Chapel of Sacred Mirrors
I initially heard about his work with Nirvana, Tool and the Beastie Boys. But it was at the recommendation of a friend that I went to go visit the Alex Grey studio in NYC.
The studio was hard to find but also realize that I am directionally challenged. The address I had, 78 Fifth Avenue @ 14th Street, was a New Age shop of some kind. When I went to the 2nd floor, I found a cafe with decadent desserts. But no Alex Grey. It took a while to realize that the studio was next door. Ohh. You need to buzz to be let in and then take the elevator to the second floor.
Because the space alternates as a yoga studio, shoes are removed upon entrance. There is also a $5 admission. Neither of which is a big deal but knowing ahead of time helps to avoid the idiot tourist expression that I usually display.
Directional follies aside, this was a lovely and memorable stop during my trip back home. Here is a blurb from Alex Grey’s website:
The life-sized representations of the human body, portraying its physical and energetic systems, are both rigorously precise and vividly visionary. The Sacred Mirrors dramatically reveal the miracle of life’s evolutionary complexity, the unity of human experience across all racial, class and gender divides, and the astonishing vistas of possibility inherent in human consciousness. Alex Grey has combined ancient wisdom, anatomical accuracy and post-modern eclecticism to produce elegant, universally accessible, eternally relevant and resonant symbols.
His work must be seen in person to be truly understood and appreciated. The colors, saturation and lighting of his work imbue the paintings with a sacred and sublime feel. All of his subjects are reflected with an ethereal aura or chakra. Radiant, psychadelic, and dramatic. What I most love about his artistry is the precise repetition in his works. I paint geometrical/abstract designs in my (limited) spare time, and, even with block shapes, I find it very difficult to maintain the level of exactitude that he displays so perfectly in his repeated contours and swirls.
Up close and personal. Hypnotized. That’s how I found myself with each one of his paintings. Beautiful work.
Alex at work
My favorite painting
www.alexgrey.com
