Flesh Tint #3
Given that I’ve consistently been drawn to painting nudes, representing skin color has always fascinated me. During art school, I was given a supply list with a tube of oil paint identified as “flesh tint #3” on it. I went to the candy store (known to most people as the art supply store) and found myself unintentionally wandering around in a haze. The name of the candy store was Pygmalion’s, known as “Pygs” to their friends. Needless to say, I frequented their shop often. I knew where things were. I certainly knew where the oil paint was. So, why was I wandering around aimlessly? It was “flesh tint #3.” It bothered me. It bothered me that I should have to use a pre determined flesh color to represent human skin.
I challenge you: Look at your wrist. No. Really look at it. It isn’t one color. Look at it again later in the day after the light has changed. Your wrist won’t be the same color. Now look at it when there is a splash of color around it. It won’t be the same color. Look at the tendons. they’re a different color. Look at the veins. Different. Look at the contours and the shadows and how they react differently to all of the different colors around you. When I look, I see all kinds of colors show up in the highlights and shadows of peoples’ skin. Now, I realize that most people don’t view others as green with orange highlights like I do, but “flesh tint #3” is awful. It’s flat. It’s boring. It’s offensive on so many levels. I couldn’t understand why we were being asked to buy it. For me, the beauty and diversity of skin color warranted the excitement of using every single color on the color wheel. I bought that ridiculous color and nonchalantly never used it.
Top-notch and Ninja Nuance know what racism is. Mr. CB and I told them. We talked at great lengths about the horrific murder of George Floyd and what we can do to combat systemic racism. Ninja Nuance clasped her hand over her mouth, her eyes wide with tears in them as Mr. CB and I tried to explain to them what was going on in our world. Top-notch just kept repeating “I don’t understand” over and over again. We have conversations, we take them to protests (for the second time in their short lives - They both remember going to the Women’s March in Boston), we share what steps Mr. CB and I are doing to try to affect change, and most importantly we focus on empathy and compassion. It’s not enough. I know that. I also know that being satisfied with an uninspired, flat representation of the color of someone’s skin is close-minded and dangerous. I’d like to inspire others to look past our pre determined ideas of skin color. That’s why my nudes are so colorful. Using “flesh tint #3” or any other manufactured color to represent the diversity and beauty of human skin ignores what makes us fascinating and what brings beauty to the world. Denying, repressing, and oppressing only serves to bring ugliness. At the end of the conversation about George Floyd, Top-notch turned to Mr. CB and said “Dad, all it takes for evil to win is for good people to do nothing.”
