| Alex Aliume's latest painting is really four paintings in one, depending on the light, and frankly it's pretty trippy. All of his paintings are trippy, actually, and that's the point. The Brooklyn-based artist, whose biggest collector is one of the cofounders of the Blue Man Group, says he had visions and astral projections as a child and would call himself a mystic. He's also a proponent of psychedelics. "Psychedelics open a door in front of you," he says. "They send a signal from our planet, from the higher consciousness, that you are a spiritual being, part of one energy, the quantum structures of the universe, connected through different levels and different realities. And this renaissance is happening because we're on the verge of destroying ourselves and the planet. They teach us to see the life inside of things other than ourselves." Aliume is consumed with his work, painting almost nonstop. In other words, we need to trip out before we flame out. Duff McDonald, who follows Aliume into his studio and out into the universe for this story, doesn't usually cover artists. He's the author of multiple best-selling business books, including one about McKinsey consulting and another about Harvard Business School. But, as they say, everything is connected. "A couple of years ago, I reviewed a book called Stealing Fire. Marketed as a 'management' book. It's actually much more than that—a captivating tour of worldwide efforts to harness flow, that state of consciousness that allows for peak performance." Flow happens when our sense of self vanishes. That's why we constantly run into trouble trying to teach creativity, because we think it's a skill, when it's really a state of mind. "Alex Aliume may be the best example of that lesson I've ever come across. With no formal training, this remarkable 25-year-old has channeled the creative force in a manner that's simply dumbfounding," McDonald says. "But it's not just the art. He is channeling something else too: love. I don't normally say this kind of thing—about anybody—but the man is a messenger. I'm just passing it along." Sarah Fallon | Deputy Web Editor, WIRED |
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