cover image Paint a 'Licious: The Pain-Free Way to Achieving Your Naked Ambitions

Paint a 'Licious: The Pain-Free Way to Achieving Your Naked Ambitions

Joanne Gair, . . Andrews McMeel, $19.95 (128pp) ISBN 978-0-7407-5537-8

Celebrity body painter Gair turns her talents to comic ends with this book of trompe l'oeil photographs. Until now, Gair, who is best known for the "birthday suit" she painted on Demi Moore for Vanity Fair 's August 1992 cover, has dedicated her talents to helping other people realize their artistic visions. She's done body painting for music videos by Madonna and Nine Inch Nails, for ad campaigns by Versace and Pirelli and for photo features in Playboy and Vogue . For this volume, however, Gair not only painted the bodies, she also wielded the camera and conceived the scenes. The result is exquisite body painting set into scenes of bawdy, almost adolescent humor. The images are organized around the idea that body painting can help people realize their fantasies. "It's a Stretch but You've Still Got It," for example, shows an old woman in a pink tutu doing the splits on a golden stage, with the help of an assistant painted to blend into the curtains. "No Sweat" shows an overweight woman happily leading an aerobics class—her body painted so that she appears 30 pounds slimmer. If you think such scenes are funny, you'll love the book. (Oct. 11)