People ask me all the time how I got on the reality TV show “Skin Wars.” it’s kind of what I’m known for locally and I get recognized in public all the time for body painting. Well, the way that I got on the show is: I just did what I loved and I did it addictively.
I painted my ass off. When I discovered body painting I just really fell in love with it and I thought that it was a potentially really good niche way to make money and have fun as an artist so, after my first body painting, I felt like I struck gold. After that, I just wanted to paint bodies to see what would happen if I invested my energy, and I’ve always been able to earn a living in unconventional ways. One day five years into my body painting career, I got a phone call from someone friendly and she said, “Hi my name is Jill Goularte and I’m a Hollywood producer. I’ve been following your work and I think you would be really great for my body painting show! We have to sell the show to a network first but after that would you be interested in potentially being a contestant?” I remember while she was speaking, I was searching skeptically for doubt in her voice; I was laser focused trying to not get fooled, but there was no indication that this was a prank phone call.
Without hesitation, “I said yes I’m definitely interested.” I started to put together a better portfolio and painted as if my future depended on it, trying to make a better image than the last with my friend Ryder Gledhill photographing my work. A year later she called me again and said “we have auditions in three days in LA can you fly to LA for a few days?” My response was yes. Yes, I can. They sequestered us in a luxurious hotel, and we camera tested and then went to fill out a redundant multi-hour psych evaluation where it was obvious the main point in the questions that was just one question phrased twenty different ways; they didn’t want us to kill ourselves.
I refrained from making the joke that the psych evaluation made me want to kill myself…but instead, I held my tongue in wisdom (High Priestess), and now it was time to sit in the poofy chair in front of the doctor who I affectionately nicknamed “the Angel of Death” to discuss my childhood trauma and other issues. My mascara was wet and ominously foreshadowing a large portion of my “final looks” every time someone was eliminated. Many of the artists went to a dive bar around the corner after we were released to decompress. I had one drink and lots of dancing and it killed me to leave the once-in-a-lifetime fun night to be fresh for the painting portion of the auditions at 6 am. In the morning we were escorted to studio city in LA for the auditions. There were about 30 other Body Painters there beside me. The challenge was to complete a six-hour body painting while every painter was filmed; every move and everything that came out of your mouth was being filmed by a camera on a tripod, they selected 10 artists out of the group and I was one of them. It felt amazing and it was truly one of the coolest times in my life. A couple of weeks later, we were filming in West Hollywood; all 10 artists went on a double-decker tour bus with the other contestants for the show Skin Wars. We were asked to draw inspiration from sightseeing and create sketches. As we went around on our tour there were only two moments that were very interesting to me. The first was rolling past the world-famous Viper Room owned by Johnny Depp in person. I love the vampy matte black-on-black design with bright white graphic imagery of a half-snake woman in a top hat; it was known to me to be the location where my favorite actor, River Phoenix overdosed in 1993, the same year I graduated high school. It was haunting to see it in person—very dark stuff. The other thing that piqued my interest was a WeHo psychic shop with the red glowing neon light, the soft crystal ball glow behind a translucent drape in a big front window. “Past, Present, and Future,” it said. Wouldn’t I like to know! I would love some advice from the tarot right about now! It looked so appealing to me and I started imagining who would go in there (besides me) through history to get their fortune told, probably many hopeful Hollywood starlets. I had not had a fantastic experience with Tarot or fortunetelling or Palm reading yet but still the idea of knowing the future intrigued me completely. The occult in general was also a kind of “forbidden fruit” as my faith had dictated.
Forbidden fruit? Yes please, fill up this bowl. Also, can I have a bottle of Malbec and French bread and some California weed? What is life without joie de vivre?!
When we got back to the studio we had a challenge to do immediately: body paint a model waist up, using our sketches for inspiration, something that stood out in our minds from our rooftop bus tour. I felt like I decided that although I really liked the design and the dark aesthetic of the Viper room, I could spin a better tail using the psychic shop imagery. So this painting was my very first on season one of the reality show, Skin Wars. This was not a challenge that I won but I did get an honorable mention. Spoiler alert—I won the following challenge!
Mantra: “Everything is always working out for me.”
Special thanks to my producer Jill, the executive producer of Skin Wars who, if it weren’t for her, the show wouldn’t have happened. She loves body painting almost as much as I do, and cares about her artists. The show aired in 2017 on Netflix and it has helped my career as a body painter tremendously. Jill is also a fierce ally in supporting the cause of rescue dogs everywhere. Thank you for believing in me and for constantly helping the animals. All episodes and seasons of Skin Wars, plus the reunion can be seen currently streaming on Pluto TV.