It’s Not Milk: Ivan Alifan’s Surreal and Seductive Paintings

Ivan Alifan, Not Milk, surreal landscape with body in background

Note: Contains sexual references.

“It’s Not Milk” is a series of oil paintings by Ivan Alifan that examine sexuality and the modern gaze. His figures literally ooze with eroticism, their faces eager and serene as they receive the milk-white anointment. Some of his paintings involve dripping giants immersed in surreal landscapes. Alifan’s portraits of sensuality and excess provoke a range of emotional responses in his viewers, from attraction to unease. By confronting us with scenes of pleasure and secret intimacy, he seeks to destigmatize sex in art and foster bodily self-awareness.

Ivan Alifan, Not Milk, figure anointed in milky substance

Ivan Alifan, Not Milk, figure anointed in milky substance

Ivan Alifan, Not Milk, man's face covered in milky substance

Ivan Alifan, Not Milk, figure covered in the cream/dessert-like substance

Ivan Alifan, Not Milk, figure covered in milky substance holding a rose

Images © Ivan Alifan

Via Beautiful/Decay