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==Films==
==Films==
In ''ARTmind'' (2004) Grey explores the healing potential of [[sacred art]]. ''CoSM'' the movie, was released in 2006 and features Grey giving a tour of the ''[[The Chapel of Sacred Mirrors|Chapel of Sacred Mirrors]]'' exhibition on display (2004-2009) in New York City. Grey appeared in the 2006 film ''Entheogen: Awakening the Divine Within'', a documentary about rediscovering an [[Disenchantment|enchanted]] cosmos in the modern world.<ref>{{cite video |people=Mann, Rod (Director) |title=Entheogen: Awakening the Divine Within |url=http://www.entheogen.tv/ |year=2006 |type=DVD video |publisher=Critical Mass Productions |accessdate=19 November 2012 |oclc=181630835}}</ref> He also appeared in the film ''DMT: The Spirit Molecule, ''in which he talked about the importance of the substance DMT in the past and present world, as well as describing some of his personal experiences with the substance and how it influenced his painting.
In ''ARTmind'' (2004) Grey explores the healing potential of [[sacred art]]. ''CoSM'' the movie, was released in 2006 and features Grey giving a tour of the ''[[The Chapel of Sacred Mirrors|Chapel of Sacred Mirrors]]'' exhibition on display (2004-2009) in New York City. Grey appeared in the 2006 film ''Entheogen: Awakening the Divine Within'', a documentary about rediscovering an [[Disenchantment|enchanted]] cosmos in the modern world.<ref>{{cite video |people=Mann, Rod (Director) |title=Entheogen: Awakening the Divine Within |url=http://www.entheogen.tv/ |year=2006 |type=DVD video |publisher=Critical Mass Productions |accessdate=19 November 2012 |oclc=181630835 |deadurl=yes |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20121111070217/http://www.entheogen.tv/ |archivedate=11 November 2012 |df= }}</ref> He also appeared in the film ''DMT: The Spirit Molecule, ''in which he talked about the importance of the substance DMT in the past and present world, as well as describing some of his personal experiences with the substance and how it influenced his painting.


== Paintings ==
== Paintings ==
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The [[Discovery Channel]] included Grey in a feature on art and creativity in [[altered states of consciousness|altered states]].
The [[Discovery Channel]] included Grey in a feature on art and creativity in [[altered states of consciousness|altered states]].


The ''[[Viking Youth Power Hour]]'' [http://www.thefeedlot.org/vikingyouth/show_show.php?show=68&x=9&y=16 interviewed Alex and Allyson Grey] about the role of [[sacred art]], the holy shenanigans of [[Burning Man]], and the development of his process.
The ''[[Viking Youth Power Hour]]'' [https://web.archive.org/web/20070927024517/http://www.thefeedlot.org/vikingyouth/show_show.php?show=68&x=9&y=16 interviewed Alex and Allyson Grey] about the role of [[sacred art]], the holy shenanigans of [[Burning Man]], and the development of his process.


Grey's work and his Chapel of Sacred Mirrors gallery in New York City are featured in a 2006 DVD release ''CoSM The Movie'', directed by Nick Krasnic.
Grey's work and his Chapel of Sacred Mirrors gallery in New York City are featured in a 2006 DVD release ''CoSM The Movie'', directed by Nick Krasnic.


Grey talks about his personal philosophy in the 2009 film ''[http://cognitionfactor.net/cognition-factor/the-cast/AlexGrey.html Cognition Factor]''.<ref>http://www.cognitionfactor.net/the-cast/AlexGrey.html</ref>
Grey talks about his personal philosophy in the 2009 film ''[http://cognitionfactor.net/cognition-factor/the-cast/AlexGrey.html Cognition Factor]''.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.cognitionfactor.net/the-cast/AlexGrey.html |title=Archived copy |accessdate=2012-11-02 |deadurl=yes |archiveurl=https://archive.is/20130221122349/http://www.cognitionfactor.net/the-cast/AlexGrey.html |archivedate=2013-02-21 |df= }}</ref>


In ''[[Variable Star]]'', a science fiction novel written by [[Spider Robinson]] based on a story outline by [[Robert A. Heinlein]], Robinson devotes several pages to his protagonist's discovery of Grey's ''Sacred Mirrors'' and ''Progress of the Soul'' series, and to using them to enhance meditation.<ref name="robinson">{{cite book
In ''[[Variable Star]]'', a science fiction novel written by [[Spider Robinson]] based on a story outline by [[Robert A. Heinlein]], Robinson devotes several pages to his protagonist's discovery of Grey's ''Sacred Mirrors'' and ''Progress of the Soul'' series, and to using them to enhance meditation.<ref name="robinson">{{cite book
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* {{IMDb name|2311448}}
* {{IMDb name|2311448}}
* [http://culturehog.com/psychedelic-art Alex Grey and Music] on Culture Hog
* [http://culturehog.com/psychedelic-art Alex Grey and Music] on Culture Hog
* [http://www.rawvision.com/articles/alex-greys-body-light Alex Grey's Body of Light, ''Raw Vision'' Issue 26]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20121120044229/http://www.rawvision.com/articles/alex-greys-body-light Alex Grey's Body of Light, ''Raw Vision'' Issue 26]


{{New Age Movement|state=uncollapsed}}
{{New Age Movement|state=uncollapsed}}

Revision as of 14:20, 10 December 2017

For other people with similar names, see Alex Gray (disambiguation).
Alex Grey
Grey in front of his painting, Net of Being, 2013
Born (1953-11-29) November 29, 1953 (age 70)
Columbus, Ohio, United States
Occupation(s)Artist, painter, author
Known forSpiritual and visionary art

Alex Grey (born November 29, 1953) is an

The Chapel of Sacred Mirrors (CoSM), a non-profit church supporting Visionary Culture in Wappingers Falls, New York
.

Early life

Alex Grey painting.

Grey was born Alex Velzy in

School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
for one year, to study with the conceptual artist, Jay Jaroslav.

At the Boston Museum School he met his wife, the artist Allyson Rymland Grey.

agnostic existentialism to a radical transcendentalism. The couple would trip together on LSD. Alex then spent five years at Harvard Medical School
working in the Anatomy department studying the body and preparing cadavers for dissection.

Career

He also worked at Harvard's department of Mind/Body Medicine with Dr.

Omega Institute
in Rhinebeck, New York.

Chapel of Sacred Mirrors
.

In 1972 Grey began a series of art actions that bear resemblance to

Kenji Williams
which was released in 2004 as a DVD.

Grey's unique series of 21 life-sized paintings, the Sacred Mirrors (to be on display at the Chapel of Sacred Mirrors in

archetypal
human experiences as praying, meditation, kissing, copulating, pregnancy, birth, nursing and dying. More recent work explores the subject of consciousness from the perspective of "universal beings" whose bodies are grids of fire, eyes and infinite galactic swirls.

A visitor appreciates a piece of art.

Holland Cotter, art critic for the New York Times wrote in 2002, "Alex Grey's art, with its New Age symbolism and medical-illustration finesse, might be described as psychedelic realism, a kind of clinical approach to cosmic consciousness. In it, the human figure is rendered transparently with X-ray or CAT-scan eyes, the way Aldous Huxley saw a leaf when he was on mescaline. Every bone, organ and vein is detailed in refulgent color; objects and space are knitted together in dense, decorative linear webs."

Sao Paulo Biennial
in Brazil.

Grey has been a keynote speaker at conferences worldwide including Tokyo, Amsterdam, Basel, Barcelona and Manaus. The international psychedelic community has embraced Grey as an important "mapmaker" and spokesman for the visionary realm. In his compendium of psychedelic culture, Psychedelia (2012), Patrick Lundborg speaks of Grey's position: "First of all, Visionary Art would not be the active, promising field it is today without the appearance of Alex Grey on the scene. Born 1953, Alex Grey is the leading psychedelic artist of today, and also one of the foremost proponents of Visionary Art as a style. Via interviews, his own writings and the CoSM art journal, Grey has contributed to a historical perspective on the school..."[4]

A large installation called Heart Net by Alex and his wife was displayed at Baltimore's American Visionary Art Museum in 1998-99. A mid-career retrospective of Grey's works was exhibited at the Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego in 1999. The Chapel of Sacred Mirrors, CoSM, a long-term exhibition of 50 works of transformative art by Grey opened in the Fall of 2004 in New York City and relocated to its present Hudson Valley location in 2009.

Publications

The large format art book, Sacred Mirrors: The Visionary Art of Alex Grey published by Inner Traditions in 1990, is still in print and has been translated into five languages and sold over 150 thousand copies. This book of paintings takes the viewer on a graphic journey through the physical, and spiritual anatomy of the self. From anatomically correct rendering of the body systems, Grey moves to the spiritual/energetic systems with such images as Universal Mind Lattice, envisioning the sacred and esoteric symbolism of the body and the forces that define its living field of energy. Includes essays on the significance of Grey's work by Ken Wilber, the eminent transpersonal psychologist, and by the noted New York art critic, Carlo McCormick. Grey's philosophical text, The Mission of Art, published by Shambhala in 1998, traces the evolution of human consciousness through art history, explores the role of an artist's intention and conscience, and reflects on the creative process as a spiritual path.

Transfigurations is Alex's second large-format monograph from Inner Traditions, containing over 300 color and black and white images of his work. Transfigurations explores Grey's well known portrayals of light bodies, performance works, relationship with his wife, Allyson Grey, and their quest to build a Chapel of Sacred Mirrors. Sounds True has released The Visionary Artist, a CD of Grey's reflections on art as a spiritual practice. Grey co-edited the book, Zig Zag Zen: Buddhism and Psychedelics (Chronicle Books, 2002, reprinted by Synergetic Press, 2015).

In 2004 Grey published his collected works in Visions, a limited-edition boxed set which contains a portfolio of new works along with his Sacred Mirrors and Transfigurations. Net of Being, released by Inner Traditions in 2012, explores how Alex Grey’s visionary art is evolving the cultural body through icons of interconnectedness and a new symbology of the Networked Self. Net of Being contains spectacular photos of Grey’s collaboration with the cult band Tool plus his worldwide live-painting performances, and offers Grey’s reflections on how art evolves consciousness.

Personal life

He lives in New York City and Wappinger, NY, with his wife, painter Allyson Grey. Their daughter, actress Zena Grey, lives in Los Angeles.

Films

In ARTmind (2004) Grey explores the healing potential of

Chapel of Sacred Mirrors exhibition on display (2004-2009) in New York City. Grey appeared in the 2006 film Entheogen: Awakening the Divine Within, a documentary about rediscovering an enchanted cosmos in the modern world.[5]
He also appeared in the film DMT: The Spirit Molecule, in which he talked about the importance of the substance DMT in the past and present world, as well as describing some of his personal experiences with the substance and how it influenced his painting.

Paintings

Alex Grey painting.

Grey’s paintings can be described as a blend of

cardiovascular system, and lymphatic system
. Grey applies this multidimensional perspective to paint the universal human experience. His figures are shown in positions such as praying, meditating, kissing, copulating, pregnancy, birth and death. His work incorporates many religious symbols, including
multicultural situations. Grey’s paintings are permeated with an intense and subtle light that is rare in art history. “It is the light that is sublime in Grey’s oeuvre - which is the most important innovation in religious light since the Baroque - and that makes the mundane beings in them seem sublime, in every realistic detail of their exquisite being”.[6] His highly detailed paintings are spiritual and scientific in equal measure, revealing his psychedelic, spiritual and super-natural view of the human race.[7]

Philosophy

Integral theory
Integral theorists
Integral themes
Influences on integral theory
Integral artists

Grey has also made his own contribution to the

philosophy of art in his book The Mission of Art (1998). Therein, he promotes the possibility of the mystical
potential of art: he argues that the process of artistic creation can (and should) play a role in the enlightenment of the artist. For him, the process of artistic creation holds the potential of transcending the limitations of the mind and more fully expressing the divine spirit. He also believes that art can induce within the viewer an elevated state wherein spiritual states of being are attained.

In an interview with

Integral Naked, Grey described an experience of shared visionary mystical experience between himself and his wife, which led him to believe in spirituality and spiritual practice
.

Reception

Painting and music groups

Grey's artwork has often been used by music groups on their album covers.

In the media

Grey's artwork has been featured on the cover of

Shambhala Sun, Juxtapoz, Vision, Gnosis
and The Healing Power of Neurofeedback: The Revolutionary LENS Technique for Restoring Optimal Brain Function.

The

altered states
.

The

sacred art, the holy shenanigans of Burning Man
, and the development of his process.

Grey's work and his Chapel of Sacred Mirrors gallery in New York City are featured in a 2006 DVD release CoSM The Movie, directed by Nick Krasnic.

Grey talks about his personal philosophy in the 2009 film Cognition Factor.[8]

In Variable Star, a science fiction novel written by Spider Robinson based on a story outline by Robert A. Heinlein, Robinson devotes several pages to his protagonist's discovery of Grey's Sacred Mirrors and Progress of the Soul series, and to using them to enhance meditation.[9]

Collections

Alex Grey explaining his work.
  • Transfigurations
  • Visions, 2003, a 2,000-copy limited edition collection of Grey's two hardcover books and a set of prints, all in an illustrated wooden case which folds out into an 'altar'

Publications

References

  1. ^ David Ian Miller (March 24, 2008). "LSD Helped Forge Alex Grey's Spiritual, Artistic and Love Lives". San Francisco Chronicle "Finding My Religion" series.
  2. ^ Opencenter.org
  3. ^ Cotter, Holland, New York Times, Alex Grey Tibet House review, October 4, 2002
  4. ^ Lundborg, Patrick, Psychedelia, An Ancient Culture, A Modern Way of Life, 2012, Lysergia, pg 421
  5. OCLC 181630835. Archived from the original on 11 November 2012. Retrieved 19 November 2012. {{cite AV media}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help
    )
  6. ^ a b Donald Kuspit (2000). Alex Grey's Mysticism. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
  7. ^ Outsider Art Sourcebook, ed. John Maizels, Raw Vision, Watford, 2009, p.82
  8. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2013-02-21. Retrieved 2012-11-02. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  9. ISBN 0-7653-1312-X
    .

External links

Wikiquote has quotations related to Alex Grey.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Alex Grey.
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