A conversation with artist Alexa Meade about turning three dimensions into two, painting as a performance in front of thousands, avoiding the “uncanny valley” when making portraits, the publicity advantages of social media over traditional media, and how being helpful and handy can be the path to a woman’s heart.

While Alexa works with traditional brushes and paints, her artistic process is unusual: she paints portraits ON her human models, taking a three-dimensional scene and making it look like a two-dimensional painting. Other current projects include a residency working with scientists at the Perimeter Institute, exploring emerging virtual reality tools, designing toys, and turning her own home into a full-size funhouse. She is based in Los Angeles, and she gives lectures and has done residencies and exhibitions across the United States and Europe.

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(Recorded October 26, 2015)

The complete series of conversations is available at The Work of Art. You can subscribe to future interview episodes via RSS, iTunes or email.