Getting Some Nude Body Painting In Times Square

On Learn About Naturist Girls and Girls Naturists in late July, several nudies including myself assembled in Manhattan. We prepared to get naked for among the few times public nudity is permitted in NYC: for a live art exhibition!
We, FKK, had partnered up with Andy Golub for a group body painting session at the outer edges of Times Square, 53rd and Broadway. Ten individuals participated, including a man who volunteered in the crowd.
Overall the day went very well, but not without its fair share of trouble from city officials, police officers and security guards. First some folks came over maintaining the sidewalk we were on was their property (it wasn’t), so Andy had to cope with them. Afterward we’d some plain-clothes police officers come over, shouting and demanding that I put my clothes on.
I just kind of stared and continued to get painted. After validating that they were really officers, Andy retrieved some records he carries with him, for situations just such as this. They calmed down and began reading a letter which explains that nudity is completely legal in NYC if it’s part of an exhibition or show.
This letter also says that he has express permission from NYPD to do his body painting. They said “fine” and left us alone. This is not a one time occurrence for Andy, who gets disturbed and harassed all the time while doing his live body paintings, despite the fact he has permission and that it is 100% legal.
Body Painting with FKK by Andy Golub, pic by Dave Hoffman

There was a crowd of onlookers at all times, but in this area, it was much tamer than when I got body painted in the middle of Times Square. People honed in a little too closely at times, but it was small enough to restrain.
We took off our tops to begin, Andy painted, and then we continued to take off the remainder. It is the first summer that Andy has painting naked folks in the day.
He formerly had an agreement with the city to only paint models in g-strings until sundown. With a brand new lawyer, they managed to get rid of this unfair deal, and today he can paint naked people at any time of day (which was constantly legal).
Once we were all painted, we took a slow walk down to the busier part of Times Square, weaving through the swarms of folks. We stopped for a few jpg ops, shows off together in front of a parking garage, a Starbucks window, and other places. The coffee shop patrons appeared happy to see us.
The reactions were generally My Neighbor the Closet Nudist . I believed Andy Golub’s Nude Body Painting – Artistic Unclothed or Completely Lewd? was amazing that we had such a varied group of models – fat, skinny, young, old, of different shapes, sizes and ethnicities. Naked (or almost-naked) people in the media all basically represent one appearance, one race, one body type. We need more diversity in this way!
I inquired the models themselves for comments about the entire experience, and here’s what they had to say:
“This was the creation of body art [while] discussing with, laughing with, modeling with, simply having fun with the crowd. I have been a performer for quite a long time, and this is probably the most ecstatic and appreciative audience I Have ever had. It was indescribably entertaining. I would get it done again in a pulse.” Mr. Sandy
“As you may know from my site, I’m quite comfortable naked and I’ve been to numerous events that involved full body painting, but doing it at Times Square brings this experience to another degree. It took some time to get used to maintain the center of attention of tons of folks, but the general feeling of fun and encouragement caused it to be simple to enjoy it! Obviously, many people were curious about what was occurring, and you could see all kinds of reactions but virtually all were favorable.
Many folks were surprised to find out it was totally legal. It was funny to hear that even when individuals were baffled at first, they promptly approved the event just as they heard the magic word ‘art’ – Why are we so attached to labels? Fortunately, some people discovered another important aspect of the body art occasion the models were of different ages and body complexions, which certainly encouraged body acknowledgement; and could there be any better place for that than Times Square? ” -Kirill
Nonetheless, not all the reactions were positive. Not long after How I Began Taking My Nude Body , our good friend Maria received an anonymous letter. It was an appalling attack on her size and appearance. It read:
“Now the debris of the body painting high you were in is over its time someone told you the truth. Nobody said you were amazing or which you look fantastic because you did not. As a matter fact most people who saw your photos looked away in disgust. You paraded yourself as a naturist/model for the whole world to see; in reality, you were a sideshow act right out of a 19th century carnival freak show.