Alexa Meade
http://alexameade.com/
Twenty-six year old Washington DC born artist, Alexa Meade,
graduated from Vassar College in 2009 with a bachelor’s degree in political
science. She had never attended art school nor had she ever taken any advanced
painting courses. In August of 2008, Alexa began to experiment with painting on
non-traditional objects. Nine months later, she had developed a technique for
painting on people and unveiled her “Reverse Trompe L’Oeil” in October of 2009.
Trompe L’Oiel (French for “deceive the eye”) is an art technique that involves
realistic imagery in order to create the optical illusion that the depicted
subjects are three dimensional.
The idea for Meade’s work originated from her fascination
with how the sun cast 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. 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.”
Alexa’s technique is certainly innovative. She applies
acrylic paint to people, objects and walls in broad brushstrokes that resemble
the brushwork of paintings. Then she photographs them…resulting in a picture
that resembles an oil painting. Alexa describes this technique as
"painting a portrait of somebody on top of him/herself.”
Alexa’s work is rapidly gaining critical acclaim in the
portraiture genre – domestically as well as internationally . Christian Furr, a
world renowned painter, selected Meade for an exhibit at the Saatchi Gallery in
London. Of Meade’s art, Furr says, “People are fascinated by playing with
viewpoints, and she's taking it one step further than trompe l'oeil.”
Meade has a notable
online following also. I’d keep an eye on Alexa Meade…she’s bound to become a
legend.
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