Tattooed man's skin to hang in National Gallery

12 May 2009, 4:18 pm   -   Source: SBS
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Geoff Ostling's 15-year relationship with tattoo artist eX de Medici has resulted in a full-body artwork that may hang in the National Gallery when he dies. (Getty)

Geoff Ostling's 15-year relationship with tattoo artist eX de Medici has resulted in a full-body artwork that may hang in the National Gallery when he dies. (Getty)

A man whose body is completely tattooed with ‘all the flowers of a Sydney garden’ will donate his skin to the National Gallery when he dies.

A man whose body is completely tattooed with ‘all the flowers of a Sydney garden’ will donate his skin to the National Gallery when he dies, according to reports.

Only Geoff Ostling’s face, lower arms and neck are free of tattoos, while the rest of his body provides a living canvas for the work of artist Canberra artist eX de Medici.

The artwork has been 15 years in the making, and is the subject of a documentary broadcast by the ABC.

The display of an entire human skin as an artwork is also a first, Ostling says.

"It has never been done as a whole body before and not in a gallery," he told the Daily Telegraph.

"I wanted something unique, so I thought about a garden of plants, of natives and imported flowers, what you would find in a Sydney garden with a distant view of the city from Heartbreak Hill," Ostling reportedly said.

Ostling, 65, did not get his first tattoo until he was in his forties. He is a retired history teacher.

The UK’s Telegraph says he also plans to donate his organs to medicine when he dies.

"People can be squeamish about it. Portraits painted on human skin hang in galleries around the world. They don't tell you that, of course, and valuable books were also covered in human skin,” says Ostling.
 

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