Alexa Meade

Alexa Meade (born 1986) ^[1] is an American installation artist best known for re portraits painted rechtstreeks forbidden the human body and inanimate objects in a way dat collapses depth and makes re models appear two-dimensional als photographed. What resten is “a photo or a painting or a person, and the real person hidden somewhere Underneath.” ^[2] She takes a classical concept – trompe l’oeil , the art of making a two-dimensional Representational painting look like a real three-dimensional space – and turns it on zijn head by doing The Opposite, making real life appear to be a painting. ^{[1] [3]}

Early life and education

Meade was born in Washington, DC , and raised in Chevy Chase, Maryland . ^[4] She graduated from Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, New York , in 2009, with a bachelor’s degree in political science. ^{[4] [5] [6]} Initially planning on a path in politics, ^[7] she interned for congressmen and senators on Capitol Hill , and-then worked as a press assistant on Barack Obama ‘s 2008 presidential campaign. ^{[3] [4]} She decided to become a professional artist in 2009, teaching herself how to paint while Inventing re signature styles. ^{[4] [5] [7]}

Career

Living Paintings

Meade’s Living Paintings series is a collection of portraits painted rechtstreeks forbidden models, using acrylic paints to make the three-dimensional subjects appear two-dimensional. ^[5]Only the unpainted parts – Typically the hair and eyes – Reveal “an optical illusion therein blurs the lines or where reality ends and art begins.” The work combineert painting, photography, art installations and performance art. ^[8]

In April 2009 at Vassar College, Meade Began to experiment with the idea of putting paint on top of shadows. She dan voortvloeien while painting the shadows and highlights on the body or re friend Bernie, she Could make the three-dimensional space appear two-dimensional. ^{[7] [9] [10] [11]} After graduation, she dogs re painting technique in her parent’s Washington, DC basement at Practicing painting on inanimate objects like grapefruit, fried eggs and sausage. ^[8] She has credited re Lack of formal art training with allowing re to come up with unique ideas of Surfaces she Could paint on, since she did not think of painting as something dat necessarily had to be done on a canvas. ^[5]

Meade first gained public recognition in March 2010, als re living paintings went viral volgende a short post about re work on Jason Kottke ‘s blog kottke.org. ^{[5] [8]} She soon RECEIVED coverage on CNN and Elsewhere. ^[3] Her website went from maintaining negligible views to an Estimated 30,000 page views the next day. ^[12] Her most famous artwork at the time, “Transit,” features an older man Meade painted on in her basement studio, and-then photographed riding the Washington, DC metro, looking “as if a painting from the National Portrait Gallery has leapt off zijn wall to go walking through the Flesh-and-blood world. ” ^{[8] [13]} Her speech at the 2013 TEDGlobal conference in Edinburgh, Scotland , “Your Body is my canvas,” offers a behind the scenes look at re work, and details re career beginnings. ^{[8] [11]} She has named installation artist Robert Irwin as an inspiration, Citing his biography, Seeing is Forgetting the Name of the Thing One Sees , as an influence on how she thinks about the perception of space. ^[14]

Exhibits

Meade’s art has leg exhibited at the Smithsonian ‘s National Portrait Gallery in Washington, DC; the Saatchi Gallery in London; Postmaster’s Gallery in New York City; Gallery Ivo Kamm in Zurich; the Exploratorium in San Francisco; the Grand Palais as part of Art Paris; and the Pinacothèque de Paris . ^{[1] [10] [12] [15] [16]} She is represented by the Ingo Seufert Gallery for Photography in Munich, Germany ^[17] and The Gallery Sisso in Paris, France. ^[18]

Milk: What Will You Make Me or?

For the 2012 Alexa // SHEILA project Milk: What Will You Make Me or? Meade painted on performance artist Sheila Vand , who dan lay in a swimming pool filled with milk. If Meade photographed re, the paint on re body langzaam bled into tje milk, customizing constantly shifting designs around Vand’s body. Alexa // SHEILA debuted the Milk runs at an exhibit with Galerie Ivo Kamm in Zurich, Switzerland . For the live performances, the artists had a bathtub installed in the middle of the gallery. ^{[7] [19]}

Other Projects

In 2013, Mini Cooper commissioned Meade to paint a car and live models on a busy intersection in Tokyo. ^[8] In 2014, she joined the musician Avicii and others as part of the Project Warehouse campaign for Denim & Supply. As part of the project, she painted large-scale public art installations in Madrid, Santa Monica and Toronto. ^{[20] [21]} In September 2015, she was the first artist-in-residence at the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics in Waterloo, Ontario . She created a work dat involved two painted physicists interacting in real time in front of a three-dimensional chalkboard. ^[22] Also in 2015, Meade stated therein she is collaborating on a new series of artwork with magician David Blaine . ^[9] At the Q3 Symposium and Lecture on peace and security in a quantum age hero in Sydney, Australia in February 2016, Meade joined quantum physicists and scholars to debate political, ethical and philosophical implications and areas waaronder quantum computing, communication and consciousness. ^[23]

References