The makeup artist took some heat for transforming a white model into what appeared to be an African-American model. Photo / Paintdatface Instagram
The makeup artist took some heat for transforming a white model into what appeared to be an African-American model. Photo / Paintdatface Instagram
A makeup artist has been taken to task when he used makeup to transform a white woman into a black woman.
The Los Angeles-based artist goes by Paintdatface and his astonishing makeup transformations have earned him 64,000 followers on Instagram.
Sensing that turning a blonde, blue-eyed white woman into abrown-eyed, darker-skinned beauty could likely get him into hot water, he posted a disclaimer along with the photos, according to the Daily Mail.
The makeup artist feared the transformation would cause controversy and issued this disclaimer along with the photos. Photo / Instagram
"This is a transformation that I've been holding back from releasing for a while now, solely because of the fear I've had of people turning it into a racial scandal against me," the artist wrote next to the photos.
"Really? You want to celebrate black culture? GET A BLACK MODEL! This is clearly blackface, your 'disclamer' doesn't change that," tweeted Nessa.
Really paintdatface? You want to celebrate black culture? GET A BLACK MODEL! This is clearly blackface, your "disclamer" doesn't change that https://t.co/p724ZDtajK
"You're trying to justify using BLACKFACE. Why not just use a model of color? You clearly lack them on your page as-is. You can't create one of us just because you don't want to use us. #Rude" wrote Mandaplease on Instagram.
"If it wasn't about race you wouldn't have needed a four page long disclaimer," noted Leila Ellis Nelson.
#paintdatface if it wasn't about race you wouldn't have needed a four page long disclaimer
— Leila Ellis-Nelson, Psy.D. (@DrEllisNelson) May 29, 2017
The artist finally deleted the photo, then wrote, "The transformation that I recently posted of a woman transformed into a woman of another culture has been highly criticized by those who don't understand the message.
"I deleted the post, not because I had regret or saw wrongdoing, but because of the negativity social media turned it into. It's been assumed by most that my intentions were to transform my model into a black woman.
"Truth is, my intentions were to keep the look vague enough to be relatable to many women of different cultures, but the true inspiration of the overall look came from my Cuban heritage.'"
Paintdatface's real name is Spencer, according to NewBeauty.com.
