Alex Grey
Alex Grey
Alex Greyis an American visionary artist, author, teacher, and Vajrayana practitioner. His body of work spans a variety of forms including performance art, process art, installation art, sculpture, visionary art, and painting. Grey is a member of the Integral Institute. He is also on the board of advisors for the Center for Cognitive Liberty and Ethics, and is the Chair of Wisdom University's Sacred Art Department. He and his wife Allyson Grey are the co-founders of The Chapel of Sacred...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionPainter
Date of Birth29 November 1953
CityColumbus, OH
CountryUnited States of America
Spiritual teachers and artists that have opened the eye of wisdom for the world, and visionary community builders, have influenced my work.
The many faces of Collective Vision united by the mandalic eye-field suggest both expansion of consciousness and sharing of consciousness with other beings. The painting was based on a profoundly ego dissolving entheogenic mystical trance where I heard the words, 'Infinite Oneness... the Oneness should never forget the Infinitude and the Infinitude should never forget the Oneness...'
Realism and Naturalism rely mostly on the eye of the flesh. Abstract, conceptual and surrealistic art rely mostly on the eye of the mind. Great works of art rely on the eye of contemplation, the eye of the spirit.
You are one with the same force that provides the spiral arms of the galaxy. That universal creativity. It's also what you are as well. And when the mystic eye is open and sees that, a person is forever changed !
The cosmos is evolving toward greater self-reflection, allowing us to open the eye of Spirit and see our source.
When we gaze into the eyes of our beloved, we're staring into the eyes of a sacred mirror, and we recognize our oneness.
The artist's mission is to make the soul perceptible. Our scientific, materialist culture trains us to develop the eyes of outer perception. Visionary art encourages the development of our inner sight. To find the visionary realm, we use the intuitive inner eye: the eye of contemplation, the eye of the soul. All the inspiring ideas we have as artists originate here.
My father was a professional artist all his life who encouraged my path as an artist.
My art has always been in response to visions. Rather than confine my subject to representations of the outer worlds, I include portrayals of the multi-dimensional imaginal realms that pull us toward consciousness evolution.
I became really interested in the study of consciousness.
I use a lot of different words for God - infinite intelligence, primordial, perfection or universal creativity. All of these, to me, are God. And 'God' is a word, I think, that some people feel uncomfortable with, so they can use another word, you know? It's the great mystery.
It was 1975. I had spent the year at the Boston Museum School doing some very bizarre performance works. The last one included going to the North Magnetic Pole and spending all of my money.
Journeying through secret doors, curving corridors, and connecting rooms into the mountain was like being digested by the different organs of a deity.
The inevitable consequence of love is the building of temples.