Collaborations
Alexa Meade has been Artist-in-Residence at the World Trade Center, Google, and the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics. She has collaborated with the family of Frida Kahlo and magicians David Blaine and Zach King. She painted on the body of pop star Ariana Grande for her “God is a Woman” music video, which has over 400 million views.
“Some of my favorite work comes out of collaboration, in part because ways of looking at the world are introduced that are counter to what your brain is preloaded with. It allows you to step outside of what your instincts would have told you to do.”
World Trade Center Artist-in-Residence
As Artist-in-Residence at the World Trade Center, Alexa took up studio space on the 79th floor and made art in the sky.
“Meade’s entire ethos is always to strive to step out into the unknown - that’s what drives her. ‘If I can foresee how something will turn out it’s far less interesting to me,’ says Meade. ‘If I can’t pre-visualise it… I know that through the process of creating it I will see it.’”
Magician David Blaine
For a series of magical paintings, Alexa teamed up with David Blaine. David is famous for surviving many death-defying stunts, including breaking the Guinness World Record for holding his breath underwater for 17 minutes and 4 seconds.
Alexa painted David while he was submerged in a water tank and spitting goldfish out of his mouth. She also painted him as the King of Spades walking down the middle of Broadway in NYC.
David as the King of Spades on Broadway, painted by Alexa Meade - Photo by Andreas Poupoutsis
David Blained being painted by Alexa Meade - Photo by Andreas Poupoutsis
David Blaine spitting out a fish underwater after being painted by Alexa Meade - Photo by Andreas Poupoutsis
David Blaine being painted in a giant fish tank by Alexa Meade - Photo by Andreas Poupoutsis
David Blaine painted by Alexa Meade with eyes painted on his eyelids - Photo by Andreas Poupoutsis
David Blaine with an eye painted on his hand by Alexa Meade for a magic trick - Photo by Andreas Poupoutsis
“Art + Magic = Alexa + Meade”
Exploring the Legacy of Frida Kahlo
Alexa collaborated with Frida Kahlo's great-niece, Cristina Kahlo, for Frida and I, a project produced by Google Arts & Culture to celebrate the legacy of the bold female painter.
“‘Frida and I’ celebrates Kahlo through the portrayal of another female talent living the artist’s legacy, while not losing sight of the artwork that makes this legacy so powerful… the strength, defiance and unapologetic self-expression that defines the artist and her artwork are powerful messages that resonate timelessly and universally, providing a powerful role-model across the globe… Meade captures Kahlo’s spirit of unique self-expression; as a one-of-her-kind artist… Meade boldly paints Frida Kahlo’s legacy into the present day.”
Google Artist-in-Residence
As Artist-in-Residence at Google, Alexa collaborated with the team developing advanced Light Field and Light Stage imaging technology. The combination of Alexa’s artistic techniques and new technological processes provided multiple explorations into the relationship of 2D and 3D imagery. While Alexa’s painting style endeavors to flatten 3D space, the light field video and volumetric capture techniques dimensionalize scenes captured as 2D imagery.
While at Google, she worked closely with Academy Award and Emmy Award-winning scientist Paul Debevec who used Alexa’s art as a test model in his SIGGRAPH Technical Paper on Layered Mesh Representation.
WIRED Magazine documented the Alexa Meade x Google collaboration.
Alexa Meade painting Grace Hoyt at Google
Grace on the couch by Alexa Meade
Painting Depth in the Light Field - A Collaboration Daydream and Artist-in-Residence Alexa Meade
Light Stage Sphere Capturing Alexa Meade's Living Painting at Google - Photo by Mike Monaghan
Google Light Stage with Alexa Meade's painted model Grace Hoyt - Photo by Mike Monaghan
Google Light Stage with Paul Debevec and Alexa Meade - Photo by Mike Monaghan
“What’s astonishing is how Alexa’s brushstrokes subvert the effects of light and shadow to flatten the three-dimensional world into the appearance of two-dimensional paintings. This forms an interesting counterpoint to our work, where we try to transform two-dimensional photographs back into three-dimensional experiences”
- Paul Debevec, Google Scientist and Academy Award-winner
Ariana Grande for “God is a Woman”
For the “God is a Woman” music video, Alexa painted on Ariana Grande’s body in a pool of paint, inspired by the Alexa // Sheila milk series. The video got over 400 million views and broke the internet. Thousands of people started painting themselves purple in the style of “God is a Woman,” and a couple even got tattoos!
“As it turns out, the video is inspiring a new wave of beauty looks inspired by the painterly body art on Ariana's chest and face. Now, on Instagram, makeup artists have begun to create Ariana-inspired looks using makeup. Blue and purple eyeshadow, eyeliner, and lipstick seem to be the hero products in most of these tutorials, with artists using them to draw swirls on their faces, chests, and arms.”
Ariana Grande - God is a Woman by Alexa Meade
Ariana Grande after being painted by Alexa Meade
Ariana Grande on X
Glamour - The Internet is Freaking Out
Ariana Grande Tattoo by Ebony Mellowship
Allure - Makeup artists are recreating Ariana Grande's 'God is a Woman'
“The 'God Is A Woman' music video broke the internet. Starring a naked Ariana half submerged in a purple swirling marble-effect pool, the video immediately incited a new generation of bath bomb lovers.”
Fashion Photographer Ruby June
Famed fashion photographer and model Ruby June created a series of dreamy self-portraits shot in Alexa’s solo exhibitions from Fifth Avenue, NYC to Rodeo Drive, Beverly Hills.
In the Time of the Roses in Wonderland Dreams by Alexa Meade - Model Photographer Ruby June
Model & Photographer Ruby June in Alexa Meade Installation
Model Photographer Ruby June in Wonderland Dreams by Alexa Meade
Model & Photographer Ruby June in Alexa Meade Installation
Model & Photographer Ruby June in Alexa Meade Installation
“Alexa Meade encourages guests to wake up their inner children and treat this installation like an adult playhouse.”
Color of Reality
Alexa brings painting to life -- and it is most alive when her portrait subjects are in movement. She teamed up with dancers Lil Buck and Jon Boogz for short film Color of Reality, which was screened at The Lincoln Center in New York City.
The Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics
As the first ever Artist-in-Residence at the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics, Alexa collaborated with spacetime researchers. Many Nobel Prize winning discoveries have come from laureates of the Perimeter Institute. Among Alexa’s collaborators was Laurent Friedel, a physicist who has made significant contributions to the field of loop quantum gravity.
Alexa was invited to share her dimension collapsing artwork on a quantum physics panel at the Symposium on Peace and Security in a Quantum Age. The symposium was hosted by The Centre for International Security Studies and Project Q, which explores the geopolitical and societal implications of quantum innovation.
“When you’re a physicist, you understand that there is a fundamental difference between what you experience with your eyes…and what the world is really about… I think [Meade’s] art presents this discrepancy between what you experience and what things are about.”
- Laurent Friedel, Theoretical Physicist
Magician Zach King
As a special collaboration with Zach King, Alexa Meade painted him as the embodiment of living art in her Wonderland Dreams exhibit. The world-famous magician has a dedicated fanbase of over 150 million followers.
Reframe of Mind
Created over several years, Alexa Meade and Aya Tanimura conceptualized, painted, and shot thousands of images that were pieced together to create their visually unique stop-motion animation short film Reframe of Mind.
Client Collabs & Installations
Alexa has created high profile experiential activations around the world including Adidas during Coachella, Meta at Cannes Lions, Apple at their Fifth Avenue flagship, Dreamforce in San Francisco, Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills, BMW in China, and Mini Cooper in Tokyo. Her Wonderland Dreams solo exhibition on Fifth Avenue in NYC was attended by 100,000 guests.
