Naked skin as canvas

A special case, where nudity, though not permanent, is physically necessary for the art to be created and observed, is body art which uses the skin as the medium (like a painter’s canvas) upon which the markings are created. While the techniques used, such as tattooing and scarification, are often used in a more artisanal way, as most body markings have less of an æsthetic than a social and/or communicative purpose (e.g. initiation rite, fun, macho or sexy signal, various traditions), some clients carefully select artists and designs for artistic beauty to decorate significant skin surfaces, preferably coördinating the different designs — some like displaying them in public, others rather keep them hidden except in select company, accordingly preferring to mark body parts that are commonly clad. A few artists use live animals as (obviously involuntary) canvas.