Alexa Meade
Alexa Meade | |
|---|---|
| Born | Alexandra S. Meade 3 September 1986 |
| Nationality | American |
| Known for | Installation art, Painting |
Alexa Meade (born Alexandra S. Meade; born on 3 September 1986) is an American artist. While Meade has worked in a variety of sculptural media, she is known for her installations, which feature models situated in tableau scenes painted to look like two-dimensional paintings.[1] She is currently represented by Irvine Contemporary in Washington, DC.[2]
Artistic career
Early Life and Education/Training
Alexa Meade was born on September 3, 1986 in Washington, D.C.. She graduated in 2009 from Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, NY with a bachelor's degree in political science.[3][4] Meade has never attended art school nor has she ever taken advanced painting courses.[5] In August 2008, Meade began to experiment with painting on non-traditional objects. After 9 months of experimenting, she was able to develop a process for painting on people and unveiled her "Reverse Trompe L'Oeil" installation in October, 2009.[6]
Philosophy
The original idea for Meade's work came from her fascination with how the sun casts moving shadows. She began to experiment with painting shadows onto moving people, and discovered that the visual effect still worked even if people moved from their original light source.[7] Alexa Meade's art creates a perceptual shift in how the viewer experiences and interprets spatial relationships.[8] Meade once said "I paint representational portraits directly on top of the people I am representing. The models are transformed into embodiments of the artist's interpretation of their essence. When captured on film, the living, breathing people underneath the paint disappear, overshadowed by the masks of themselves."[9] Meade also believes that "what one experiences cannot always be interpreted at face value; seeing is not necessarily believing."[10]
Technique
Meade applies acrylic paint to the surfaces of people, objects, and walls in a broad brushstroke that mimics the appearance of brushwork in a painting in a technique that she innovated. Her "approach to portraiture includes painting the faces and bodies of her models--fabricating additional shadows across cheekbones or slathering a thick layer of paint atop eyebrows--then photographing them."[11] On Al Jazeera English, Meade demonstrated her technique as she painted her subject for Blue Print. She described the process as "painting a portrait of somebody on top of himself."[12] When the three-dimensional tableau is viewed in a two-dimensional photograph, it appears to be an oil painting. Most find the effect so convincing that they do not realize that the photograph is not of a painting but rather of a live installation.[13] In one installation portrait of a man, Meade painted only his upper torso against a red background, leaving the rest of his body unpainted for the viewer. To further blur the line between reality and illusion, Meade "projected a live video feed of her painted model into a picture frame on the wall. Gallery patrons interacted with both the painted man sitting in the chair and the living painting next to him on the wall."[14] [Artdaily.org Art Daily] described Meade's photographs as photographs are at once records of a performance, a portrait session, and a reflection on three- and two-dimensional representational spaces. Meade calls attention to the expectations of representational space in the picture plane through displacements in medium: she presents not simply photography and painting as instances of two-dimensional picture planes, but transforms painted bodies and objects by presenting them as cohabitating within three-dimensional photographic space."[15]
Critical Acclaim
Recent critical acclaim for Meade's work has been positive, with critics alluding to her developments to the genre of portraiture and the ability of her work to speak to an international audience.[16] Magdalena Sawon, owner of the Postmasters Gallery in New York, NY, recently said in reference to Meade's work, "A portrait is something that's been with us for 3,000 years--that's not an easy genre to move forward...This is a valid and very interesting contribution to the portrait genre."[17] Christian Furr, a world renowned painter who selected Meade for an exhibit at the Saatchi Gallery in London, spoke of the international possibilities of her art. "She's going to create quite a stir in this country," Furr, a UK national, said. "People are fascinated by playing with viewpoints, and she's taking it one step further than trompe l'oeil. I was blown away by it."[18] Alexa Meade's work has also gained notable fame in the online community. On March 14, 2010, her work David was featured as the "Face of the Day" on the Atlantic Monthly's blog The Daily Dish.[19] On March 20, 2010, her art was the #1 most popular link on Digg.com over a 24 hour period.[20]
References
- ^ Alexa Meade's Living Paintings." Telegraph.co.uk. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/culturepicturegalleries/7521318/Alexa-Meades-Living-Paintings.html?image=1.
- ^ "Alexa Meade." Irvine Contemporary. http://irvinecontemporary.com/showArtist.php?artistID=219.
- ^ "Vassar Info." Vassar College. http://info.vassar.edu/
- ^ Rodriguez, Matthew. "Real Life Paintings." SUNfiltered: Fresh Culture Daily. March 20, 2010. http://www.sundancechannel.com/sunfiltered/2010/03/real-life-paintings/
- ^ Mackay, Mairi. "The Artist who Turns People into Paintings." CNN.com March 19, 2010. http://edition.cnn.com/2010/US/03/19/real.life.painting.artist/index.html
- ^ "Digging Deeper with Alexa Meade: Exclusive Interview." Juxtapoz Magazine. March 20, 2010. http://www.juxtapoz.com/Features/digging-deeper-with-alexa-meade-exclusive-interview
- ^ Popova, Maria. "He's No Oil Painting: The Amazing Art of Alexa Meade." Wired.co.uk. July 6, 2010. http://www.wired.co.uk/wired-magazine/archive/2010/08/play/he%27s-no-oil-painting-the-amazing-art-of-alexa-meade
- ^ "Hyper-Realistic Acrylic Body Painting (15 Pics)." MyModernMet. http://www.mymodernmet.com/profiles/blogs/hyperrealistic-acrylic-body
- ^ "Hyper-Realistic Acrylic Body Painting (15 Pics)." MyModernMet. http://www.mymodernmet.com/profiles/blogs/hyperrealistic-acrylic-body
- ^ Mackay, Mairi. "The Artist who Turns People into Paintings." CNN.com March 19, 2010. http://edition.cnn.com/2010/US/03/19/real.life.painting.artist/index.html
- ^ Merry, Stephanie. "Gallery opening: Alexa Meade's 'Picture Planes' at Irvine Contemporary. The Washington Post. June 18, 2010. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/06/17/AR2010061702082.html.
- ^ Al Jazeera English. August 15, 2010. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BnZks0BCCiw&feature=player_profilepage.
- ^ Parker, Charley. "Alexa Meade." Lines and Colors. March 19, 2010. http://www.linesandcolors.com/2010/03/19/alexa-meade/
- ^ Campello, F. Lennox. "Alexa Meade's Living Still Lifes." Daily Campello Art News. March 11, 2010. http://dcartnews.blogspot.com/2010/03/alexa-meades-living-still-lifes-i.html
- ^ "Irvine Contemporary Presents New Gallery Artist Alexa Meade." ArtDaily.Org. http://www.artdaily.org/section/news/index.asp?int_sec=2&int_new=39272&b=meade.
- ^ "Alexa Meade's Living Paintings." Telegraph.co.uk. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/culturepicturegalleries/7521318/Alexa-Meades-Living-Paintings.html?image=1.
- ^ Zak, Dan. "Flesh Perspective: Alexa Meade's Growing Body of Work is Work of the Body." The Washington Post. March 24, 2010. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/23/AR2010032303850.html
- ^ Zak, Dan. "Flesh Perspective: Alexa Meade's Growing Body of Work is Work of the Body." The Washington Post. March 24, 2010. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/23/AR2010032303850.html
- ^ Sullivan, Alexander. "Face Of The Day-The Daily Dish." The Atlantic. March, 14, 2010. http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2010/03/face-of-the-day-8.html.
- ^ Digg.com March 20, 2010. http://digg.com/all/popular/24hours.