Today is Body Painting Day, a July 8 holiday. It is also called NYC Body Painting Day, as it originated in New York City. This holiday celebrates the serious work of art and self-expression. Of painting on a nude or largely nude, live human body. Consider the art of body painting. First of all, while it is partially about nudity, it is not about sexuality. It is a 3-D artwork and a form of self-expression and body acceptance, that cannot be captured on a two-dimensional canvas. And, unlike a stone statue, body art captures a unique, live, and moving picture, that cannot be expressed in a piece of stone, no matter how good the artist is. 

New York City artist Andy Golub is the founder and promoter. Golub started the art of body painting on the streets of New York City in 2007. For this first public, non-commercial event, Golub used models in g-strings. In 2011, he used totally nude models, both male, and female, for the first time. The models are ordinary people, not professional models. Along the way, Golub was arrested, but ultimately charges were dropped, as this art was proven to be legal under the Constitution, and a legal expression of art, just like any painting or sculpture you will see on the streets of Rome, or in an art museum.

Body Painting has spread in popularity. Among the cities formally holding an annual Body Painting Day are: Amsterdam (2015), San Francisco (2016), and Berlin (2017) 

Other forms of artistic self-expression include body piercings and tattoos.