Milk, by Alexa and Sheila

Head Trip

Beautiful painting, no?

No.

Because why?

This is no painting, friends, this is the genius work of body painter Alexa Meade, modelled by Sheila Vand.

Looking to explore the fluidity of the female form through portraiture and perception, Alexa and Sheila decided to collaborate after a chemic Skype meeting and the project Milk: what will you make of me? was born.

The figure: the human body itself.

The canvas: milk.

Activate

To paraphrase the marvellous interview (the full version of which can be read here), the two creatively kindred spirits were intrigued by using milk as the medium to look at the concept of women in art. It's a medium that works well in the logistic sense for its opacity, but Sheila reveals it was more than just that. 

"I was also really drawn to its conceptual implications," she says in Don't Panic's interview. "It's a provocative substance made only by the female body, so it's a really insightful context to explore the female form". 

Mango Lassi

While this all sounds well and good, the process was not as milky smooth as they make it look.

Lying in a blow-up pool filled freezing milk, suspended partly by floaties and partly by a solid concrete floor, Sheila admitted to the challenge of keeping the body as expressive as she and Alexa had discussed beforehand. "But if you lose that human element, it's no longer a living portrait," she conceded.

And it's no wonder with that level of dedication that the project turned out as breathtaking as it did.

White Out

On Alexa's side, the challenge mainly lay in the ticking clock. One can only imagine the exasperation she felt when she says, "I could spend a couple hours painting on Sheila and in as little as two minutes in the pool of milk, it could all be washed away. There is an incredibly short window of time for me to get the right shot. If I miss the photo, then all our work is gone and we have nothing to show for it."

Though it was just the two of them putting these together, they distinctly felt a third presence throughout their work. "We often referred to the milk as a third partner in our collaboration ebcause it would ultimately determine the final product," says Alexa, and describes how that which was meant to be grotesque would end up graceful. "We could never predict how the milk would behave."

But did they cry over this spilled (or rather, unruly) milk? Not in the least!

The medium worked well with the art to produce unanticipated results, like in Shape and Shift (below).

Shape                                                       Shift

The duo toured to Zurich, Switzerland in August and September of 2012 to do a live performance of their project at Galerie Ivo Kamm. There, inspired by the effervescent nature of the art during the original LA based project, they wanted to work with the loss of identity and its instability.

"You really start to feel like a mutable canvas," says Sheila who was painted between 2-3 times per session.

To check out all their work, behind-the-scenes shots, and some sneak peaks at the Zurich performances, head right on over to their website and glory in their inspirational work.

Behind-the-scenes of Activate/Hesitate/Deviate

Oh, and in case you were wondering, the constant milk baths were indeed very good for the skin. "The paint," disclaimed Sheila on the other hand, "not so much."