Battle of the brushes by best in body art

Fifty body artists will be putting their creations on show at the New Zealand Body Art Awards on Auckland's North Shore on Saturday. Organiser Mem Bourke says body art involves creating illusions using advanced make-up techniques and special effects. It can take up to eight hours to produce a spectacular character.

Ms Bourke says the show is in its second year and is going from strength to strength, with some spectacular creations being conjured up by the artists. She says at the moment a small team of dedicated people are running the event, but she believes it has the potential to become as big as the Wearable Art Awards.

Weta Workshop's Richard Taylor is again a judge of the awards for the second year. In 2006 he contacted the organisers and told them he would like to be involved in the judging.