Transfigurations - Paperback

by Alex Grey (Author)

The most extensive collection of Grey's visionary artwork and life's journey in one volume

- Includes a foreword by Albert Hofmann and essays on Grey's work by renowned art critic Donald Kuspit, philosopher Ken Wilber, and Stephen Larsen, author of Joseph Campbell: A Fire in the Mind

Every once in a great while an artist emerges who does more than simply reflect the social trends of the time. Such an artist is able to transcend established thinking and help us redefine ourselves and our world. Today, a growing number of art critics, philosophers, and spiritual seekers believe that they have found that vision in the art of Alex Grey.

Transfigurations, the follow-up to Grey's Sacred Mirrors (1991)--one of the most successful art books of the 1990s--includes all of Grey's major works completed in the following decade, including the masterful seven-paneled altarpiece Nature of Mind, called "the grand climax of Grey's art" by Donald Kuspit. His portrayals of human beings blend anatomical exactitude with visionary depictions of universal life energy. Alex Grey's striking artwork leads us on the soul's journey from material world encasement to recovery of the divinely illuminated core.

Back Jacket

ART"Grey's vision of a flawed but perfectible mankind stands as an antidote to the cynicism and spiritual malaise prevalent in much contemporary art." The New York Times "Alex Grey's art will bring you face to face with your soul and move you to a new level of enlightenment." Deepak Chopra, author of The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success "Alex Grey is making some of the most beautifully refined imagist work in the country today." Walter Hopps, senior curator, Guggenheim Museum and Menil Collection"Grey's work, like all great transcendental art, is not merely symbolic or imaginary: it is a direct invitation to recognize and realize a deeper dimension of our very own being." Ken Wilber, author of The Simple Feeling of Being Every once in a great while an artist emerges who does more than simply reflect the social trends of the time. Such an artist is able to transcend established thinking and help us redefine ourselves and our world. Today, a growing number of art critics, philosophers, and spiritual seekers believe that they have found that vision in the art of Alex Grey. Grey's art leads us on a transformative journey through the opacity and darkness of the material world to the recovery of our divinely illumined core. Images of becoming, of existential pain, search and confusion, love, death, and transcendence are icons in the long corridors of Grey's creative odyssey. From his earliest self-portraits and paintings of skeletons, to his most recent universal beings gridded with fire and eyes, Grey brings us an ever-deepening visual contemplation on the nature of personal and transpersonal identity.Transfigurations is a continuation of the dialogue between body and soul begun in Grey's first book Sacred Mirrors--one of the most successful art books of the 1990s. Transfigurations includes all of Grey's major works completed in the following decade, presented here in 202 color reproductions and 93 black-and-white images. These works include the masterful seven-paneled Buddhist altarpiece Nature of Mind; World Soul, a bronze sculpture of a divine being that symbolically encompasses all realms of consciousness; and Cosmic Christ, a vision of Christ that embraces all religions and the countless dimensions of the universe. An essay by renowned author and transpersonal psychologist Stephen Larsen provides a biographical sketch of the artist's creative process, struggling with his demons and glimpsing the light of the beyond within. Grey's early forays into dark, transgressive performance art and his later theophanic installations are all documented in a special twenty-page performance section. Art critic Donald Kuspit elucidates Grey's primary subject, mystical light, as it manifests through his unique approach to the human figure. A conversation between noted philosopher Ken Wilber and the artist explores the exciting possibilities of art serving as a vehicle for transformation. Albert Hofmann, the chemist who discovered LSD, writes the foreword that places Grey's work at the conjunction of science and mysticism. Grey's paintings offer the viewer unforgettable glimpses of transfiguration, as bodies become translucent to the light of Spirit, transparent to the ground of being. The occurrence of beholding and becoming "the light" is a phenomenon that is described in all religions and wisdom paths. Grey's "X-ray" visions show the complex interplay of the anatomical body and the glowing subtle energies of the soul, unveiling the relationship between our finite self and infinite spirit. Grey's quest is toward an integrative art that visually unites body, mind, soul, and spirit and helps heal the alienation and fragmentation felt between the individual and the world. ALEX GREY is the author of Sacred Mirrors: The Visionary Art of Alex Grey and The Mission of Art. His work has been exhibited around the world, including at the New Museum and Stux Gallery in New York City, the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, the Grand Palais in Paris, the S㯠Paulo Biennial, and the ARK exhibition space in Tokyo. His art has also been featured in venues as diverse as album covers for the Beastie Boys, Nirvana, and Tool; Newsweek magazine; and the Discovery Channel. He lives in New York with his wife, artist Allyson Grey, and their daughter, actress Zena Grey.

Author Biography

Alex Grey is the author of Sacred Mirrors and The Mission of Art. His work has been exhibited around the world, including at the New Museum and Stux Gallery in New York City, the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, the Grand Palais in Paris, the São Paulo Biennial, and the ARK exhibition space in Tokyo. His art has also been featured in venues as diverse as album covers for the Beastie Boys, Nirvana, and Tool; Newsweek magazine; and the Discovery Channel. He lives in New York.