creampuff gallery: Artwork by Toby Text from CREAMPUFF Magazine, 2-4-99 Body painting has been an artistic endeavor of the human race for thousands of years. Primitive cultures on every continent of the world use this form of art as a means of communication for both social and spiritual purposes. Yet modern society has all but abandoned this except as a means of beautification, a la Lancome or Maybelline, and then only is this "paint" used on the face. I argue, however, that body painting is a lost art, an art that the human "collective unconscious" can -- and in fact does -- easily identify with, as evidenced by the mesmerized looks of fascination on the faces of patrons of the former Club Groove when Toby did his body painting "ceremony" on the performance dancers on the dancefloor at 1015 Folsom. There are distinct tribal elements involved with painting dancers: music, dancing, art and group hypnosis through repetitive beats being major factors. As Toby perceptively points out, "We have grown up in a culture [i.e. Christianity] that tells us that the primal is wrong, but it's not." Indeed, this factor gives the whole body painting a subversive element, which makes it all the more appealing to us San Francisco outcasts. The fact that primitive body painting performed on dancers in an overtly hyper-technological setting like a flashy urban danceclub also provides an extreme contrast which gives it an unintentional edge. Catch Toby in action on Sunday, February 14th, at Club Sweet Sunday at 550 Barneveld. Of course, Toby does not only apply his bodypaint to people in danceclubs. He also paints models in his studio to correspond to his own custom-painted backdrops, which he then also photographs himself. Some of these striking images appear on this page, as well as on the cover of this issue of creampuff magazine. The bizarre and often visual deceptions created in this style speak for themselves. Toby has been creating art for over 20 years and started doing body painting about two years ago. The concept began for him when Toby wanted to paint himself into his own picture. It proved too difficult to paint himself so now he paints others into his paintings. For the artist, body painting was another way to bring the spirit out of the artwork. "It's theater," says Toby. Live theater. Live art. Live tribalism. Art, like history, once again comes full circle.