Trina Merry
Trina Merry. is an American multimedia artist that uses the human body as a brush or a surface. She is best known for her trompe l’oeil street art performances that camouflage human canvases into their environments as well as her op art "human sculpture" installations. Merry is recognized as one of the top body painters in the world. Additionally, Merry's work highlights societal issues such as gender identity & equality, body image, and American consumerism.Early life and education
Merry was born in Seattle, WA and moved to San Jose, CA when she was 12. She graduated from Azusa Pacific University in Los Angeles, CA in 2002 with a bachelor's degree in film. Initially planning to pursue a career in film, she interned for Mel Gibson and worked in films and TV in the Art Department.
In 2005, Merry was struck by lightning and developed a sensitivity to electricity. In an effort to heal, she moved to Yosemite. During that period, Merry had the opportunity to attend a Dresden Dolls concert, a band whom she helped sign while working for Yamaha's Artist Relations Department. The Dolls were touring with the Australian band, The Red Paintings, who incorporated live body paintings during their performances. Amanda Palmer convinced Merry to get body painted. Merry describes that night as "a transformational experience", and her passion for bodypainting was born.
Merry moved back to San Jose, CA and began experimenting, blending models into graffiti in Clarion Alley, creating installations for the SubZERO Festival in the SoFA District, and bodypainting for her gallery exhibitions.
In 2011 Merry relocated to New Orleans to apprentice under world-renowned body painter, Craig Tracy. During her apprenticeship, Merry and Tracy collaborated on several notable pieces. This includes a "Visit Las Vegas" advertisement, commissioned by the City of Las Vegas, that appeared as a double page spread in the 2012 Sport Illustrated: Swimsuit Edition.
In 2013, Merry was invited to participate in the Watermill Center Summer Program, a laboratory for the arts founded by Robert Wilson in Southampton. Excited at the opportunity to grow within the unique environment the Watermill Center offered and learn from with performance artists Marina Abramovic and Robert Athey, Merry created multiple living body art installations, including four displayed during the Watermill's Center 20th anniversary benefit, "Devil’s Heaven".
Additionally, Merry studied visionary art with Alex and Allyson Grey at the Omega Institute in 2017. This contemporary art movement focuses on the expression of psychedelic experiences, and according to Alex Grey, "the artist's mission is to make the soul perceptible". Due to the shamanistic roots of ancient body paintings, Merry pursued the training in order to connect visionary art with body painting's rich cultural history.Career
Early works
In 2009, Merry exhibited with the Guerilla Girls at SOMArts. This created an early impression on Merry's future feminist works. Merry's mixed media painting "Imperial Wartime Jellyfish" featured Geishas trapped inside a nuclear fallout jellyfish with the "hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil" gestures. Surrounding them were multiple red glitter bombs falling from the sky. After completing "Television Totem Pole" for the 2010 SubZERO Festival, Merry continued to explore and focus her artistic talents on body painting.
As she dedicated herself to the mastering of bodypainting, Merry's art career led to her creating installation art, performance art, and fine art photography. While living in San Francisco, Merry was inspired to begin her "Graffitti Camouflage" performance art series in Clarion Alley. For her body paint performance art, Merry blended live models into the city's graffiti and mural walls. Graffiti Camouflage piqued the interests of thousands online, and it became Merry's first project to go viral.
Merry had many other early successes with installation and performance art. Her performance art "Drool" was featured at SOMArt's annual "100 Performances in the Hole" event in 2014.
Commercial successes were also achieved in Merry's early art career. While Merry did live body painting for Iggy Pop and The Stooges, James Williamson was so impressed by her work that he commissioned her to create album covers for the band.Human Motorcycle Project (2012-2014)
For the 2012 International Motorcycle Show, Merry created human sculptures of a sports bike, dirt bike, and a cruiser. Real life Supercross rider Erin Bates was the rider on each human-bike, wearing a painted on outfit for each composition. Merry told the Huffington Post, "Everyone has seen the pictures of scantily clad women next to motorbikes and cars and it can look a bit trashy. I wanted to take the idea of a beautiful woman and the motorbike and turn it on its head by making the bike from the bodies of the models. Nothing like this has ever been done before." The project landed Merry four gold awards at the 2013 American Advertising Awards including best in show. Additionally, Ripley’s Believe It Or Not! highlighted the project for special distinction.Street Art Photography & Happenings
Urban Camouflage (2014-Current)
After moving to New York City, Merry was inspired to do live body paintings in the streets of the bustling city. Continuing her signature camouflage style, Merry blended models into the city skyline and popular city scenes. The goal of "Urban Camouflage" was to connect with the city and explore its gender dynamics. In an interview with BuzzFeed in 2014, Merry remarked, " New York is such an aggressive, violent city-characteristics we usually associate with masculinity- when in fact there are way more women living here than men...I think many women move here hoping to live Sex and the City lives, when the reality is most women have to ditch their fancy designer heels on the subway for more practical sneakers."Lost in Wonder (2014)
As a way to explore tourism's effects on monumental locations, Merry created live body paint art at each of the New Seven Wonders of the World. Merry traveled to sites such as the Pyramids of Giza, Machu Picchu, and the Great Wall of China to camouflage models into these historical sites. Merry explained to A Plus that, "at major tourist sites like these, there are masses of visual consumers ‘taking’ from this environment without really appreciating the space or the history and culture of the people who made these structures. Artists are culture makers so I couldn't approach this trip the same way — We 'made' a picture and gave energy back to these places." The completed series, subsequently titled "Lost in Wonder", reminds others to stop, look, and truly appreciate the wonder that can be found all over.San Francisco: Visions from the Fog (2015)
Across the city of San Francisco, Merry painted nude models into their natural surroundings. Her models recreated gestures from famous works of art such as Matisse's "Dance" in front of the San Francisco Painted Ladies and Frida Kahlo’s "Two Fridas" in front of Lombardi Street. In an interview with Refinery29, Merry said the following about the series: "It is a female body-positive series that examines various stages of womanhood, including a baby, two pregnant women, and an older former Vogue model. The works also question censorship in the contemporary American media."In 2016, Merry traveled to Washington D.C to create eight trompe l’oeil street art performances in front of national landmarks such as the White House, Supreme Court, and Lincoln Memorial. Merry describes how she incorporated strong, feminist tones within each piece: "I went with the most iconic sites of power. I was looking to dynamically contrast masculine versus feminine, and power versus freedom." When asked about the series's significance amidst the election of Donald Trump, Merry stated that, "It’s important to be discussing freedom and power right now in light of the election, and especially in regards to the female body...so I feel like this series of work is more important than ever right now."Photography
Astrology Series (2015)
Captivated by how astrology influenced art across different times and cultures, Merry created her "Astrology" series as a way to examine astrology's current impact on the world. Each photograph in the series captures a human sculpture that Merry created for each of the twelve astrological signs. Ultimately, the series attempts to serve as an anthropological research project for Merry. Although Merry does not believe in astrology, she created the series to examine astrology's significance in pop culture and why people still use it to explain their world.Happy Daze (2016)
Merry collaborated with Beverly Hills fashion designer Lauren Moshi to create a human sculpture of Moshi's popular "Happy Daze" design. According to Moshi, "The Happy Daze design was inspired by our love of the 60s and 70s, as well as icons of that era that are known to put a smile on peoples faces.". Similar to Merry's other human sculptures, models were painted and arranged to give the illusion of the Happy Daze design. Merry's final artwork is a relief-style rendition of the design that incorporates both three dimensional and two dimensional elements.Lust of Currency (2017-Current)
In an effort to critique the art market, Merry reinterpreted over 20 of the most expensive art pieces in the world.. The body paint photography series incorporates models blended into backdrops of some of the world's most influential and expensive artworks. "Lust of Currency" was created to question how society values art, and each piece was named after the original artwork's most recent selling price. Additionally, the series questions how modern society experiences art on technological devices. While creating the series, the source images Merry pulled from the internet were oftentimes pixelated, cropped, miscolored, or flipped. Merry still printed the images as-is and camouflaged people into them in order to discuss the viewers’ experience. Mid-Series, Da Vinci's "Salvador Mundi" resold for $450.3 million, so Merry changed the name of her artwork.