Modern Painters

FROM TOP:Benediction,2015.Watercolor,11 x 15 in.Kitten BeingTrained, 2015.Watercolor,11 x 15 in.Follow YourBliss, 2015.Watercolor,11 x 15 in.``````BLOUINARTINFO.COM JUNE/JULY 2016 MODERN PAINTERS 51anonymous feels similarly Zen-minded.By eliminating his identity from theequation, the artist aims to transcendthe limitations of the individual self,becoming one with the fantasy he hascreated. The Alphachanneling monikergives him the freedom, as he puts it,to “step into that world and channel it.”Of course, the pseudonym has apractical use, too, allowing the artist todepict taboo subject matter withoutrepercussions or unwanted comparisonsto his other projects. Ironically, he sees thespiritual elements of his work as equallytaboo as the sexual ones, if not moreso. He describes his artmaking process as“like prayer,” but in a tone that suggeststhis may sound silly to some. His goal,he says, is to “marry the dirty and theshameful with the pure and the sacred.Both worlds are stigmatized. It’s not reallyOK to talk about divine things or to feelspiritual—it comes with some shame.”Alphachanneling’s object is to destroy thatshame, but delicately: not with a blow,but with a caress. “You’re looking at some-thing that seems pornographic,” he explains.“But it’s done in a way that tricks you intothinking otherwise, because the colorsand the lines are so intrinsically gentle.” (^) MP