The connection of the lines on the figure in Derain’s “The Dance” to the incised lines on prehistoric female figurines is my own, not Derain’s. There is no reason to think he was looking back that far to find inspiration in art objects. “‘Primitivism’ in 20th Century Modern Art”, edited by William Rubin, the extensive companion book to an exhibit in the 80’s at the Museum of Modern Art, points to Polynesian sculptures (by way of Gauguin’s wood carvings) and Derain’s own collection of African masks as his primary “primitive” influences. One Fang mask he owned, in particular, shows the same stylization of a face that is on his dancer in his painting – as well as on Matisse’s 1913 portrait of Madame Matisse and many other early modern art examples. And I retain that Fang stylization in my face design for the bodypainting.

In developing a Derain-based bodypainting concept I look for my own connections to source material as well as researching his. So, as his colorful lines remind me of lines on ancient female figurines I incorporate that pattern into the design. I make an effort to reach back further than the modern artists I am studying because of my perception that the tribal objects they were inspired by also have an older source of inspiration. I am connecting it all back to the primal art: bodyart.

I also look for an internal storyline for my designs, what I think of as the adventure part of creating a new design. So, those incised figurines in combination with his dancing figure lead me back to “The Horned Goddess”, a striking image of a decorated dancing figure in a rock painting in the Sahara region of Africa. It’s such a remarkable painting that you can find it in just about any book about prehistoric art. She becomes my icon for this “ancient dancer” I am re-creating through the lens of Derain in my bodypaint design.

Just before I sent the finished artwork for my book off to the publisher in late 2006 I was playing with putting prehistoric rock art on people’s faces, and I painted the Horned Goddess onto the face of one of our facepainters (Jennifer) at an event, for a foto for the book. It was a kid’s event, so I left her breasts off the facepainting.

I’ve done  a couple of bodypaintings using the colorful lines on the body in Andre Derain’s painting “The Dance”. In the painting those lines seem as much bodyart as clothing. Derain is another early modern artist that looked to primitive art for inspiration, and I am engaged in returning that inspiration to the primitive act of bodypainting. These lines echo the lines found on ancient female figurines. The one here is from Europe, around 4,000 BC. There are similar examples from many ancient times and sites of stylized female figurines, sometimes called Venus Figures, though that name is falling away it seems because it carries too much implied meaning.

From a bodypainter’s perspective, these lines look like bodypainting – no surprise. At the exhibit that included this figure, the text accompanying such an example stated that the incised patterns on figurines may be “stylized representations of tattoos, body ornament, pieces of clothing or accessories”, and offered also the alternate idea that the lines represent funeral shrouds wrapped around the deceased.

The exhibit also included many examples of anthropomorphic pottery, most of which had painted or incised markings covering the whole form. Mostly symmetrical patterns.

The only note in the exhibit text about this was the suggestion that they may be depicting someone “wearing brightly colored clothing”. For me, this all looks like bodyart. But, Europe would probably have been cold enough that clothing textures make more sense.

One figurine seemed to add something to this question of painted bodies or painted clothing because it appeared to depict both bodyart and ornaments of clothing. The depictions of nipples and pubis indicating this stripping is on the skin, and she is wearing a belt and sash over it. But I always see bodyart. It’s what I look for.

This exhibit also had the treat of several examples of “pintaderas” – small clay stamps used for making repeatable designs on all sorts of things: textiles, ceramics and presumably the skin. The stamps themselves were also works of art, as one almost always finds in all the truly ancient objects. We surrounded ourselves with art back then. My favorite pintadera was for a spiral.

I saw the exhibit in Manhattan, it’s now on tour.  http://www.nyu.edu/isaw/exhibitions/oldeurope/