Alex Grey

• Alex Grey
• Psychic Energy System
• Painting
• Lifesize
• 1979-1989

            Alex Grey was born November 29, 1953. He is an American artist who challenges the world of spiritual and psychedelic—or visionary—art. He is sometimes associated witht the New Age, and his body of work spans a variety of forms. These include performance art, process art, installation art, sculpture, painting, and computer graphics. Alex Grey and his wife, Allyson Grey, are co-founders of The Chapel of Sacred Mirrors (CoSM), a non-profit church that supports the Visionary Culture in Wappinger, New York (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alex_Grey).

            Of Grey, the New York Times wrote, “Grey’s vision of a flawed, but perfectible, mankind stands as an anecdote to the cynicism and spiritual malaise prevalent in much contemporary art” (alexgrey.com/). He is a visionary that seeks to challenge the limits of mankind, and mankind’s thinking, through the evolution of art. In Grey’s art, one can see a world that is simultaneously disturbing and beautiful, and challenges the viewer to look inside themselves for a greater meaning and purpose.

            Psychic Energy System is one piece in the larger Sacred Mirrors collection. It is a group of work that is meant to present mankind not only as what it is (flesh and bone anatomy), but also as what it could be (beings of divine energy and spirituality with limitless untapped potential). The piece is presented as a part of The Chapel of Sacred Mirrors in Wappinger, New York.

           Grey expertly challenges notions of traditional beauty by forcing his viewers to confront and overcome initial feelings of uneasiness in order to see a higher meaning and purpose in his work. At the same time, he is challenging his viewers to find a higher meaning and purpose within themselves.