Denim & Supply Ralph Lauren x Alexa Meade

28-year-old artist Alexa Meade has developed a somewhat unconventional art method, painting directly on her human subjects and their surroundings to create captivating portraits. Now, Meade is bringing her avante-garde artwork to Denim & Supply Ralph Lauren's new campaign, Project Warehouse, in a special installation. Fans can watch the video below through the end of September and submit images of themselves to win the chance to be painted by Meade in an upcoming installation.

Our writer Marissa G. Muller caught up with Meade and got the inside scoop on the fashion-meets-art (and vice versa) project.

On her process: I’m turning the 3D world into a 2D painting by painting onto 3D space and when photographed it look like a 2D painting. 

On how this project compares to her normal process: This is the most ambitious project I’ve ever done. It’s been seven days of non-stop painting giant walls. Usually when I do a project, I start and finish it in a single day. This is totally on a different scale in part because I’ve been able to have the resources that Denim & Supply has provided. 

The concept: I wanted to create this warehouse vibe where artists can come together and collaborate. It ties in nicely to Denim & Supply’s aesthetic of bohemians coming together and making weird things artistically.

Denim & Supply seemed like the perfect embodiment of who I wanted to collaborate with when they told me about their idea for project warehouse. Any artist would want to get together and be inspired by other artists. 

Before art, she was studying political science and fell into this world. Her impression of the art world was: The art world seemed like a really scary impenetrable place. My father had studied art in school and didn’t make it as an artist. He became an accountant.  After graduating college with my degree in political science, I thought that I really wanted to do it and was passionate about it. 

On fusing art and fashion: I definitely see an overlap between my work and fashion because it’s taking the body and dressing it in a way that creates a mood, style, and aesthetic. It’s interesting to take this expression of clothing and then add my own layer of interpretation on it.

On life itself: Believe in yourself and work your ass off. No one is going to care as much about your passions as you are. You don’t necessarily need external validation. You have to bring your art into the world to show people why it matters. Words won’t do it justice -- that’s why we make art: for things that don’t translate into words.

Be sure to pick up a copy of our October issue next month to learn more about the Denim & Supply Ralph Lauren x Alexa Meade collaboration.