Emma Hack is gonna be parading her art on skin work at Art Melbourne.  She talks here about fainting, tattoos and Florence Broadhurst wallpaper.

As an artist - your primary thing is painting on bodies.  Why is the body a good canvas?

I started my art career painting on bodies.  As a children's face painter and make-up artist, is seemed like an easy transition for me to include the entire surface of the body in my creations.  I really love the illusions that can be created on the human form.  My first creations were painting clothing onto the body to appear as if the model was wearing them and the illusion has evolved from there. 

In 2008 I started photographing my own works, now I feel this is complimentary to my body art as well as conceptualising the whole vision of the finished image.

How did you move from being a make-up artist to this?

In 1999 I created a calendar and my first exhibition of pinup style models, this was a huge dream for me.  In 2002 I created my first 'art' based collection named Petal in which I contorted the human form to created flower shapes and then blended the remaining form into the black background. 

I love exhibiting and creating my own work.  As a make-up artist working in the advertising world, you are mostly always following a brief.  I guess my exhibited work has a loose feel to the finished product and art allows for that. I am also really enjoying the photography as well and creating what I want to see in my mind.


How much eroticism comes into play when you are presenting works like these?

I like to think none but I am sure its more in the eye of the beholder.  I never went into this by wanting to show off the nude form, more a celebration of the female form and complimenting it with my creations and creating the illusion.  Nowadays the nude form is secondary to the artworks for me, maybe I am desensitised by it.

What is the funniest thing that has happened in the creation of your works?  I mean, some funny things must happen when people get their kit off and you get to work...

My latest collection, 'Panoramic Bodies' was created on site with all the acrobats pitching in helping painting each other, not the normal thing for tourists to find when finding us along their path!

Fainting is a big thing, about 20 per cent of the models I use faint.  Standing still can be quite hard on the body and when creating the wallpapers the models need to stand in position the whole time which can be exhausting.

Are you tattooed?  Do you think that there is some kinship between your ideas and tattoo culture?

No I am not tattooed although I have toyed with the idea of tattooing others for a while now.  If I were offered to be taught by a great artist, I would certainly take it up.  One of the wonderful things about what I do it that it washes off, I haven't found any design that I would be satisfied with on my body for the rest of my life to be honest.

Tell us about the suite of work that you're doing for Art Melbourne...

The works featured will be a taste of each of my collections and what I do including my porcelain works.  I am currently looking at gallery representation in Melbourne and establishing my market so it will be a broad range of my works including the Florence Broadhurst wallpaper favourites!

Is there something about being a "wall flower" that is being explored here?  I've got this weird feeling that you are anything but ...

I can't say that I am to be honest!  However maybe it might be nice to blend into your environment for a 'fly on the wall' experience.  The wallpaper images I feel are about the flow of pattern, illusion and soft femininity of the models with the quirky energy of Broadhurst's designs.

It is a cool tribute to be working with Florence Broadhurst designs.  What's the most inspiring thing about this?

About Broadhurst?I just love the colours and patterns, they are all amazing and very different from each other, allowing a different energy to each image.


Watch out for Emma Hack at Art Melbourne 2009.