For over a decade now, body-positive bikers have been pedaling through Center City in various states of undress. But this year, participants in the Philadelphia Naked Bike Ride are getting more outfit options than their own underwear.
Charlotte-based artist Matt Deifer is bringing his bodypaint station to the Saturday event. Prior to the ride, he’ll spray interested cyclists with a tire tread design on a first come, first served basis. The operation is designed to get people in and out in a matter of seconds, and Deifer is offering his services free of charge. Participants even will get a matching caution tape headband to finish the look.
Deifer has worked with the Philly Naked Bike Ride in the past, but the activation marks his first collaboration in eight years. At the 2016 event, he dripped multi-colored paints on cyclists at a “Jackson Pollock creation station.” His Bodypaint.Me company, which originated in Philadelphia, routinely travels to festivals and blacklight parties in other cities. It will be back in the area for a house music pop-up on Battleship New Jersey on Sept. 12.
“The tirebrand is the imprint of the road, a testament to movement, impact and survival,” he wrote. “Applied through a custom technique, it honors the vulnerability of cycling while declaring the strength of the human body. The caution tape headband serves as the anointing. It is a crown of visibility and a banner of the tribe. As the extended tails catch the wind, they create a living extension of the rider’s body and momentum.”…