Image courtesy of Mark Reid
The Demonstrators
Presenting Christopher Agostino...
I began painting faces in 1976 and never stopped (Why would I? It's too much fun!). My background in theater and graphic arts led me towards mask-like designs that completely transform the human face. From the Amazon to Africa to the Chinese Opera, I draw inspiration from cultural sources to develop designs that capture the essential quality of traditional body art. My faces are more than decorations. In the traditional function of the mask-maker, they give the wearer a subjective experience of being transformed into a new identity. The faces are painted so quickly, in three minutes or less, that this is a true performance art - as exciting to watch as to be painted.
Taking my art on stage in The Transformation! Show, I bring folktales and my original stories to life on the faces of the audience for festivals, theaters and schools. In 2003, my performance/lecture, The World History of Masks and Facepainting, was the opening presentation at the Face and Body Art International Convention, where I have also been a featured instructor. My paintings on people have appeared on the NBC Today Show, the CBS Early Show and the cover of the Abercrombie & Fitch Spring Quarterly 2000. In 2007, I was given the wonderful opportunity by Kryolan Professional Makeup to chronicle my thirty year adventure in this unconventional art in a book: Transformations! The Story Behind the Painted Faces.
Along the way I have gathered a dedicated company of artists to expand my ability to effect a crowd with our living art. At a Transformations! event every face is different, every face is a creative work of art. In fourteen years of public events at the world-famous Bronx Zoo we have painted tens of thousands of adults and children, setting a standard within the New York entertainment industry and transforming the idea of what a painted face can be. We appear at about two hundred events annually throughout the New York tri-state region.
My wife Lorraine and I live in Baldwin, NY with our two children. Lorraine is a performer, artist and director of our theater and event company, Agostino Arts. In addition to our facepainting company we present original theatrical productions, including The Bodacious Book Show, our bona fide hit arts-in-education program that has played in hundreds of schools over more than ten years.
TRANSFORMATIONS!
Painted Faces. Living Art.
Christopher Agostino
3 Windsor Rd.; Baldwin, NY 11510
516-771-8086 fax 516-705-0724
email: christopher@agostinoarts.com