World Champion titles from Europe, Asia, and North America
Competition bodypainting is not a gallery opening. It is closer to a sport, fast, physical, unforgiving. The human body carries roughly twenty-two square feet of surface, and every inch of it has to be painted, from nothing, against the clock, in front of a jury and a crowd. Each design has never existed before and will never exist again. It is made to last a single day.
We went to Austria to test ourselves against professionals from more than forty countries. We came home champions. Then we did it again. And again. What follows is how it happened, in our own words.
The first title
Before we ever competed, Scott sketched a drawing of the two of us as world champions and taped it to a kitchen cabinet. We practiced for months and put everything we had into a single gamble.
It nearly didn’t happen. A week before we were to fly, Madelyn fell gravely ill and was hospitalized. The morning of the flight, Scott was in emergency dental surgery. We almost missed the plane, fumbled a connection, and barely arrived at all. Madelyn was so weak she left the hotel room only for the competition itself.
The theme that year was “Inner Fears, Battling the Invisible.” We made a piece from the most vulnerable place we had: the struggle from addiction to recovery, drawn from Madelyn’s own story. We presented it, by coincidence, on her sobriety anniversary, in tears, before the jury. After preliminaries we sat in fourth place. For the finals we let go of the score and painted with nothing but positive focus. When our piece took the stage, we watched the audience itself begin to weep.
Then we heard the crowd. The drawing on the kitchen cabinet had become real.
And then every year after
We made that drawing every year we competed. And every year we came home with another first-place trophy.
It never got easier. Every competition brought some new and seemingly impossible obstacle, and every time, we locked eyes and held to the highest version of the outcome we could imagine. It was a master class in keeping a vision intact against everything trying to break it.
In the end we became the only artists in the history of bodypainting to win all five World Awards, in five entirely different categories, achieved in just four years. We also took first-place titles in Asia and in the United States.
The Guinness record
Along the way we set a Guinness World Record for the most bodies painted. We will never forget the cheer that erupted from hundreds of people the moment it was confirmed, a color tribe of folks from eight to eighty, all grinning, who together turned the landscape into a massive living mandala of red and blue and green.
The events we founded
After the titles, we wanted something the wins alone couldn’t give us: a way to bring the art home, and to put others on the stage.
With a few friends who shared the vision, we founded Living Art America, The North American Bodypainting Championship. It became the premier fine-art bodypainting event in the United States, and the largest in the Western Hemisphere. We created the Jan Tana Bodypainting Revolution inside Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Sports Festivals. We launched the first bodypainting film festival. We were the first to fuse bodypainting with opera, and the first to stage it alongside fire performance.
We are proud to win. We are just as proud to mentor, because that is how the art grows.
When a film crew once asked us why we do it, the answer was easy. Love. Love for the art, for the way it touches people, for the generosity of the global bodypainting community, and for the chance to share something this deeply human with the world.
The full record
The narrative above is the experience. This is the proof, the complete formal record, for press, bookers, curators, and anyone doing due diligence.
World & International Awards
2019 Second Place – World Bodypainting Festival, Category: “Team” (Austria)
2019 First Place – Carolina Bodypainting Guild
2017 Betty Cone Medal of Art – Presented by Betty Cone and ArtsGreensboro, this is Greensboro’s highest and most prestigious award given to an artist (Greensboro, NC)
2016 First Place Audience Choice Award – Living Art Tennessee
2015 Honorary Award – Best Bodypainting Wedding – World Bodypainting Festival, presented by Art Fashion Studio (Austria)
2014 First Place – World Bodypainting Festival, Category: “UV Performance” (Austria)
2014 First Place – World Bodypainting Festival, Category: “Face Painting” (Austria)
2014 Appreciation Award – Korean Makeup Artist Association (South Korea)
2013 First Place – World Bodypainting Festival, Category: “Airbrush” (Austria)
2013 First Place – Daegu International Bodypainting Festival (South Korea)
2012 First Place – World Bodypainting Festival, Category: “Special Effects” (Austria)
2012 Second Place – Daegu International Bodypainting Festival (South Korea)
2012 First Place – Bodies as a Work of Art (Atlanta, GA) 2012 Audience Choice Award – Bodies as a Work of Art (Atlanta, GA)
2011 First Place – North American Bodypainting Championship Category: “Brush and Sponge” (Dallas, TX)
2011 First Place – World Bodypainting Festival, Category: “Brush and Sponge” (Austria)
2010 Third Place – North American Bodypainting Championship, Category: “Brush and Sponge” (Las Vegas, NV)
2010 Second Place – World Bodypainting Festival, Category: “Brush and Sponge” (Austria)
2007 Guinness World Record, “Most Bodies Painted” (Sherman, NY)
Special Awards
2016 – Cameleon Bodypaint sponsored “The Scott Fray and Madelyn Greco Competitive Spirit Award” given to Deborah Brommer as a part of Living Art America.
2015 – Cameleon Bodypaint inaugurated a new award in our honor to be given annually. “The Scott Fray and Madelyn Greco Competitive Spirit Award” was given to Angela Rene Roberts as a part of Living Art America in 2015.
Judging
2020 Scott and Madelyn served as lead judges for the Jan Tana Bodypainting Revolution at the Arnold Classic (Columbus, OH – Johannesburg, South Africa – Barcelona, Spain)
2019 Scott served as lead judge for the Texas Bodypainting Festival by Beyond the Canvas (San Antonio, TX)
2019 Scott and Madelyn served as lead judges for the Jan Tana Bodypainting Revolution at the Arnold Classic (Columbus, OH – Johannesburg, South Africa – Barcelona, Spain)
2019 Madelyn served as the lead judge and chose the jury for the Daegu International Bodypainting Festival (South Korea)
2018 Scott served as lead judge for the Texas Bodypainting Festival by Beyond the Canvas (San Antonio, TX)
2018 Scott served as the lead judge and chose the jury for the Daegu International Bodypainting Festival (South Korea)
2018 Scott and Madelyn served as lead judges for the Jan Tana Bodypainting Revolution at the Arnold Classic (Columbus, OH – Johannesburg, South Africa – Barcelona, Spain)
2017 Madelyn served as a judge for the Texas Bodypainting Festival (San Antonio, TX)
2017 Scott and Madelyn served as the judges for the Christmas Jumper Contest for the Paintopia Bodypainting Festival (England)
2017 Madelyn served as the lead judge and chose the jury for the Daegu International Bodypainting Festival (South Korea)
2017 Madelyn served as a judge for FABAIC Face and Body Art International Convention (Orlando, FL)
2016 Madelyn served as a judge for the Paintopia Bodypainting Festival (England)
2015 Scott served as the lead judge and chose the jury for the Daegu International Bodypainting Festival (South Korea)
2015 Scott served as a judge for the World Bodypainting Festival (Austria)
2015 Madelyn served as a judge for FABAIC Face and Body Art International Convention (Orlando, FL)
2015 Scott and Madelyn served as lead judges for Living Art Greensboro (Greensboro, NC)
2015 Scott served as a judge for the International Fine Art Bodypainting Award, presented by IFAB at LAA (Atlanta, GA)
2015 Scott served as the lead judge for Living Art America (Atlanta, GA)
2014 Madelyn served as a judge for BayFABA International Face & Body Art Convention (San Francisco, CA)
2014 Scott and Madelyn served as judges for Sanibel Island Bodypainting Competition (Sanibel Island, FL)
2014 Madelyn served as a judge for the Greater Midwest Bodypainting Competition (Madison, WI)
2014 Madelyn served as the lead judge and chose the jury for the Daegu International Bodypainting Festival (South Korea)
2014 Scott served as a judge for the International Fine Art Bodypainting Award, presented by IFAB during the Global Bodypainting Conference at WBF (Austria)
2014 Scott and Madelyn served as lead judges for Living Art Greensboro (Greensboro, NC)
2013 Scott served as a judge for PMAC, the Professional Makeup Artist Conference and Trade Show (Atlanta, GA)
2013 Scott and Madelyn served as lead judges for Living Art America (Atlanta, GA)
2011 Scott served as a judge for the Daegu International Bodypainting Festival (South Korea)
Judge Selection / Event Organizing
2018, 2019, 2020 Scott and Madelyn selected the judges for the Jan Tana Bodypainting Revolution at the Arnold Classic (Columbus, OH – Johannesburg, South Africa – Barcelona, Spain)
2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019 Scott and Madelyn selected the judges for the Daegu International Bodypainting Festival (Daegu, South Korea)
2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017 Scott and Madelyn selected the judges/organized for Living Art America (Atlanta, Greensboro)
2014, 2015 Scott and Madelyn selected the judges/organized for Living Art Greensboro (Greensboro, NC)
Museum & Gallery Exhibitions
2017 Adam Cave Fine Art Gallery – “Enchanted Forest II” performance, exhibition. (Raleigh, NC)
2016 Morris Museum of Art, featured artists. Live painting demo, artist presentation, and exhibition. (Augusta, GA)
2015 Adam Cave Fine Art Gallery – “Enchanted Forest” performance, exhibition. (Raleigh, NC)
2015 Cameron Art Museum. Live painting/performance (Wilmington, NC)
2015 Special exhibition, FIBOPA The International Bodypainting Festival. (Buenos Aires, Argentina)
2013 World of Art Showcase (Raleigh, NC)
2012 “A Tribute to Surrealist Artist Kurt Seligmann” reinterpreted Seligmann’s “Exotic Garden” as a bodypainting, (Warwick, NY)
2012 Featured artist and live painting performance, Chakras (Greensboro, NC)
2012 Featured artist and live painting performance at the grand re-opening of the GalleryML bodypainting gallery (Philadelphia, PA)
2011, 2012, 2013 “Alex Grey’s Visionary Art Fair”, Painted alongside Alex and Allyson Grey (Atlanta, GA)
2008-2011 Lyndon Street Artworks “Eros Show” (Greensboro, NC)
2009 Featured artist and live painting performance, Sawtooth Center (Winston-Salem, NC)
2005 “The Flesh Art Show”, Invitational artist exposition (New Orleans, LA)
2005 Featured artist and live painting performance at the grand opening of the “Craig Tracy’s Painted Alive” gallery, the world’s first fine art gallery dedicated exclusively to bodypainting (New Orleans, LA)
International Events
Co-founders – The Jan Tana Bodypainting Revolution (a part of the Arnold Classic), 2018 to present (worldwide)
Co-founders – Living Art America, the North American Bodypainting Championship, 2013 to 2018 (Atlanta, GA)
Partners – Living Art Latin America, 2015 to present (Montevideo, Uruguay)
Founders – The Bodypainting Film Festival (the only one in the world) 2016, 2017 (Greensboro, NC)
Founders – The American Body Arts Festival, 2007, 2008 (Sherman, NY)
National/Regional Events
Founders – Living Art Concord, 2016, 2017 (Concord, NC)
Founders – Opera in Bodypainting, 2016, 2017 (Greensboro, NC)
Founders – Living Art Wilmington, 2017 (Wilmington, NC)
Founders – Fire on the Mountain – Bodypainting and Fire Performance 2016, 2017 (Danbury, NC)
Founders – Bodypainting Challenge Series – Johnson City Tennessee, 2016 (Concord, NC)
Founders – Living Art Greensboro, 2015, 2016, 2017 (Greensboro, NC)
Organizations
Scott was the premier inductee into the International Fine-Art Bodypainting Association 2011
Scott and Madelyn have served as Principals of the International Fine-Art Bodypainting Association 2014 to present
Scott and Madelyn have been members of the World Bodypainting Association 2010 to present
Teaching
2019 Scott and Madelyn, Master Class for Beyond the Canvas (San Antonio, TX)
2018 Scott and Madelyn, Master Class for Beyond the Canvas (San Antonio, TX)
2018 Madelyn Masterclass in Bodypainting, Castlefest (The Netherlands)
2018 Madelyn “Composition for Bodypainting, Theory and Practice” sponsored by Cameleon Bodypaint, at World Bodypainting Academy (Austria)
2018 Scott and Madelyn, Master Class at the Body Painting Gallery of Dallas (Dallas, TX)
2018 Scott and Madelyn, Master Class (Jacksonville, FL)
2017 Scott and Madelyn, “Bodypainting Creativity Workshop” at Ohana Wellness Center (High Point, NC)
2017 Scott and Madelyn, Master Class at University of North Carolina School of the Arts (Winston-Salem, NC)
2017 Madelyn “Composition for Bodypainting, Theory and Practice” sponsored by Cameleon Bodypaint, at World Bodypainting Academy (Austria)
2017 Madelyn “Head-turning Headpieces” (Orlando, FL) at FABAIC Face and Body Art International Convention (Orlando, FL)
2017 Madelyn “Composition for Bodypainting, Theory and Practice” (Orlando, FL) at FABAIC Face and Body Art International Convention (Orlando, FL)
2017 Madelyn “Designing with Depth and Realism” (Orlando, FL) at FABAIC Face and Body Art International Convention (Orlando, FL)
2016 Scott 4 Day Elite Class at MBA Beauty Academy, (Seoul, South Korea)
2016 Madelyn Workshop at Paintopia Bodypaint Festival, (England)
2016 Madelyn 4 Day Elite Class at MBA Beauty Academy, (Seoul, South Korea)
2016 Madelyn Workshop Tour, dates in Zurich Switzerland, Edinburgh and Glasgow, Scotland and England, sponsored by Cameleon Bodypaint
2016 Madelyn selected as an official instructor to IMATS London. Live painting and presentation/lecture, “The Art of the Competitive Edge for Bodypainting”.
2016 Madelyn “Composition for Bodypainting, Theory and Practice” sponsored by Cameleon Bodypaint, at World Bodypainting Academy (Austria)
2015 Madelyn 4 Day Elite Class at MBA Beauty Academy, (Seoul, South Korea)
2015 Madelyn Workshop Tour, dates in The Netherlands, Germany and England, sponsored by Cameleon Bodypaint
2015 Madelyn “The Art of the Competitive Edge” at FABAIC Face and Body Art International Convention, (Orlando, FL)
2015 Madelyn “The History of Bodypainting” at FABAIC Face and Body Art International Convention, (Orlando, FL)
2015 Madelyn “Ultraviolet Bodypainting” at FABAIC Face and Body Art International Convention, (Orlando, FL)
2015 Madelyn “Composition for Bodypainting” at FABAIC Face and Body Art International Convention, (Orlando, FL)
2015 Madelyn workshop at American Hebrew Academy (Greensboro, NC)
2014 Madelyn “Bodypaint Techniques for Ritual, Performance or Cosplay” at Terra Blue (Greensboro, NC)
2014 Madelyn “The Art of the Competitive Edge” at Midwest Bodypainting Competition (Madison, WI)
2014 Madelyn “Notes on the Contemporary Bodypainting Movement, A State of the Art Address” at Midwest Bodypainting Competition (Madison, WI)
2014 Madelyn “The History of Bodypainting” at Midwest Bodypainting Competition (Madison, WI)
2014 Madelyn “Composition for Bodypainting, Theory and Practice” at Midwest Bodypainting Competition (Madison, WI)
2014 Scott and Madelyn “The History of Bodypainting” at Living Art Academy (Atlanta, GA)
2014 Scott and Madelyn “The Art of the Competitive Edge” at Living Art Academy (Atlanta, GA)
2014 Madelyn at Living Art Academy (Atlanta, GA), class “Headpiece Panache & Costumed Opulence”
2014 Scott and Madelyn “The Art of the Competitive Edge” at World Bodypainting Academy (Austria)
2014 Scott and Madelyn workshop at High Point University (High Point, NC)
2014 Madelyn workshop at American Hebrew Academy (Greensboro, NC)
2012 Scott and Madelyn two-day Intensive Arts Class at University of North Carolina School of the Arts (Winston-Salem, NC)
2007 Scott and Madelyn at Paradise Lakes Resort (Tampa, FL)
2007 Scott and Madelyn workshops at The American Body Arts Festival (Sherman, NY)
2006 Scott and Madelyn workshops at The American Body Arts Festival (Sherman, NY)
Emcee / Host
2019 Madelyn served as emcee for the Jan Tana Bodypainting Revolution at the Arnold Classic (Columbus, OH – Johannesburg, South Africa – Barcelona, Spain)
2018 Madelyn served as emcee for the Jan Tana Bodypainting Revolution at the Arnold Classic (Columbus, OH – Johannesburg, South Africa – Barcelona, Spain)
2017 Madelyn served as emcee for Living Art America (Greensboro, NC)
2017 Madelyn served as emcee for Living Art Concord (Concord, NC)
2017 Madelyn served as emcee for Living Art Wilmington (Wilmington, NC)
2017 Madelyn served as emcee for FABAIC Face and Body Art International Convention (Orlando, FL)
2016 Madelyn served as emcee for Living Art America (Greensboro, NC)
2016 Madelyn served as emcee for Living Art Concord (Concord, NC)
2015 Madelyn served as emcee for FABAIC Face and Body Art International Convention (Orlando, FL)
2015 Madelyn served as emcee for Living Art America (Atlanta, GA)
2015 Madelyn served as emcee for Living Art Greensboro (Greensboro, NC)
2014 Madelyn served as emcee for Living Art America (Atlanta, GA)
2013 Madelyn served as emcee for Living Art America (Atlanta, GA)
Presentations
2017 Presented “The Art of the Body” at TEDx (Greensboro, NC)
2015 Presented as part of the Global Bodypainting Conference (Austria)
2014 Presented as part of the FESMAK Conference (Punta del Este, Uruguay)
2014 Madelyn presented as part of the World Bodypainting Conference (Austria)
Theater Performances
2017 “Annual Gala” – at the Lee Street Theatre with Cirque de Vol (Salisbury, NC)
2015 “Life Ball” -official artists (Vienna, Austria)
2011, 2013 “Scott-Free Foundation Gala” (Raleigh, NC)
2011 – 2014 various company productions, Artistic Motion Dance Company (Greensboro, NC)
2010 “Song of the Sirens” (Greensboro, NC)
2010 – 2013 “Weatherspoon Art Museum Masquerade Ball” (Greensboro, NC)
2008 “The Erotic Arts Ball” (Greensboro, NC)
2007 – 2012 “Awake the White and Wintry Queen” (Greensboro, NC)
2007 “Opening the Eye of Light” (Greensboro, NC)
2007 “The Vivid Skin Show” (Greensboro, NC)
2006 “Collage Allujia” (Atlanta, GA)
2006 – 2009 “First Night Celebration” (Pittsburgh, PA)
2005 “The Flesh Art Show” (New Orleans, LA)
2004 “The Body as Art” (Pittsburgh, PA)
Books And Publications
Business North Carolina,”Artistry Au Naturale” by OGi Overman, Sept 2016 (Greensboro, NC)
O Henry Magazine Sept 2016 (Greensboro, NC)
Triad City Beat Magazine GoTriad Arts Feature, Sept 2016 (Greensboro, NC)
GoTriad Cover Story, Sept 2016 (Greensboro, NC)
Identity & Anonymity Anthology features contribution by Madelyn, published by Jonathan Talbot, 2016 (NY, USA)
Maximum Yield’s Hydro Life, June 2015 (USA)
Pintamos Magazine, March 2015 (Madrid, Spain)
O Henry Magazine Sept 2014 (Greensboro, NC)
Amplifier Magazine, March 2014 (Greensboro, NC)
Illusions Magazine, multiple issues, 2011-2015 (UK)
The World’s Best Bodypaintings by Karala B. 2014 (Austria)
Champion at Heart by Karala B. published 2013 (Austria)
Artsee Magazine (cover feature story), May/June 2012 (Charleston, SC)
Yes Weekly Magazine (cover feature story), Aug 2012 (Greensboro, NC)
Daegu International Bodypainting Festival Photo Book, 2011-2015 (South Korea)
The Art of Bodypainting by Peter de Ruiter, 2012 (Netherlands)
Madelyn in Body Art Fashion by Karala B. 2011 (Austria)
World Bodypainting Festival Photo Review, 2010-2015 (Austria)
Madelyn in Burlesque, (full back cover feature) by Attilio Reinhardt, 2010 (Italy)
Common Ground Magazine (cover feature story), July/Aug 2009 (San Francisco, CA)
Broadcast
2016, 2017, 2018 – World Bodypainting Festival (official). Madelyn provided continuous video commentary and interviews via social media
2016 – NPR, National Public Radio. Triad Arts Up-Close Feature, WFDD (Winston-Salem, NC)
2016 – Fox 8 News, Madelyn featured for Living Art America (Piedmont Triad, NC)
2016 – News 14 Carolina, Madelyn featured for Living Art America (Piedmont Triad, NC)
2014-2015 “Skin Wars,” reality television show on the GSN Network, intro images for each episode,
2014 CNN -Living Art America Interview (Atlanta, GA)
2014 Fox 5 Atlanta – Madelyn Live Bodypainting Feature, Good Morning Atlanta (Atlanta, GA)
2014 Face Off – Bodypainting Special Feature, reality television show on the SyFy Network,
2011 The Story with Dick Gordon, interview hosted by Dick Gordon on National Public Radio
Other Media
2016 Madelyn created original Instructional programming for FABA-TV (Face & Body Art Television), “Designing With Depth”.
2015 Madelyn created original Instructional programming for FABA-TV (Face & Body Art Television), “Competitive Edge Bodypainting”
2015 Instructional DVD, Airbrush Bodypainting created with Burning Oak Studios
2014-2015 Living Art Greensboro, promotional images in all media
2014 Scott and Madelyn, with Stephanie Anderson and Lynn Cole painted four models camouflaged into a Paul Chelko painting for the center spread of The Atlantan Magazine (Atlanta, GA)
As The Dust Settles: A Participatory Documentary Shot at Burning Man, Film by Jamie Dee, Roger Ingraham, 2013
2013 Scott and Madelyn commissioned to paint, One Woman Rising, statue (Atlanta, GA), the 14’ tall fiberglass sculpture was first installed in Freedom Park, moved to current site along the Atlanta Belt-line
2005 Portrait, a film by Jose Carasco
Other Distinctions
2015 Madelyn was awarded “Top Professional Fashion Designer & Top Fundraising Designer, Red Ribbon Runway Design Challenge”, a gala AIDS Charity event for AIDS Care Services of Winston-Salem, NC
2014 Scott and Madelyn were honored as the only artists to make the top 10 “People of Distinction” list in the annual “Area’s 100 Best” Feature, Triad City Beat Magazine and YES Weekly Magazine
2004 Madelyn awarded Sprout Fund Arts Grant to create a burlesque show for the AMP Festival (Pittsburgh, PA)
Scott is a member of Mensa