Imagine walking up to a market stand to purchase some fresh produce, only to find that the produce was actually painted across the body of a woman, laying camouflaged in greens, reds, oranges, and yellows. This is exactly what visitors to West London's Portobello Market found as they recently perused their food options. This, along with several other scenes, were the results of a promotional campaign hosted by UK television channel Really in order to promote their new TV drama, Covert Affairs. Some very clever network employees concocted this concept, commissioning world famous body artist Carolyn Roper to advertise for the upcoming show through her skilled body paint techniques.
Based in London, Roper's works have been featured internationally in everything you can imagine, from television ads, newspapers, magazines, books, and even music CD covers. For this urban camouflage project, the artist spent more than 18 hours across three days, covering women from head to toe in camouflaged body paint. She then photographed the women, concealed within various scenes along the surrounding city streets of London. From vegetable stands to the back seats of a bus, the designs are so perfectly done that it may take you a minute to find each hidden woman. You can watch a short video below to see some of the reactions of fellow bus passengers as they realize the 'empty seat' is actually occupied! Covert Affairs started on Really on September 19, 2012 if you want to check it out.
And, if you enjoy the idea of camouflaging people into everyday scenes, you may like this work by artist Liu Bolin, dubbed the “Vanishing Artist” due to his amazing skills at blending people seamlessly into many different backgrounds.
