Alexa Meade’s art might make your head hurt. But that’s kind of the point. You’ll cock your head, squint your eyes and move just a little closer to figure out exactly what’s real and what isn’t in her paintings. What she does is paint people. Or rather, paints on people. In a painstaking process using her own recipe of nontoxic paints, Meade does the reverse of bringing a painting to life, opting instead to bring life into her art, either photographing her subjects once they’re painted or installing them in a piece where viewers can examine them in person, perhaps not exactly sure what’s real and what isn’t until they zone in on the eyes or hair and figure out what’s happening. Here’s a look at some of the artist’s unique work and process.

This is Meade, herself the canvas, as she prepares for a self-portrait.

Meade painted her younger sister for this installation.

And here’s what the final work looked like.

After painting this dude, Meade followed him onto the subway.

The view from behind.

With the subjects’ eyes closed, it’s harder to tell the canvases are actually human.

RELATED: YuppiePunk Art Show | The Paintings of Diego Gravinese