Johannes Stötter is a world-renowned body-painter whose artworks are so incredibly realistic most people would never guess they are actually made up of people contorted in just the right positions and photographed from the right angle.
We originally featured the magical body-paintings of Johannes Stötter back in 2014, when he made international news headlines with a mind-blowing project where he turned two of his models into almost perfect Ara macaws. sitting on a branch. He has been keeping busy since then, coming up with all sorts of stunning compositions, from a near-perfect frog made up of several painted human models, to a single person posing as perfectly-detailed butterfly sitting on a sunflower. But, as always, even knowing the secret of Stötter’s art, you still have to squint to make out the people hidden in the artworks.
Photo: Johannes Stötter
“Body painting is special because the artwork is alive and can move,” Johannes Stötter once said. “While a canvas painting lasts forever, a body painting exists only for a few hours. I think and observe the world, nature, colors and shapes with very clear eyes and an open heart. And painting is my big passion.”
Speaking about the creative process, Stötter says that there is more to his art than coming up with an idea and painting a model. He first starts out with a small sketch of the position someone would have to adopt in order to achieve the desired look, and if he deems it possible, he tries it out with a real model.
He then works on the body paint and the background, making sure everything blends perfectly. Finally, the photo shoot itself is very important, and capturing the artwork from the right angle is key to achieving the right look.
For his latest masterpiece, The Butterfly, the model had to remain perfectly still for hours on end, and go through the body-painting process five different times. But in the end, the effort was worth it, as Johannes himself considers it his best work yet. With so many others to choose from, I don’t even know if I agree with him.
For more amazing body painting magic, check out Johannes Stötter’s Instagram.
