A colourfully striking and mischievous celebration of the surreal heralded the launch of the studio for this body artist.

Emma Fay, from Highfields, Leicester, has been making waves in the art and social media world with her visually stunning real-life ‘art installations’ involving painting on a human canvass.

The 28-year-old former Leicester College student hit the headlines last month when she transformed Olympic diver Tom Daley into a shark.

It followed her creation of a human giraffe which went viral on YouTube.

To celebrate her success, Emma, who runs her own art and theatre production company – Enter Edem – invited 30 guests to join her for a spectacular exhibition.

The venue was her newly-refurbished studio at a secret location in South Wigston.

She said: “It’s been such a busy year for me – and a great year. But it’s been hard to take stock.

“This was a chance to say thank you to all those who have helped me, including models, fellow artists, people in the industry and sponsors.”

Emma makes her living selling concept body art imagery through her website and freelance work in the entertainment industry – including parties for “well-known” celebrities.

“But I can’t say who”, she said, intriguingly.

Her studio, which has undergone a four-month re-modelling, was taken over by 15 models and performers.

They included Captain ‘Pop’, a balloon modelling comedy explorer, a Mexican Day of the Dead character, and a human snake basket contortion act.

Other intriguing characters included a body-painted belly dancer using glowing puppet weights, a human poodle parlour, puppeteers, pink flamingos and a Pop Art family.

Emma said: “It was a great deal of fun. We had Captain Pop welcoming people, and a Pop Art Family inspired by sixties American pop artist Roy Lichtenstein.

“One of my favourites was the Surreal Statue, created by make-up artists Kelly O’Dell and Jemma Swinfield. It was based on a piece by surrealist painter Salvador Dali, with model Chrissy Noble handing out goody bags from a set of drawers.”

The past year has also seen Emma stage her theatre production Origins, a story of dreams involving a young girl and an enigmatic explorer, at the University of Leicester’s Attenborough Arts Centre and city’s Y-Theatre. She said her new-look studio will allow her to spread her wings further in coming years.

Emma said: “There is more room to produce films, as well as photography, to show off what I can do.

“It also means I can collaborate with a broader range of artists – and we now have a kitchen. It’s all very exciting.”

For anyone interested in her work contact Emma through her website at: www.emma-fay.co.uk

Stunning: @ The Surreal Statue, created by make-up artists Kelly O’Dell and Jemma Swinfield, with model Chrissy Noble handing out goody bags from a set of drawers