Most of us have used a chalkboard at least once, and recognize them as flat, two dimensional surfaces. But recently, one took on an exciting new dimension at the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics in Canada. Internationally renowned, California-based artist Alexa Meade (an Artist-in-Residence at the Institute), made a chalkboard come to life.
For this particular creation, Meade recruited a couple of scientists from the Institute and immersed them in her living chalkboard artwork. They were painted black and white from head-to-toe, with dashes of color to resemble a classroom chalkboard, and placed in armchairs against the chalkboard backdrop. The results look shockingly similar to paintings, and seeing them out of context; you would never know that they weren’t.
Meade describes her process very matter-of-factly, “I don’t paint on canvas. I paint directly onto three-dimensional space. In my work I’m able to transform any three-dimensional space into something that appears 2-D, without post-processing, without Photoshop, just in the way that I’m representing the light and shadow within a space.” She makes it sound so easy, alas…Â
Check out the gallery below for more images of this living installation; it’s worth it to see how each subtle difference in movement and expression can wildly alter your perception of the space, and the bodies that inhabit it.Â
So, what do you think of Meade’s creation? Did it bend your perceptions? Sound off in the comments below. You can also give a shout out to Meade on Twitter (@AlexaMeadeArt) if you like her work.
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IMAGES: Alexa Meade
