A Madhouse Canvas

A Madhouse Canvas

AArtist Carrie Esser uses her body as a canvas to express herself

WORDS BY Sophia Adornetto

PHOTOS BY Sophia Adornetto & Richa Sheth

Beginning

In Carrie Esser’s studio, paint brushes are neatly organized in a little white coffee mug with different colored lipsticks covering the cup. Vibrant palettes are spread all over the desk with bits of water droplets forming at the center. A drawing book is propped up against the wall with rough sketches drawn all over the pages, a master blueprint of what will come to life.

For Esser, art is a passion. From a young age, the senior majoring in entrepreneurship would paint canvases, work with clay and create crafts. It was during high school she decided to start using makeup to enhance her beauty and express her individuality. Soon after, Esser discovered body painting and realized she could combine her love for art and makeup together. Her business, Makeup Madhouse, was created.

Process

During her first full year learning how to body paint, the self-taught artist would only use eyeshadow and eyeliner to create pieces on both herself and her friends. On Halloween 2013, she created her first official body paint: a detailed sugar skull painted on the left side of her face as her costume. From 2013 to now, Esser has grown, not only as an artist, but as a social media influencer for other creatives around the world — with currently over 13,600 followers on Instagram.

Appreciating the following she developed from her social media accounts, Esser realized she could make a career out of her talents. When she came to Kent State in 2015, she was pleasantly surprised by how many people recognized her from social media.

“People were like, ‘Oh my gosh, are you Makeup Madhouse?’” Esser says.

She was recognized by the Kent State community and now the makeup industry. She was called by NYX Professional Makeup to be in the Top 30 of the 2018 Freedom and Artistry for Creative Expression (FACE) Awards. Esser competed for a spot in the Top 20 and then Top 12 of the competition. After winning again in the Top 12, she competed for a spot in the Top 6, but didn’t get enough votes to move ahead.

“This wasn’t my time to move to that next step,” she says. “Big and better things will come, or I’ll make them happen. So I just realized that I need to keep doing what I love, and the right thing will happen.”

Inspiration

Esser finds inspiration for body painting ideas all around her. These ideas stem from musicians’ album covers, holidays like Halloween and Christmas, current events, television shows, movies and even her friends and family. One of the looks she created while competing in the FACE Awards was inspired by pop singer Shawn Mendes’ “In My Blood” album cover. Esser recreated the optical illusion of effervescent flowers blooming out of the left side of her face.

There are times when Esser hits a creative block where she struggles to come up with ideas for looks. She makes an effort to be patient and let the creativity come to her.

“Sometimes, I get stuck. If I do have an artist block or creative block and I don’t feel like I need to push myself to do it, then I just take a break. I wait till something comes in mind and I get really inspired,” she says.

Esser reminds herself that fighting through the creative block is part of the process because it makes her a stronger artist.

Future

After her spring 2019 graduation, Carrie hopes to create body painting artwork for large companies to help market their brand and missions to their audiences.

“There was a company [Proteostasis Therapeutics] that I did a cystic fibrosis awareness piece for,” Esser says. “This company hired me to paint on myself, take pictures and give them the pictures to be used for marketing and so that people can get awareness. That’s what I want to be able to do more of.”

Esser also hopes to encourage others who are interested and passionate about body painting to use the artform as a creative outlet to express their emotions and feelings.

“I had a boy that treated me wrong at one point, and it was around Valentine’s,” she says. “I created this really dark makeup and I’m like, ‘You know what? I’m going to make myself look so badass and just be me and do me because what else matters.’ I use [body painting] to make me happy.”

SOPHIA ADORNETTO | sadornet@kent.edu