Baldness: A new canvas for awesome art

Subject: Baldness: A new canvas for awesome art Fri Mar 19, 2010 8:59 pm

Baldness: A new canvas for awesome art

When Philip Levine first started losing his hair in his early twenties he didn't quite know how to deal with the situation.

He knew he didn't want to wear a wig, but neither did he want to look like so many other men who simply shave their head.

"I was receding and going bald," he said. "I wanted to shave my head but not conform to societies look of a typical bald man who all look the same in T-shirts, jeans and trainers."

And then he came up with an idea which would ensure he didn't conform the normal bald man stereotype...

"I thought why not use it as a canvas, paint and attach things to my head using the border of where my hair would be," said the 28-year-old Londoner.

He contacted a friend and professional body painter Kat Sinclair to help him turn his idea into a reality. After shaving his head to give a smooth canvas he let her loose with a paint brush.
Philip says he was so impressed with the result, that he knew this would become a regular thing for him and started coming up with different designs to express parts of his personality.

Since then he has penned dozens of designs which Kat has recreated on his head. These have ranged from a giant wave splashing over his ears, to his head becoming shrubbery dotted with model butterflies.
On average the designs take two hours to create, but some of the more elaborate have taken up to five hours and are therefore reserved for parties. His favourite so far is a time consuming one where Kat covered his head with 1,000 Swarovski crystals, each individually glued on.

Despite the eye-catching nature of his painted head, Philip says the aim was never to purposefully go out to get attention, but to express himself and show that going bald does not have to be seen as a weakness.

"My initial message was to take what may be seen as a weakness in humans and use it as a form of creative expression," said the creative entrepreneur.

But as a positive side effect he says the designs have brought inspiration to people with alopecia and cancer.

"With that and not intentionally I have had messages from sufferers of cancer, alopecia and general people balding that they are inspired to do something on their head.

"Unlike a wig where you are hiding what maybe seen as a deformity what I do is tell people to feel special, original and embrace what could be looked at as a weakness and turn it into a strength."

Click on the link for pictures.

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