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hat distinguishes visionary art from other forms of
psychedelic, vernacular or sacred art is ultimately
a mystical experience or state of mind. Howard
Finster, creator of Paradise Garden in Summerville, GA, began
making sacred art after seeing a tiny human face in a blob of
paint on the tip of his finger. After a fever-induced visitation
by people from the future, Eddie Owens Martin, a.k.a. St. EOM,
went on to create the celestial artscape Pasaquan in Buena
Vista, GA. For internationally renowned artist Alex Grey, the
revelation that art can lead to enlightenment arrived while
under the influence of LSD. God works in curious ways.
Many of Alex's works???which include paintings, performance
art, books, sculptures and installations???focus on themes of
consciousness, interconnectedness and transcendence through
an interfaith, multi-cultural perspective. He and his wife,
Allyson, are in no way shy about the influence sacramental
entheogens, or psychoactive substances like LSD, psilocybin
and ayahuasca ingested to "generate the divine within," have
had on their artwork over the decades.
Inspired by an LSD-induced vision that Alex and Allyson
shared in 1976, Alex developed the "Sacred Mirrors," a series of
21 life-size paintings created over a 10-year period that explore
the interplay of body, mind and spirit. Chronicling a physical-
to-mental-to-transcendental pathway, the series begins with
crisp, anatomically precise layers of the human body's physi
cal systems (muscular, skeletal, cardiovascular), moves on to
images of different races, sexes and religious figures, then ends
with depictions of spiritual energy manifested as cosmic white
light. As viewers stand before each painting, they are encour
aged to contemplate their physical and spiritual identities, rep
resenting a journey toward their own divine nature.
In order to publicly exhibit the series, Alex and Allyson
co-founded The Chapel of Sacred Mirrors (CoSM), a transde-
nominational church dedicated to spiritual renewal through
transformative art, in the Chelsea area of New York City. A
few years later in 2008, The Foundation for the Chapel of
Sacred Mirrors secured a permanent 40-acre retreat center in
Wappinger, NY, and was granted official 501(c)(3) status. The
center currently offers full moon ceremonies, solstice and equi
nox celebrations, workshops and other cultural offerings, and
is in the early stages of constructing Entheon, a 3D-printed
sanctuary of visionary art slated to open in 2015.
Alex is a longtime supporter of music???having had his
vibrant images incorporated into album artwork for several
bands including Tool, the Beastie Boys, Nirvana and The String
Cheese Incident???and considers festivals to be special environ
ments particularly nurturing of creative thought. On Thursday,
Dec. 12, Alex and Allyson will take a trip to Athens during their
third annual Visionary Arts Fair, a three-city tour featuring a
discussion, meet-and-greet, book signing and live paintings by
the couple. The event also includes aerialists, fire performers,
a laser light show and live music from Desert Dwellers, Mihkal,
Ployd, Modern Measure, Gravity A and Mesca.
Jessica Smith
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Flagpole: How and when did you first get involved with art?
Alex Grey: Allyson and I have always been artists. We met
in art school in 1974 and have shared a studio for 38 years.
FP: Were you always interested in visionary-style art? Have
you ever practiced any other styles of art?
AG: Writing about my first book, Sacred Mirrors: The
Visionary Art of Alex Grey [Inner Traditions, 1990], James Oroc
[the author of Tryptamine Palace, 2009] writes: "The sub-title
of this book is now believed to be one of the key influences in
the naming of a new genre now known as visionary art."
16 FLAGPOLE.COM DECEMBER 11,2013
ALEX GREY