Alex Box & James Meakin

Alex Box photographed by James Meakin

IN HER OWN WORDS…

“Please dare to dream, because without dreams you're just sleeping.”

The following extract is taken from the online journal of artist Alex Box.

“In a time when people are shouting and telling you everything, and every message is loud and in high definition with lasers and whistles on - the subversion is to be quiet, to be thoughtful, to be gentle. The other way is always a reaction to the most.

I've always loved the extremely quiet, clever, subtle makeup moments and then the precision moment of a motif, or an all-encompassing look. I always find it weird when people say to me "what goes through your mind when you do a 'crazy weird' look", and I don't know what to say to them as I never think of any of my work as crazy or weird, it's just my work?

Whether it's a simple lip or a whole body, it's all the same. It comes from my heart and a piece of me is in everything I do. I can look at a makeup and know exactly how I felt when I did it. I paint with emotions. This is why I never feel like what I do is avant-garde, weird, or anything other... It's just me I don't know how to do it any other way.

I think this is the answer when makeup artists ask for advice, the best advice I can give is to find your own voice. It can be hard when more than ever there are so many channels telling you how to do it this way or that, but that is only an opinion as is mine, to be digested or not, but ultimately to be bricks in the path of your own way.

Pressure to conform and to instantly have a style can be overwhelming. As is the pressure to pop out a fully fledged working makeup artist when it takes a long time to craft your art and make mistakes over and over . This pressure to be so complete so soon is what I think makes young makeup artists either rush to find a voice that isn't theirs and they are being told what to be like by peers, or feel like they can't take chances incase they get it wrong and the whole of social media will see it and judge them.

I hope to show by example that I made loads of mistakes, had horrendous times of self doubt and still do, and always think I'm as good as my next piece of work. You have to take chances and risk failure or you may never discover new territory inside your own heart. Some of the best makeup I have done was because it was going wrong and I found a new, unexpected path that made it even better! It's the nature of the beast, creativity can be a ravenous animal and leave you in tatters, or it can exalt you to heights you never dreamt of.

Please dare to dream, because with out dreams you're just sleeping.”

For more journal extracts, follow Alex here or on instagram

BROWSE THE COLLECTION

Artist in make up Alex Box and photographer James Meakin have worked on many creative adventures together. They have teamed up to create a series of special edition photographic prints in honor of the launch of HUE. These remarkable works of art can be purchased here.

These photographs are limited editions, highly collectible and just downright spell binding! We are proud to announce the launch of their latest work together.

FLASHBACK TO THE IMAGE ISSUE

Alex created the original front cover for IMAGE as photographed by James and a series of unforgettable works for the IMAGE issue followed. Here’s a flash back to one of our favorite past issues.