Nationally known body painter hails from Hagerman (2024)

Though Mark Reid had shown an interest in art as a young boy, he couldn't have dreamed that painting designs on people'scheeks at the 1997Dairy Days in Dexter would one day lead him to a career that would take him around the world.

Soon after his Dairy Days appearance, Reid said he observed a woman painting faces using acrylics at the Roswell Mall, and that inspired him to come up with some face designs.

One of Reid's uncles, who was helping to promote wine festivals in New Mexico, asked Reid to do face painting at one of the festivals.

"I used to paint the kids, the vendors and the wine people," he said.

Reid recalled those festivals being a lot of fun.

He said the vendors would often give him tacos, noodles or wine in return for face painting their children.

"It was great," he said.

Eventually, Reid moved to Dallas, where he worked as a forklift operator. He continued to do face painting at festivals and joined a face painting guild.

There, he learned to use face makeup instead of acrylics.

From there, his career quickly took off.

In 2003, Reid's artwork was featured in "International Body and Face Art Magazine," and he was invited to the 2004 Face and Body Art International Convention (FABAC) in Orlando, Florida.

"They had a body paint competition there," Reid said. "I entered it, and I won it, and I was the first American to win it."

Reid said that prior to that competition, it was a staple in the face art world to paint a particular cat design.

"For two years, everybody painted the same cat," he said.

Reid said he had "had enough of the cat," and came up with a new, more sophisticated design.

"I went to the convention in Florida, and I painted my new cat," he said.

The convention was purring with excitement about his cat.

"Everybody's like, 'Who's Mark Reid?' Nobody knew who I was," Reid recalled, "and then that's when I won."

Since that time, Reid has won many awards in the trade, including awards in the 2007, 2008 and 2009 World Body Painting Festival.

Reid said it was at the 2007 World Body Painting Festival in Austria that he began to meet many of the other leading body painting artists.

"I knew a lot of artists from social media, but I'd never met them, and I finally got to meet them," he said. "Artists from all over the world."

He was then asked to come teach in Europe, he said.

It was there he met his close associate and frequent model Monique Lily, who is from Amsterdam, when she hosted one of his classes, Reid said.

Lily,an accomplished makeup artist and body painter in her own right, was also on hand Monday in Hagerman when Reid was interviewed by the Daily Record.

Reid uses a variety of themes when body painting, sometimes finding inspiration in unusual places.

"One day, I'm in Walmart," he said. "I'm at the checkout line, and there's an old cowboy standing in front of me. I just happened to look down, and there's his tooled leather belt.

"I go, 'Oh my God, nobody's done that before,'" Reid said.

He said he likes to do things nobody has done before.

"I always want to do something different," Reid said. "A lot of artists will constantly paint the same thing, just use different colors and stuff, and I can't do that."

Reid has also used his artistic talents in other media, such as signs and murals, including several examples around Hagerman.

Travelers entering Hagerman may see a sign painted by Reid dedicated to horse racing's 2018 Triple Crown-winning jockey Mike E. Smith, a Dexter native.

In addition, Reid has decorated local businesses, such as Toby's Cafe in Hagerman, with murals and signage.

Early in his career, Reid said he was asked to tour with a group doing an event called the "Body Art Ball," which included 15 models who were professional dancers, dance instructors or dance studio owners.

"They paid us $300, they flew us to all these cities," he said. "We could eat, drink and body paint."

Before the tour began, he was asked whether he could paint jeans on his models, a common body painting motif.

Reid replied, "Oh, yeah."

"I lied, you know, I'm not turning anything down," he said.

After his "pants on fire" reply, Reid began practicing how to paint jeans.

"I learned," he said. "I got a pair of jeans and had a girl put them on, and I took pictures of her bending her knees and her legs to see how the folds went."

Since then, he has painted jeans on models all over the world, Reid said.

A global career hasn't stopped Reid from engaging in a few small-town shenanigans, however.

One Sunday in Dexter, Reid said he body painted a local bartender at a friend's house.

After taking some pictures at a local club, Reid suggested they take a little walk in Dexter with his painted, but otherwise unclad, model.

"She's totally naked, but nobody knew it," he said. "Of course, probably only one or two cars passed by that day."

Reid said his career "pays the rent," but the biggest benefit is being able to travel.

He said he and Lily's next gig will be at the Midwest Artists Extravaganza (MAX), April 21-25 in St. Louis, where they will be teaching classes with the theme "Back to the '50s."