Unnatural Beauty: The Characters of Parker Day

“An homage to Ron English who I’ve long admired. My friend Ariel did a performance art piece as Marilyn, so she already had this perfect wig. One of my favorite toys as a kid was a hard face Mickey like these, which I bought on eBay. They had plush bodies. I had to hacksaw their faces off.” – Parker Day

“The face prop she’s taking off is intended for budding makeup artists to practice on. I found it at a local beauty supply, and it inspired this shot. My work has a lot to do with the malleability of identity, so this was a natural. I did Felicity’s makeup and her second skin’s makeup too.” – Parker Day

“Malina did her makeup here in the style of Michael Hussar’s paintings. She is so talented, every one of our collaborations yields such freaky beauty.” – Parker Day

“Cat made her super cute outfit and just happened to have that chain hanging on her leather jacket. I asked her to take it off and brandish it like was she gonna pounce and choke you out.” – Parker Day

“Stella brought this muppet like coat with she’s wearing backward and we pinned the little hands to it and oh so carefully placed that eyeball. I directed her to do a Baphomet like gesture with her own hand.” – Parker Day

“Mary is a great makeup artist, and I saw a photo of her where she painted extra sets of eyes on her face, which inspired this character. I fashioned the eyeball wig. The Pink Champale malt liquor can I got off of eBay. Yes, I buy literal trash on eBay.” – Parker Day

“I had this idea for a girl who comes from a family of reptilians that has to go to a normal public school and try to fit in with the normies. The Trapper Keeper and wardrobe aesthetic is straight from my childhood.” – Parker Day

“This is all Dick van Dick! I’m obsessed with the mask and wrestling robe. We shot this in NYC for The New Yorker online. He’s a great musician and y’all should check him out.” – Parker Day

“Face lift tape, platinum clip-ins, drawn on eye brows, a heavy-handed contour, and lips even a full syringe of Juvederm can’t provide… She is doing the most and ready for her close up. “Taut” is about how we stretch ourselves to conform to an idea of an ideal.” – Parker Day

“Jamie sculpted this awesome prosthetic she’s wearing. I wanted this character to be a formerly upper crust lady who’s been shut out of society. She does her best to keep up appearances.” – Parker Day

“I wanted her to be an anxiety-ridden circus performer which is why she’s clawing out her hair (you can see the ringlets dangling from her left crab claw).” – Parker Day

“Bow down to Ernie Omega! He put together this look with a bit of provocation from me. I wanted a rockabilly type character, and my direction during the shoot was something like, “you’re a teenager after school, and the bullies who have hassled you your whole life are coming at you, and you’ve had enough! You’re about to blow!” – Parker Day

“This is all Gabby! She came over makeup fully down and brought the candle too. I was loving it!” – Parker Day

“Sideara is a great artist in her own right. She had all these blowups left over from a Cicciolina Halloween costume she did where she schlepped around a gang of inflatables a la Jeff Koons.” – Parker Day

“The term “the female gaze” when bandied about in a feminist art critique makes me throw up in my mouth a little. This photo is my cheeky play on the term. The aesthetic of the character is inspired by Penelope’s art.” – Parker Day

“I’m a Game of Thrones fan, what can I say, so the Many-Faced God was the obvious inspo. The Face Off photo came first, so this was a natural evolution. I painted the faces, and Cameron brilliantly crafted them into this dress. I asked Nikki, the MUA, to make her face look like one the masks and her body to look like glitter gore.”  – Parker Day

“Delaney had this amazing vest made by genius artist Sarah Sitkin. What’s ridiculous is this photo was deleted from my Instagram due to their anti-nipple “community standards.” – Parker Day