Modern Painters

Sacred SexAn anonymous artist rethinks eroticaBY ARIELA GITTLEN``````ALL IMAGES: ALPHACHANNELING AND JACK HANLEY GALLERYSPOTLIGHT // ALPHACHANNELINGALPHACHANNELING is all about pleasure.His sinuous lines and understatedpalette show bodies in all sorts of carnalcombinations, often frolicking in a lushjungle landscape. His world looks likeEden before that sorry business with theapple and the snake. While the subject``````matter is thoroughly explicit, the worknever seems sordid, perhaps becausethe artist refuses to separate the sacredfrom the profane. (Steamier workshave titles such as Benediction, GuidedMeditation, and Follow Your Bliss,winks that are both funny and touching.)Although he has chosen to remainanonymous, Alphachanneling is one of themore popular artists on Instagram, witha following that has topped 200,000 andis steadily growing. The majority of hisfans experience his work in the digitalrealm—he’s been posting to the app sinceJuly 2013—but in part owing to thepopularity of his account, Alphachannelingis making inroads into the art worldproper, with a recent solo show at JackHanley under his belt. Seeing the artist’swatercolors, colored-pencil drawings, andworks on clayboard on the gallery wallisn’t so different from viewing them on anInstagram feed. It’s easier to admire thecareful details, like the dizzy profusionof leaves surrounding the two lovers in LostForever Under the Sweetest Fruit, 2015,but otherwise the differences between thedigital and the gallery experience are few.Still, Alphachanneling’s works possessa formal simplicity that makes themperfectly suited for viewing on a smallscreen. Graphic and immediate, theylook like artifacts of ancient folklore,cave paintings from a recently discoveredcivilization. When I spoke to the artistby phone (from an unnamed locationin Northern California), he acknowledgedthat the cultural legacy of mythologyis one of his inspirations: “I also believethat our real lives are mythical,” hesays. “The love that people have in theirlives, and the love that I’ve had in mylife, are their own legends.”$OSKDFKDQQHOLQJ·VLQÁXHQFHVDUHwide-ranging, from Taoist and Tantricart and Fellini’s dream journals to thecomics of Robert Crumb. He admiresCrumb’s ability to blend the sincere andthe profane, as well as his humor. “Ina Zen-minded way, I believe the highestform of anything is that which canlaugh at itself: the wisdom of the fool, theHodja (a legendary Turkish trickster)riding backward on his donkey,” he says. “Iwant my work to be playful and funny.”The artist’s decision to remain``````Two Souls-AMoment of SuddenRecognition,2016. Coloredpencil, 17½ x 13 in.50 MODERN PAINTERS JUNE/JULY 2016BLOUINARTINFO.COM