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Alexa Meade paints on the human body and three-dimensional spaces, creating the illusion that our reality is a two-dimensional painting.

“Alexa Meade’s work may look like something you would see hanging on the wall in an art gallery, but Meade isn’t like any other artist. The artist’s work is different in that she literally paints human beings, turning them into living, breathing portraits. Alexa creates the illusion of a world where 2D and 3D have become one.”

- Business Insider 

The Fifth Avenue Portrait Collection

The Fifth Avenue Portrait Collection is a massive public art exhibit by Alexa Meade, spanning 180 feet along Fifth Avenue and 44th Street in New York City. The Alexa Meade solo exhibition is located at 529 5th Avenue, steps away from Grand Central Station, Bryant Park, and The Museum of Modern Art.


Meet Alexa Meade

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In 2009, while finishing her degree in political science, Alexa Meade had an idea for an art project: what would it look like if she put black paint down on top of shadows? This question took her down a rabbit hole of experiments with painting on and people and objects that led her to develop an optical illusion for turning three-dimensional spaces into what appeared to be two-dimensional paintings. Since then, it has led her to some very unexpected places.

Alexa’s artwork has been exhibited at the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery, Miami Art Basel, Coachella, and Cannes Lions. Alexa painted pop star Ariana Grande for her iconic “God is a Woman” music video. She has lectured at TED, Apple, Stanford, and Princeton. She has been honored with the "Disruptive Innovation Award" by the Tribeca Film Festival and has been Artist-in-Residence at Google and the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics.


Ariana Grande Collaboration

For the God is a Woman music video, Alexa Meade painted on Ariana Grande’s body in a pool of paint, inspired by the Alexa // Sheila milk series. The video has nearly 300 million views on Youtube.

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“Some of the most gorgeous imagery in Ariana Grande’s God Is a Woman video exists in scenes in which the pop star floats in a swirling pool of pink, blue, and purple paint, wearing nothing but a few strokes of those same paint colors.”

- Allure


Color of Reality

The critically ­acclaimed short film Color of Reality brings together Alexa Meade’s painting style with the movement artistry of Jon Boogz and Lil Buck to make an impactful statement about racial tensions in America.

 Color Of Reality was screened at the Lincoln Center, honored with CNN’s “Art as Impact Award,” and included in the National Civil Rights Museum’s “Freedom Awards Ceremony.”

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 “Awash with colorful brushstrokes, think of it as a van Gogh — that is, if one of his paintings were brought to life as a performative protest . . . Mixing paint and dance to comment on justice and art . . . Lushly hypnotic”

- The New York Times


Public Speaking

Alexa Meade has delivered keynote speeches at TED, Apple, Google, Princeton University, Stanford University, and The Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics.

 
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Your Body is My Canvas

Alexa Meade takes an innovative approach to art. Not for her a life of sketching and stretching canvases. Instead, she selects a topic and then paints it - literally. In this eye-opening talk Meade shows off photographs of some of the more outlandish results.

- TED.com


 A Street Art Proposal

When Alexa Meade’s painted model Daniel Levine got down on one knee in middle of the street, his girlfriend Christina Cordova had no idea that he was about to ask for her hand in marriage. 

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