You READ It?” Game, a TV-style Quiz Show hosted for laughs by Bob Bookmark and Rita Digest in which the whole audience competes, parents included. It’s great to see kids jumping up and down in their seats with answers to such questions as “What kind of eggs does Sam like with his ham?” The questions and challenges are designed to remind young readers of all the fun they’ve had with books they’ve read and to introduce them to other great books so they’ll want to read more. And we bring to life some funny poetry from great authors such as Shel Silverstein and Ogden Nash.

Jack and the Beanstalk starring audience volunteers: The Magic Dancing Bean

Plus there are special guest stars: Professor Fineprint lectures on “1001 Uses for a Book” (but he doesn’t know you can read them); and the very popular Beatrice the Bookworm enlists younger audiences to join in her pledge to “always read my books before I eat them”. The grand finale is a hilarious rendition of “Jack and the Beanstalk” with kids playing the parts onstage and a 60’ beanstalk growing through the audience. The Bodacious Book Show was created to support reading programs in schools and libraries by reminding kids of the fun books they’ve read and interesting them in new ones, because the best way to develop good readers is to let kids discover books so fun they can’t wait to read more.

CLICK HERE for a printable pdf flyer:  BodaciousBookShow1_Flyer2pgs_agostinoarts  (it opens in a new window, click on the link there to get the pdf)

In 2011, the Bodacious Book Show was selected to host the kick-off celebration for the Target Read Across America literacy initiative at the New York Public Library, and introduce the celebrity readers such as Mark Ruffalo and Uma Thurman.

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SPECIAL DISCOUNTS available forLibrary Performances.

CONTACT US by email: info@agostinoarts.com, or call 516-771-8086

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Agostino Arts Theatre has been presenting programs in schools, libraries, theaters and other venues throughout the Tri-State area for nearly 30 years.

Libraries we appeared at in 2011 include:

Mechanicville Library, Hewlett-Woodmere  Library, Garden City Library, Sayville Library, Atlantic City Free Public Library, Harborfields Library, Wyandanch Public Library, Farmingdale Library, Lynbrook Library, New London Library Festival, East Williston Public Library, Riverhead Public Library, Newburgh Free Library, West Milford Township Library, South Huntington Library, Goshen Public Library, Mastic-Moriches-Shirley Libarary, Burlington Library, Bryant Library, Jamesburg Public Library, Half Hollow Hills Library, West Babylon Library, Rye Free Reading Room, Connetquot Library, Big Flats Library, Horseheads Free Library

When Target planned their launch for the Target Read Across America literacy initiative at the New York Public Library, they asked us to host the kick-off celebration. Beatrice the Bookworm opened the show, then Bob Bookmark and Rita Digest played the exciting “Have You READ It?” Game with the entire audience in between a stellar lineup of celebrity readers, including Uma Thurman and Mark Ruffalo.  http://reading.target.com/read-across-america/

Our Bodacious Book Shows involve the entire audience in the fun

Jack and the Beanstalk - The Singing Golden Harp Duet