Just for Fun
Alexa Meade is an artist famous for developing a style of painting in three dimensional space that makes the world appear to be a two-dimensional painting. Beyond her formal body of artwork, Alexa partakes in many unrelated projects just for fun. Whether it’s turning her house into a funhouse, designing toys with the inventor of Tickle Me Elmo, or learning to read Braille, Alexa has many colorful sources of inspiration. In her spare time, she is also a LEGO Master Builder, a recreational mathematician, and a hobbyist pole vaulter.
“I once got some life-changingly bad advice. I was told that if I wanted to be successful and really make it, I would have to put all of my focus into doing just one thing, and get really good at doing that one thing exceptionally well. I would need to quit playing around with all of my side projects and eliminate anything from my life that could pull me away from it -- I had an allergic reaction to this advice.
It’s all of my unseen side projects that is the essence of who I really am, and that constant tugging at my heart to throw myself into new directions that is the engine of inspiration for me as an artist.”
-Alexa Meade
Alexa’s House, The Funhouse
One of Alexa Meade’s favorite places to make art is her Los Angeles home, which she has affectionately dubbed “The Funhouse.” The Funhouse is Alexa’s test kitchen for new ideas and thoughts that are not yet fully formed -- and definitely not ready for show time. The art in The Funhouse is low stakes. It’s not made for a museum. It’s made for Alexa to spit the ideas out of her head while they’re fresh and she doesn’t yet know what they mean. Express first, refine later.
“The Funhouse bounces color and creativity from every corner… “The house is kind of an extension of my fascination with light and shadows, mirrors and illusion — it's like a testing ground where we get to come up with new ideas for how to make the world seem not quite as it is,” she says.”
The Funhouse is Alexa Meade's Playground - Photo by Mike Monaghan
Alexa Meade using a stud finder in the Funhouse - Photo by Mike Monaghan
Funhouse living room by Alexa Meade - Photo by Mike Monaghan
Looking out a window in the Funhouse by Alexa Meade - Photo by Mike Monaghan
Mirrors in the funhouse hallway by Alexa Meade - Photo by Mike Monaghan
The bedroom closet is a spaceship in the funhouse by Alexa Meade
Illusionistic Mirror fit for a funhouse by Alexa Meade - Photo by Mike Monaghan
Illusionistic patterned floor by Alexa Meade with the cat in the Funhouse - Photo by Mike Monaghan
Rainbow staircase in Alexa Meade_s funhouse with the cat - Photo by Mike Monaghan
Even Alexa Meade's bathroom is a funhouse - Photo by Mike Monaghan
Alexa Meade printed her art on the bedding in her Funhouse - Photo by Mike Monaghan
Alexa Meade's Funhouse from the Kitchen - Photo by Mike Monaghan
“Alexa explores how play can unlock a world of creative possibilities… what is possible when given the freedom to experiment, break the rules…We are in awe of Alexa’s creativity and how she brings it into every aspect of her daily life; from her unique optical illusion art to her home décor.”
Like The Funhouse, But All Grown Up
Alexa Meade expanded upon many of the themes she developed in her studio apartment and scaled them up to the size of a Best Buy for her Wonderland Dreams solo exhibition on Fifth Avenue. 100,000 people came to the exhibit and it quickly became one of New York City’s top rated attractions.
Alexa has built many inventive installation concepts for her exhibitions, including a walk-in kaleidoscope, a human hamster wheel, climbable sculptures, and thousands of hand-painted costumes.
“Alexa Meade encourages guests to wake up their inner children and treat this installation like an adult playhouse.”
Bringing the vibes of Alexa Meade's Funhouse to Fifth Avenue - Photo by Mike Monaghan
Bringing the vibes of Alexa Meade's Funhouse to Fifth Avenue - Photo by Mike Monaghan
Alexa Meade painting the floors in Wonderland Dreams - Photo by Mike Monaghan
Noelle McGraw in Wonderland Dreams by Alexa Meade - Photo by Ruby June
Leave Your Mark on the Alexa Meade Exhibit
A magical cafe designed by Alexa Meade - Photo by Mike Monaghan
Artist Alexa Meade in her colorful art installation - Photo by Chris Yang
Making the Alexa Meade installation into a playground - Photo by Mike Monaghan
Magical moments in Alexa Meade's art - Photo by Ruby June
A collaboration with Alexa Meade and Aza Raskin. Neon spandex and special diffraction glasses make magic - Photo by Mike Monaghan
Magic Glasses and Neon Spandex - WHOW Collaboration with Aza Raskin - Photo by Mike Monaghan
Wonderland Dreams by Alexa Meade on Fifth Avenue at Night - Photo by Ruby June
“Play is an important driver for Meade. Many of the ideas installed at Wonderland Dreams were workshopped at Meade’s funhouse, which is what she calls the 800-square-foot “magical and fun and weird” apartment where she lives... The spirit of play means Meade is constantly experimenting, working on new units of exploration, knowing that many of her efforts may never see the light of day.”
The Ariana Grande Collab that Broke the Internet
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 over 400 million views on Youtube and, according to ELLE, “broke the internet.”
In reaction to Alexa’s art, thousands of fans body painted themselves purple. Fans clamored for the opportunity to take purple baths, and to meet the demand, Lush released a “Goddess” line of bath bombs.
The internet was set ablaze with the conspiracy theory that Alexa had painted Ariana Grande into something that looked “suspiciously like a vagina.” The internet was right. It was meant to look like a vagina.
Ariana Grande in God is a Woman painted by Alexa Meade
Ariana Grande after being painted by Alexa Meade
Ariana Grande - God is a Woman by Alexa Meade
“gloriously heavy-handed, with overt vaginal imagery”
Designing a Look for the Red Carpet
For the Venice International Film Festival, Alexa Meade wore a ball gown that she designed and painted. She completed the look by painting on the bowtie of her fiancé Stefan Thomas as they walked down the red carpet. The dress was made in consultation with stylist and photographer Ruby June.
Alexa Meade painting Stefan Thomas's Bowtie on the Red Carpet at the Premiere of Ferrari at the Venice Film Festival - Photo by Getty Images
Alexa Meade completed her red carpet look by painting her shoes - Photo by Ruby June
Alexa Meade designed and painted a dress to be worn walking down the red carpet - Photo by Ruby June
Alexa Meade and Stefan Thomas - Photo by Ruby June
In the Realm of Magic
Alexa Meade is an artist, but also a magician. She turns reality into an illusion, making an entire dimension of space disappear. You can watch her work from start to finish, and still not understand how physical depth seemingly vanishes under her paintbrush.
Alexa has worked with some of the most famous magicians alive today, including David Blaine and Zach King. Her art has been exhibited alongside mentalist Derren Brown’s at The Saatchi Gallery in London and she has enjoyed presenting her art at The Academy of Magical Arts, better known as “The Magic Castle.”
“visual riddles”
“Art + Magic = Alexa + Meade”
Dogs love it too!
Inspiration takes many forms -- and sometimes it’s dogs! When Alexa realized that people on Rodeo Drive were sneaking dogs in their purses into her solo exhibit, she instituted an explicit rule: All Dogs Allowed. Period.
To make sure that all of her dog exhibit guests felt included, Alexa painted costumes fit for all sizes of living beings, human and otherwise. Once the word got out, guests started arriving at the art exhibit with not only their dogs, but also cats, rabbits, and even a beautiful pig!
An Exceptionally stylish dog in an Alexa Meade painting
A pig enjoying the art at Alexa Meade_s solo show - Photo by Jenna Carlie
A dog in Alexa Meade's art installation on Rodeo Drive
Two poodles dressed for tea at Alexa Meade's exhibit
A dog named Buffalo in Alexa Meade's art - Photo by Mike Monaghan
A white rabbit at the Mad Tea Party by Alexa Meade - photo by Ruby June
Top dog in the Alexa Meade exhibit
A pug in a wheelchair came to Alexa Meade's exhibit
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, as reimagined by Alexa Meade
Alexa Meade is working on making her own version of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. The book is illustrated with magical 2D/3D paintings from her various Wonderland themed exhibitions, featuring photography and modeling by Ruby June.
Fun at Work
As the Founder & CEO of Wonderland Dreams, Alexa Meade ran a company with 46 employees. With the mission of the company “to make something wildly-inspiring,” that ethos extended to the workplace.
Alexa designed the employee uniforms, which featured her artwork and were so stylish that staff would wear them out on Saturday nights. The outfits became a hit, with people constantly asking where they could buy them. Due to popular demand, Alexa stocked extra uniforms in the gift shop, and they quickly sold out. As the company grew and uniform supplies ran low, she introduced a new dress code: wear anything, but make sure to have paint on your clothes. Alexa hosted a painting workshop for employees to bring in their favorite clothes to transform into works of art.
With many of Alexa’s employees being artists themselves, she encouraged them to bring their own art projects with them to work. People knit, doodled, sewed, and did nail art in the breakroom. With an unlimited supply of body paints in Alexa’s studio at Wonderland Dreams, employees painted designs on each others faces at work.
Every day of summer break, Box Office Manager Ebony brought her daughter Malanee to work with her, where she had unlimited access to arts n’ crafts supplies. At the end of the summer, Alexa painted 10 year old Malanee and her mom into the art exhibit.
A group of Wonderland Dreams employees came together to form “The Spirit Committee.” They put on celebrations for the team, including "The Meadies," an annual awards ceremony for employees, celebrated workplace excellence with personalized trophies -- giant paint brushes engraved with each winner's name and achievement.
To go over new HR policies, The Spirit Committee put on a skit re-enacting The Matrix, which culminated in the presentation of the “Wonderland Vibe Guide.” Since many employees graduated during the pandemic and missed out on their prom, The Spirit Committee stepped in to make up for it by organizing a Wonderland Prom. It gave everyone a chance to finally wear that dream dress and celebrate this rite of passage in true style.
Every new employee was welcomed to the team with a pair of crocs in their favorite color. Only later did Alexa find out that in her type of workplace employees are required to wear both closed-toed and closed-heeled shoes, making the open-heeled crocs illegal footwear. As a special treat, Alexa hired a tattoo artist to give free tattoos to any employees who wanted them. Many team members chose to get matching tattoos inspired by their time at work, including a tattoo of a croc!
Words on Walls
When Alexa Meade closed her Wonderland Dreams solo exhibition, she had to return the space to the landlord in the same condition it was found in. Unfortunately, the hand-painted walls, floors, and ceilings of the 26,000 square foot exhibit could not be safely transported and all of her beautiful artwork had to be destroyed.
As the exhibit was being torn down all around her, Alexa started furiously painting some last parting thoughts on the walls. To see the remnants of Alexa’s art being hauled off into dumpsters and pulverized with sledgehammers, visit Wonderland Dreams.
You would cry too.
I got my security deposit back - Painting by Alexa Meade - Painting by Alexa Meade photographed by Ruby June
Sometimes you have to let go of old dreams - Painting by Alexa Meade photographed by Ruby June
To make room for new dreams - Painting by Alexa Meade photographed by Ruby June
It's never really the end - Painting by Alexa Meade photographed by Ruby June
Find the secret door - Painting by Alexa Meade photographed by Ruby June
A secret door - Painting by Alexa Meade photographed by Ruby June
I drink Pedialyte - Painting by Alexa Meade photographed by Ruby June
Please pay artists - Painting by Alexa Meade photographed by Ruby June
Dismantling her Wonderland Dreams solo exhibit was very emotional for Alexa Meade
It Hurts, I need to Paint by Alexa Meade
You don't age out of dreaming - Painting by Alexa Meade photographed by Ruby June
Current and future dreams - Painting by Alexa Meade photographed by Ruby June
Thoughts and feelings - Painting by Alexa Meade photographed by Ruby June
Personal Misc in the Funhouse by Alexa Meade - Photo by Ruby June
Grief is a valid emotion - Painting by Alexa Meade photographed by Ruby June
Everything I needed to say - Painting by Alexa Meade photographed by Ruby June
The walls to Alexa Meade's art exhibit were torn down as she painted words on them
The painted walls were carried out of the builiding to be put into the dumpster
Art being loading straight into the dumpster - Photo by Mike Monaghan
Words at Home (Pending photo edits)
After de-installing Wonderland Dreams in New York City, Alexa rented an apartment in Mexico City. She covered the walls in butcher paper and began painting words as they came to her. After she ran out of wall space, she painted around the stove, above the bed, next to the toilet, and under the sink.
Designing Toys
For fun, artist Alexa Meade likes to design toys. Her first toy was called Art Arcs, a set of tessellating tiles inspired by the mathematical principle of curves of constant width. After she filed a provisional patent for her invention, she found out from the patent office that someone beat her to it! By about 100 years. She had already made versions of her tessellating tiles for the fridge, the bathtub, and even her breakfast cereal.
A fan of magic, Alexa has designed decks of playing cards. In her Wonderland Dreams exhibit, BIG Architect Bjarke Ingels used Alexa’s larger than life playing cards to build a towering house up to the ceiling.
Way back in 2015, long before reversible sequin fabric went viral, Alexa collaborated with Ron Dubren, the inventor of Tickle Me Elmo, on a line of toys utilizing the dazzling fabric. Alexa individually colored thousands of sequins to create colorful, two sided designs. Together, Ron and Alexa came up with novel applications for the fabric, from a tactile drawing board, color changing plush animals, magical doll clothes, and an illustrated alphabet learning mat. Alexa prototyped an illustrated children’s book you could interact with -- scratching an ankle to reveal poison ivy, putting spots on a ladybug, and carving a jack-o-lantern.
They optioned the toy to Hasbro, but it never got made because it would have been too expensive to manufacture, even for one of the world’s largest toy companies. At the time, reversible sequin fabric was so rare and exotic, that it could not be sourced at an affordable price point for children’s toys. Several years later, reversible sequins blew up in the world of fashion, and the material was available everywhere -- and for one tenth the price. Alexa and Ron did a new round of pitching their sequin toy ideas to more companies. At that point, they were told they were too late, because everyone had already seen reversible sequins and it was no longer magical. Fast forward to 2018, and TY, the beanie baby company, debuts a best-selling line of reversible sequin plush animals.
Collaborating with a Deaf and Blind Visual Artist
Alexa Meade has volunteered at Braille Institute of America for five years, assisting visually impaired adults with their art projects. She co-produced a solo exhibition for one of her deaf-blind students, a visual artist by the name of Chris Cook.
The exhibit featured touchable art installations and was designed specifically for visually impaired guests. All signage, pricelists, and even Chris Cook’s artist statement were embossed in Braille. Alexa digitized and self-published Chris Cook’s typewritten memoir. With his enthusiasm, she has made it available for download here.
“There is something to be said about an art show that is accessible for those with and without sight. As I entered the deaf-blind artist Christopher Cook’s solo exhibition, I traded places with a blind woman who had a smile on her face. To my right, there was a deaf-blind couple conversing in tactile sign language.
Inside this show, what you encounter is a community of people who — whether they’re mute, blind, deaf, all of the above, or none of the above — can fully experience the artwork. “My Greatest and Most Enjoyable Interests” strips us of our differences and brings all of us together during a time when we need it most. It whispers, “You belong.””
-Anna Gragert, journalist
An Interview with Chris Cook by Alexa Meade
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About my blindness, I can only say that the hardest thing about it was not being able to see colors. I must admit that painting is difficult, as I can't do so without touching it. I always had to have things used for coloring like pens and paints labeled in Braille.
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Yes, I somehow I did think I would become an artist in my teens. I got ideas for things I made from books I read, and some from things I saw when I was a kid, and from dreams I had. I guess I might never run out of ideas. I plan to always continue to be an artist.
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I was 13 when my hearing began to fail me and 14 when my sight began to do so. By age 16 I lost all sight and 80 percent hearing. My sight, although good in some ways, was not exactly normal. I could never read print, and had to read braille from Kindergarten up.
It was far from easy to accept the losses of my sight and hearing, especially my hearing. I was sometimes so depressed that I had crying jags and laments about the loss of my hearing, and the feeling went on for some weeks. I could not hear music as well as I could before, and that was one of my hobbies. I had to give up both radio and television as I could no longer comprehend what people said on both.
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I made a poem called WHEN THERE IS A GLITCH
Don't make a pitch
Don't jump in a ditch
Or say, "Son of a bitch!"
Don't go throwing fits,
Don't make bad hits
Even if it's
really the pits
Just take it easy.
And you can see.
Some problems work out
Whatever may come about.
About people who ridiculed me, I can't say I like people like that. It's never nice to do that to anybody. My mother tried to cover up for them, but I disregarded her comments.
About being discriminated against, yes, indeed, I had unfortunate experiences like that. I was turned down at Toys R Us in Ventura where I went to shop for Christmas gifts for my three nephews and one niece. The staff claimed that they couldn't take the responsibility to help me. Sometimes in other stores I told them what I was there for, but they started to lead me back out the doors, and I had to stop them. The last time I was at Target I had a very, very hard time trying to get attention, and afterward decided not to shop there anymore, but to do so at Walmart. -
I find that strange and don't believe in magic, and in all cases, there is no way to get sight and hearing back. I can only say I accept my disabilities as I have to be with them.
Recreational Math
Scientists and mathematicians have been fascinated by Alexa Meade’s artwork with the paradox of two dimensional imagery occupying three dimensional spaces in a mathematical strange loop. As the Guardian notes: “you're looking at the representation of something by the artist but also at the thing itself – she's merged the representation and what it references.”
Alexa has lectured at Stanford University in Mathematical Logic classes, as well as headlined Stanford’s “Celebration of Mind.” She has lectured in the Princeton University Computer Science Department about connections between her art and a sub-field of computer graphics research called non-photorealistic rendering.
Alexa Meade Self-Portrait, Double Take
Broadway Producer Keith Hurd Painted by Alexa Meade - Photo by Mike Monaghan
Google Light Stage Sphere
Permieter Cover
Stanford Celebration of Mind program headliner Alexa Meade
Tessellating tiles by Alexa Meade
Alexa Meade lecturing in the Stanford University math department - photo by Micaela Go
Lecturing at the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics
Alexa showing mathematician John Horton Conway how to read his name in Braille
Alexa lecturing at Stanford
As the first ever Artist-in-Residence at the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics, Alexa collaborated with the scientists developing theories of loop quantum gravity. She has presented her dimension-bending work as it relates to quantum physics at the Symposium for Peace and Security in a Quantum Age. She has collaborated with engineers at Google advancing Light Field and Light Stage imaging technology. Her art has been part of a SIGGRAPH paper by Academy Award-winning scientist Paul Debevec on Layered Mesh Representation.
For fun, Alexa is a judge for the American Association for the Advancement of Science’s annual Dance Your Ph.D. competition.
Spherical Video Illusion - Henry Segerman, Dan Ariely,
and Alexa Meade
She has collaborated on a dimension-bending spherical video with mathematician Henry Segerman, who specializes in three-dimensional geometry and topology. Behavioral economist Dan Ariely was hanging out in Alexa’s studio that day and joined them for the experiment.
Braille Palindromes presentation by Alexa Meade at the Recreational Math Conference G4G
Alexa knows how to read braille by sight (but not by touch) and has presented her work on developing Braille palindromes at recreational math conferences. Famed mathematician John Horton Conway interrupted Alexa’s presentation at G4G to heckle her, shouting that she was a “nerd.”
“Meade’s unique work illustrates that depth perception is always a brain construct, not only in art but also in life. Because our retinas are fundamentally flat surfaces, our neurons must infer the third dimension from cues such as shadows, perspective lines or the relative sizes of objects—both in paintings and in everyday perception. Meade’s artful application of paint disrupts this brain process.”
Secret Tattoos and Other Projects
Alexa Meade has tattoos of fake freckles camouflaged among her real freckles. Whenever something interesting in her life happens, Alexa gets a freckle tattoo within 24 hours, as a permanent physical location on her body to hold the memories for that particular moment in time. She’s lost count of how many times she has gone in to a tattoo parlor to add a single freckle to her body, but if she had to guess, it’s probably around 50 or 60.
Alexa drilled a hole through her friend’s garage door and turned the empty space into a camera obscura theater. Experimenting with prisms, lenses, and mirrors, Alexa created highly analog special effects for sculpting the light beaming through the pinhole onto the wall.
While designing her book “The Dream of Wonderland,” Alexa created over 20 hand-painted fonts. To have a visual index of all her different fonts, her fiancé Stefan Thomas came up with a very brilliant and very short sentence using every letter of the alphabet: “Font wizard Alexa high jumps quickly, bravo.”
This pangram is particularly relevant to the high jumping Alexa, as she is a hobbyist pole-vaulter. She is terrible at pole vaulting, but you don’t have to be good at something to love it anyway.
A freckle tattoo marking a moment of time
Collaboration between Alexa Meade and a set of identical twins, the Stifani Brothers
Lining up a model with his face painted on a pane of glass
Alexa Meade created dozens of hand painted fonts
A collection of Alexa Meade_s painted fonts with a pangram created by Stefan Thomas
Alexa Meade is not an award winning pole vaulter, but she did get a participation medal for competing
Among other things, Alexa Meade is a hobbyist pole vaulter
