Born November 29, 1953, Alex Grey is an American born artist most known for doing the album art for the alternative band Tool. Unique and notable for his psychedelic style, Alex Grey has been drawing and painting since childhood, encouraged by his father who was a graphic designer and recognized his son’s natural talent.
Since then, he has gone on to create many paintings with a new age spiritual style. Many of his paintings seem to depict Buddhist and Christian teachings and stories, showing his subjects deep in meditation and his own vision of Jesus Christ. Aside from his many evidently spiritual paintings, Alex Grey is also known for his distinct style in painting glowing “x-rays” of people whose internal anatomy is shown in a series of bright colors. He paints numerous pieces demonstrating complete systems in the body including the lymphatic and cardiovascular systems, some of which take many years to complete. He also employs the use of filling in his skies with energy waves and other creative designs to illustrate energy, chakras, and other intangibles. The depth of emotion in the paintings of Alex Grey is evident with the relationships of the people shown in many of his paintings. Such as in the painting titled “Wonder,” a child gazes up at the sky in wonder, eyes filled with clear emotion and innocence as well as the complete anatomy of the child displayed. One other painting by Alex Grey that shows similar emotional effects is the painting titled “Kissing” in which a man and a woman are embracing, their anatomy also displayed, yet this time shown also with their hearts and minds entwined with golden string, clearly demonstrating mental and emotional unity.
Alex Grey participates in a number of art festivals and new age workshops including the upcoming “Pre-Full Moon Workshop: The Magic of Mushrooms with Martin Bridge” on April 16, 2011. His art may be seen in galleries in New York City, purchased online at his website alexgrey.com and noted on the album covers of Nirvana, Tool, The String Cheese Incident and the Beastie Boys. He has been featured in many books as well as having written one himself entitled The Mission of Art (1998). He is the co-founder of the Chapel of Sacred Mirrors, a non-profit institution in NYC that supports visionary culture and art.
For more information on Alex Grey, his work and appearances please visit http://www.alexgrey.com/.