"Galvez holds naked fashion show"
-Daily Tribune
09/26/2006

The recent naked art fashion of mural artist Alfred Galvez was a big hit show in spite of the one hour delay because of the rain.

Organizers witnessed the spectators ogling at the 20 female bodies clad in acrylic in their theatre make-up walking the ramp to the music of the Makiling Ensemble.

Highlights of the show includes a huge flower covering the chest of one girl, while a fiery dragon wrapped itself around another. One model sported a Thai-inspired print of small flowers against a black body, while another strode in all painted white with small and intricate prints of gold.

Sponsors also saw their logos and products come to life as one model strutted onstage painted with a nightscape image of Eastwood City, while another girl wore a bottle of Gran Matador on her torso.

“ It is nice these things since we design directly on the body. It is more like a study, a live study,” said Galvez. The women were, of course, wearing panties and nipple tapes to ward off the morality police.

Unlike a flat canvass or a wall, Galvez said the major challenge of working on human skin lies in dealing with the curves and outlines, especially in a woman’s body. Each design cost between P5,000 and P 7,500.00 to create.

Well, after the success of the show, Galvez said he plans to do more naked art shows.

"Naked and sacred"
-Manila Standard

By the way she projects in front of the camera, one can easily tell this model is far from feeling discomfort, being stripped off her clothes.

The model does feel beautiful when body artist Alfred Galvez painted her whole body with striking colors. As soon as he hears it, the painter realizes a kind of accomplishment.

“She’s naked no more,” he says to himself.

But naked art is not a joke. Galvez follows the rule of painting at least 80 percent of the model’s body, as amended by the World Body Painting Association based in Seeboden, Austria.

Now everyone’s looking forward to Sept. 9 as Galvez unveils a collection of naked bodies in colors, through a body painting, fashion show, dubbed ‘Naked Art.’ The show will start at 7:30 p.m. at the Central Plaza in Eastwood City, Libis. Ten models will transform the catwalk into a gallery featuring artworks that are walking and dancing.

Naked Art is presented by Alfred Galvez and aRTi entertainment and artist management company. Call 0917-3774877 or e-mail arti.entertainement@gmail.com for details.

—ACVelasco and VSilarde Image by Vincent Silarde

 "The Medium is the Message"
Manila Bulletin
By RONALD S. LIM

Nudity.

There are a lot of misconceptions about body painting, but that particular one has got to be the most prevalent. Alfred Galvez, muralist and practicing body painter, is having none of it.

While his company, Alfred Galvez Wall Art, Design & Finishes has been making various spaces into works of art through murals, faux finishes and wall treatments, Galvez has also been deep into making the human form, specifically that of the woman, transcend its own limitations and become an amazing work of art in itself, even for a fleeting moment.

At the same time that Galvez was experimenting with murals at the University of the Philippines College of Fine Arts, he was also exploring the possibilities of exploring a canvas as exciting and stimulating as the walls he was experimenting on.

"A wall is a flat wall, the material I look at are the interiors and the accessories," he explains. "If you have a Greek-inspired table, then I create a Greek theme. With body painting, it is the female form. How will the design go around the curves of the female body?"

THE BODY AS CANVAS

Galvez has been moving in the art world and tackling these kinds of questions since he was young. Not only is he an Iskolar ng Bayan, he is also an alumnus of the Philippine High School for the Arts, and has been painting murals since he was 13.

At 21, he was already handling large scale projects for such large companies like Levi’s and Swatch, and for those with an interest in Pinoy pop culture, his company was also the one that painted the walls of the Big Brother House for ABS-CBN’s Pinoy Big Brother Teen Edition.

Today at 33, success has definitely come to Galvez through this various projects, but this artist wants to further expand his talents and launch a body painting fashion show on Sept. 9 at the Eastwood Mall. Galvez promises that this show will be something else entirely different.

"It’s more of a visual art, executed in a fashion show," he says. "It’s a visual painting form, an art form na skin as a canvas. And what’s beautiful about it is that it is three-dimensional. Every angle has a differnt design, a different painting. The execution, since it is skin, will be in a fashion show instead of a gallery."

In fact, he says we should consider this whole show as an entire experience to be enjoyed on various levels.

"Body painting is also like theater and dance, it is a full performance," he explains. "During the fashion show, we will have the Makiling Ensemble performing, with the paintings and the movement that goes with it. You have the visual elements, you have music, and the special effects and the lights. It is a full production."

But why delve into this relatively new territory when he already has a comfortable career with mural making? For Galvez, the answer was simple artistic progression.

"When I started painting, I had an obssession with the female form. I thought that rather than painting the female form as a subject, I would paint on the female form," he explains. "But I’m not abandoning murals. Murals are the inspiration for this project. The themes for the paintings are also my themes in the murals: Patterns and nature. It’s more decorative."

Galvez also points out that like any work of art, body painting requires a lot of thinking and planning. The only difference is that body painting offers an alternative canvas for artists to work on.

"What’s complicated about bodypainting is conceptualizing the theme. you have to have a theme and concept like regular painting," he says. "From that concept, you derive what colors, paints, and models you use. Right now I’m exploring professional models, but eventually I want to branch out to pregnant women, and so on and so forth."

Galvez also outlines the many ways that an artist can make a living out of body painting either through exhibitions or collaborations with various other art forms, and even multinational companies.

"Body painting is also a collaborative effort between you and the model, and you can even extend that to other mediums," he says. "It is important for photography because it is the only way to document it. That’s one way for a bodypainter to make money, by tieing up with photographers and coming up with print material. You could work with filmmakers to document the whole process or use it in a music video. You can even look into advertising and have these companies logos painted onto your models’ bodies."

AN ART FORM

While body painting may be just like any other art form, painting a female body is still an entirely different affair from painting a flat, unresponsive wall. It is this particular challenge, and getting to work with a particularly responsive model, that keeps Galvez pursuing this art form.

"Body painting requires a lot of discipline," he says. "I am very strict when I prepare my materials, everything should be there and complete. Discipline is also important with models, and I appreciate those who turn when they’re told to turn. How the model will give her skin to be painted is something that is very important."

There is no question that discipline is indeed a crucial part of body painting. Painting one body by himself usually takes five to six hours. The fashion show, which will feature 12 models, will require a team of assistants to help him out.

"During the fashion show, there will be 10 artists to assist me, but everything will already be prepared," he says. "All they have to do is execute while I check up on them and do the final touches one by one."

All the hard work that goes into creating this momentary masterpieces is what makes Galvez so passionate about removing body painting from the realm of easy tittilation into a much more refined space.

"It is really the nudity that we wish to combat, because that turns people off," he says. "Admittedly, that misconception also attracts an audience, but when they see it, they are attracted by the artistry of it. We are trying to put body painting in a higher level. It can have a concept and can be executed and presented very well. We can take bodypainting as a visual experience that we can enjoy and change the next day."

With the fashion show, Galvez hopes that the minds of laymen will be opened to an entirely new aspect of body painting that they may not have considered before.

"It’s a visual experience, for everybody. We seldom see painted people, aside from tattoos, and unlike tattoos, this is more vibrant," he says. "This is more like looking at a painting, and the painting is moving. When they see the art work, they forget about the nakedness and just see the possibilities of creating this kind of art."