Living Portraits
Alexa Meade’s groundbreaking portraits transform people into mesmerizing, living works of art. By painting directly onto her subjects, she transforms three-dimensional figures into what appear to be two-dimensional images.
Limited edition prints are available for select works. For more information on collecting Alexa's art or commissioning a portrait, please contact hello@alexameade.com.
Grammy Award-Winning Broadway Actor Walter Russell III, Painted by Alexa Meade - Photo by Mike Monaghan
Reality of Lil Buck painted by Alexa Meade - Photo by Matthew Brush
Sunrise Goddess by Alexa Meade, featuring Broadway Actor Nadia Brown - Photo by Mike Monaghan
Alexa Meade painting model Ruby June, with photo by Chris Stewart
After Cranach by Alexa Meade
Spectacle by Alexa Meade
Bold Beauty by Alexa Meade - Model Noel
Broadway Actor Jonalyn Saxer, Painted by Alexa Meade - Photo by Mike Monaghan
"Looking at photographs of her work, you may struggle to remind yourself that what you’re seeing is not, in fact, a painting, but a person painted."
“Lushly hypnotic”
Model & photographer Ruby June painted by Alexa Meade
Bold Enough to Wait painted by Alexa Meade - Model Noel Batiste
Transit of a Man on the DC Metro painted by Alexa Meade
Ruby June Black and White Painted by Alexa Meade
Writer / Director Amyra León painted by Alexa Meade
Ruthie Fierberg painted by Alexa Meade - Photo by Ruby June
Ariana Grande, Pop Star
“It was so fun n i loved the colors so much the artist who did it is named Alexa Meade. she's so incredible”
Justin Sylvester, TODAY Show host
“When Alexa offered to paint me, how could I say no? Now Ariana Grande and I finally have something in common!”
Halle Berry, Academy Award-winning actor
“Dying to get my own living portrait done by this dope female artist”
Matthew Sims Jr. painted by Alexa Meade - Photo by Mike Monaghan
Christine Sunu painted by Alexa Meade - Photo by Jenna Carlie
Shae's lips painted by Alexa Meade - Photo by Mike Monaghan
Watch collector Gary Getz being painted by Alexa Meade for a commissioned portrait
Painting the Face by Alexa Meade, featuring model Ruby June with photo by Mike Monaghan
Richard painted by Alexa Meade, Photo by Ruby June
“Look at the eyes, though. Bam. Real person. This effect jars people, confuses them, briefly rattles their grasp of art, space and reality.”
Living Street Art
"Alexa Meade makes paintings that breathe. The Los Angeles-based artist creates mind-boggling works of art on a walking, talking canvas: humans. She paints directly onto the bodies and faces of models, using brushstrokes and shadows to camouflage figures into their background, turning a 3D scene into a 2D image."
Pride Forever by Alexa Meade
Zach King painted by Alexa Meade - Photo by Ruby June
Street Art by Alexa Meade
Made Up on the Streets by Alexa Meade
“She paints on people around the world who become part of the urban landscape as living street art. The photographs of the ephemeral painting performances hang on the walls of galleries and museums.”
Risen by Alexa Meade
Street Art Adrian Richardson - Painted by Alexa Meade - Photo by Ruby June
Martyrdom by Alexa Meade
Trippy Flower painted by Alexa Meade, featuring model & photographer Ruby June
CMYK Black by Alexa Meade
Victoria Justice with Wings Forever by Alexa Meade
Adrian Richardson, Painted by Alexa Meade - Photo by Lory Lyon
Art Crossing the Street with Paul Wontorek Painted by Alexa Meade - Photo by Mike Monaghan
“Drawing us into her creative imagination”
Lola Sol painted by Alexa Meade, Model B Justine Jaime
Broadway Actor Gus Birney painted by Alexa Meade - Photo by Ruby June
Broadway Producer Keith Hurd Painted by Alexa Meade - Photo by Mike Monaghan
Broadway Actor Jonalyn Saxer, Painted by Alexa Meade - Photo by Mike Monaghan
Alexa Meade painted journalist Kara Swisher and Aza Raskin at the Exploratorium
Dancer Melissa Becraft Being Painted by Alexa Meade - Photo by Chris Stewart
Rosa Acosta painted by Alexa Meade
Shelli Lether in Red painted by Alexa Meade, photo by Ruby June
"In the words of French artist Edgar Degas, 'art is not what you see but what you make others see.' Nearly 100 years after Degas' death, Los Angeles artist Alexa Meade is finding new ways to bring that vision to life by using people as her canvas."
“Trippy cosmic wonderment”
Activate by Alexa Meade and Sheila Vand
Head Trip by Alexa Meade and Sheila Vand
White Out by Alexa Meade and Sheila Vand
Blueprint by Alexa Meade
Blueprint Installation painted by Alexa Meade
In the Mirror by Alexa Meade
Exposure by Alexa Meade
Victorian Blue by Alexa Meade
Bjarke Ingels Sketch by Alexa Meade
Frida and I with a Bed Under the Sky, painted by Alexa Meade
Shae's lips painted by Alexa Meade
Roahn by Alexa Meade
Shore Long by Alexa Meade
Modern Woman
Swimming Along by Alexa Meade
The Watch Alexa - Lacey
Dark And Dreary - Alexa + Lacey
Double Take self-portrait by Alexa Meade
Groove It painted by Alexa Meade - Model Alli Harvard
Ashley Snively painted by Alexa Meade
"The portraits look as if they should be hanging in a gallery. Only the unpainted areas – hair and eyes – reveal the optical illusion."
Commissioned Portraits
To commission a portrait from Alexa Meade or to join the volunteer model waiting list, please contact hello@alexameade.com.
Ariana Grande in God is a Woman with art by Alexa Meade and Sheila Vand
Broadway Costume Designer Emilio Sosa painted by Alexa Meade - Photo by Mike Monaghan
Mother and Daughter Ebony with Malanee Roches, Painted by Alexa Meade - Photo by Mike Monaghan
Tony Award-winning Broadway Producer Eva Price Being Painted by Alexa Meade - Photo by Ruby June
What it feels like being turned into
a living work of art
Richie Ridge, Broadway World
"I started to feel a hypnotic relaxation and a freeing sensation throughout my body of any inhibitions and in my mind I had visuals of wild colors swirling through my imagination and when it was all done, and I saw myself in the mirror, I was truly astonished."
Gus Birney, Broadway Actor
“When I saw myself with all the colors and textures pouring out of me, it felt like my heart had exploded outside of me, like all the fire and feeling inside myself had somehow landed on my skin and I had bloomed like a flower. She painted me on the outside how I feel on the inside, an explosion of color and feeling.”
Ilana Woldenberg, Rolling Stone Journalist
"Even though I was covered in paint, I felt a certain level of freedom that I've never felt before, to exist and play and move and be… unafraid to be different and stand out."
Ruby June Glamour - Painted by Alexa Meade - Photo by Ruby June
Dressed and Ready by Alexa Meade, Featuring Model and Photographer Ruby June
Natural Intrigue painted by Alexa Meade
Tony Award-Winning Broadway Actor Brian Stokes Mitchell, Painted by Alexa Meade. Photo by Jenny Anderson
Gus Birney painted by Alexa Meade, photo by Ruby June
Ruby June in Blue, Black, and White painted by Alexa Meade - Photo by Ruby June
“Meade’s striking visuals respond to the challenge of… connection and unique self-expression”
