Hatt conducing a body-painting workshop at Joyce Soho.

red Hatt has been painting bodies for more than 10 years. The 42-year-old Brooklyn-based artist has always been interested in primitive and prehistoric art. This interest spawned into a more primal area of art -- body painting.

Hatt, an Oklahoma native, performs a black-light body painting show at the Gene Frankel Theater as part of the Blue Angel Cabaret. The cabaret, with two shows every Saturday night, includes acts such as magicians, sword-swallowers, acrobats and belly dancers. As part of Hatt's act, he paints dancers with florescent paint.

"The colors run together and combine in interesting ways," says Hatt describing the psychedelic show. "It's sort of a visual art."

Caitlin Moreland, performer, poses after a body painting session.

In addition to the black-light performance, Hatt also body paints for more spiritual reasons. "When people get body painted, they often say that they feel transformed, emboldened or energized," Hatt says. "There is a tribal aspect in painting each other."

While Hatt also paints on traditional canvas, he prefers to work on the human body. "The idea is to move beyond the idea of the body as an object and look at it as energy," says Hatt.

He says the energy emitted from the body is used to inspire most of his designs. Therefore, he avoids painting with airbrushes, commonly used by other body painters, because "the brush never touches the body and it misses the tactile aspect," he says.

Minerva Durham, director of Spring Studio and a teacher of artistic anatomy, paints muscles on model/dancer Arthur Aviles.

Hatt also uses body paint to teach anatomy to art students. Working with Minerva Durham, 62, owner of Spring Studio in SoHo, they conduct classes that examine the bone, muscle and nerve structure.

Both Hatt and Durham are self-taught in anatomy and are not instructing on a medical level. "The art is inspired by anatomy, but interpreted very freely," says Durham.

"It is unique to learn by seeing the muscles outlined and the bone structures revealed - then see the body move," says Hatt.