Have you ever been body painted ? Well, I have now, here in Cali by the famous artist Yamore, and it was an incredible experience. I TRAVEL FOREVER is recognised as “The Traveler” (El Viajero). Yamore was to camouflage me as a street graffiti wall with an amazing display of art. This story shows that when things don’t work out in one place, another door opens with an even more incredible story to tell.
How did the idea arise?
I TRAVEL FOREVER has become more and more noticed wherever I go in the world. After a couple of weeks in Cali, Colombia, people started to talk and meeting a friend through another friend led me to Yair (the face in front of Yamore) who initiated the idea. Being very outgoing and always happy, I agreed to his offer to body paint me in front of a street graffiti wall. Whatever was coming ahead I didn’t know but I accepted purchasing white underwear to wear – yes sexy, ha ha.
The location
The day started really early and I still didn’t know what to expect. Yair was happy as always – just like me – and so I already felt that it would be a good day. He was very determined and did good research about the location where he wanted to make me disappear into a wall. Upon arriving on the site, we realised that it was not possible. Yamore kept cool and started walking around the area and found an even better wall on which to paint me “The Traveler” (El Viajero). The wall was still in San Antonio, across a big residential building and next to a road.
Yamore sent his photographers to the new address, unpacked all his tools (brushes, paint, airbrush, etc.) and then it was almost time to start.
THE EXPERIENCE
The experience started with me stripping, which obviously already got a lot of attention – just kidding. So, there I was standing, a white guy with white underwear in front of street art by Camilo Jauses.
First Yamore walked across the road to see me from a distance and then came back and started body painting me with a nude color to camouflage with the background of the face. He walked again to the other side to see where to put the lines on my body to separate colors: he showed concentration and was detailed and serious from the very first moment, but he still kept his sense of humor and we had fun all the time.
In the next moment he sprayed my face and my beloved travel beard with his airbrush – tickling my neck, it made me laugh. It was fun to see the reaction of the passengers going past because they seemed interested, stopped and observed. It gave me the feeling that the process must have been quite unique – seeing a person camouflaged with a wall. Myself, I was also very curious to see the final result. Yamore continued painting the different parts of my body and went into a variety little details with my mouth, necklace and coloring.
Some hours went by, some other friends of mine also joined and I disappeared more and more. At this point, my body started tingling because I had to hold my arms a certain way and stand still for the outcome to be perfect. It was not too bad because we had some breaks in between sessions and there were the good vibes of all the people around on the set that made the experience very enjoyable.
Click, click and click again, the photographers took a lot of photos during the process from every angle, but that was not all; we also got more attention from other passengers who walked by and cars/buses that drove passed. Sometimes, I just randomly started walking from my spot, which even got the attention of a local community program, Yo Creo en Cali,who interviewed Yamore about his work and the intention.
Then Yamore had the pleasure of painting the underwear – ha ha. Imagine how the airbrush feels above my… – oh well, too much detail. Anyway, after around four hours, we had the final results. Take a look.
May I present:
THE TRAVELER / EL VIAJERO
In my opinion an outstanding result that can be seen. Obviously, excellent work by the big Yamore. What do you think ?
A fun part of this body painting experience was frightening some passengers when they were walking by me – ha ha. One girl was even so afraid that she dropped her phone. It broke and she ran away. Never saw her again.
I TRAVEL FOREVER’s VIEW & RECOMMENDATION
I was very happy with the final result of the body painting and the photographs. Yamore is not only a friend, he is also one of the best artists that I’ve ever met, and I hope that all of you readers will follow his work on Facebook under Yamore. Yamore has a special way of working; he has a lot of experience, which makes him naturally work with confidence.
The challenge of body painting from my point of view was having to stand still for a couple of hours because I’m normally not that kind of person. Lucky enough the one tree around the area gave me shelter from the strong daytime sun.
I really liked the street art project and it seemed like a very sociable event for people to get together/gather in one spot. That was something I noticed, really enjoyed and it gave me a wonderful feeling.
The body painting was an incredible experience, where a spontaneous event like this just came out of nowhere and I feel so lucky that I had the honor to be part of it. This was definitely another highlight out of all my many travels and also demonstrates the great opportunities that arise when traveling. Never say no to any opportunity, especially for something like this ! The experience also showed me that when things don’t go by plan to not stress because no matter what it will work out – most of the time with an even better experience than expected.
I take every opportunity. What about you ?
#TW