Art Psalms

by Alex Grey

The power of art as a transformative path is the theme of this inspiring collection from internationally known artist Alex Grey. Art Psalms combines poems, artwork, and "mystic rants" that fuse imagination, creativity, and spirituality. Grey’s oracular poetry declares that art, both its creation and its observation, can be a spiritual practice. Many of these writings have been shared at gatherings worldwide, especially at New York City’s Chapel of Sacred Mirrors (CoSM), a contemporary sacred space co-founded by Alex and Allyson Grey. Selections include "Soul Marriage," which invites the reader to commit to personal and global transformation; "Guidance for Servants of God," precepts for life as a sacred path; and "The Plan," which aligns universal and individual creativity. The entire text of Grey’s spoken word performance, "WorldSpirit," is included here. Three annotated portfolios, "Meditations on the Divine Feminine," "Meditations on the Masters," and "Meditations on Mortality," explore the connection between drawing and meditation as ways of seeing. Equally meaningful for art lovers, the health and spiritual communities, and anyone seeking to develop their creativity, Art Psalms features over 150 new reproductions of drawings, paintings, and sacred geometry to enrich and awaken the inner artist in each of us.

Genres: Art, Spirituality

204 pages, Hardcover

First published December 2, 2008

About the author

Alex Grey was born in Columbus, Ohio on November 29, 1953 (Sagittarius), the middle child of a gentle middle-class couple. His father was a graphic designer and encouraged his son’s drawing ability. Young Alex would collect insects and dead animals from the suburban neighborhood and bury them in the back yard. The themes of death and transcendence weave throughout his artworks, from the earliest drawings to later performances, paintings and sculpture. Alex went to the Columbus College of Art and Design on full scholarship from 1971-3. Grey dropped out of art school and painted billboards for Columbus Outdoor Advertising, 1973-4. Grey then moved to Boston to study with and work as studio assistant for conceptual artist, Jay Jaroslav, at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston in 1974-5. At the Museum School, Alex met his life-long partner, the artist, Allyson Rymland Grey. At their meeting in 1975, an entheogenically induced mystical experience transformed his agnostic existentialism to a radical transcendentalism. The Grey couple continued to take “sacramental journeys” on LSD. For five years, Alex worked in the Anatomy department at Harvard Medical School preparing cadavers for dissection while he studied the body on his own. He later worked for Dr. Herbert Benson and Dr. Joan Borysenko as a research technologist at Harvard’s department of Mind/Body Medicine, conducting scientific experiments to investigate subtle healing energies. Alex’s anatomical training prepared him for painting the Sacred Mirrors (see below) and for working as a medical illustrator. Doctors at Harvard saw images of his Sacred Mirrors, and hired Alex for illustration work.

Grey instructed Artistic Anatomy and Figure Sculpture for ten years at New York University, and has taught the Visionary Art Intensive and other art workshops with Allyson at The New York Open Center, Naropa Institute in Boulder, Colorado, the California Institute of Integral Studies and Omega Institute in Rhinebeck, New York. The couple now teach MAGI workshops (Mystic Artists Guild International) at CoSM in Wappinger, New York. In 1972 Grey began a series of art actions that bear resemblance to rites of passage, in that they present stages of a developing psyche. The approximately fifty performance rites, conducted over the last thirty years move through transformations from an egocentric to more sociocentric and increasingly worldcentric and theocentric identity. In a major performance entitled WorldSpirit, spoken word poetry in musical collaboration with Kenji Williams was released in 2004 as a DVD.

Grey’s unique series of 21 life-sized paintings, the Sacred Mirrors, take the viewer on a journey toward their own divine nature by examining, in detail, the body, mind, and spirit. The Sacred Mirrors, present the physical and subtle anatomy of an individual in the context of cosmic, biological and technological evolution. Begun in 1979, the series took a period of ten years to complete. It was during this period that Alex developed depictions of the human body that “x-ray” the multiple layers of reality, and reveal the interplay of anatomical and spiritual forces. After painting the Sacred Mirrors, he applied this multidimensional perspective to such archetypal human experiences as praying, meditation, kissing, copulating, pregnancy, birth, nursing and dying. Grey’s recent work explores the subject of consciousness from the perspective of “universal beings” whose bodies are grids of fire, eyes and infinite galactic swirls.

Renowned healers Olga Worral and Rosalyn Bruyere express appreciation for the skillful portrayal of clairvoyant vision his paintings of translucent glowing bodies. Countless teachers and spiritual leaders, including Deepak Choprah, incorporate Alex’s art in their power point presentations. Grey’s paintings have been featured in venues as diverse as the album art of TOOL, SCI, the Beastie Boys and Nirvana, Time and Newsweek magazines, the Discovery Chan

Reviews

[tim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Part of what makes Alex Grey such an impressive artist is his clear, unapologetic sincerity. Even though I have been a fan of his visual art for many years, my first reactions to this collection of his written psalms and poetry were mixed. I felt his deep artistic vision lost something in the transfer over to the medium of written language. As I read on, however, I realized that what at first I thought was borderline hokey was only Grey’s unbelievably genuine sincerity. Once I shed my cynicism, the book transformed and transformed me.

[Misty · Rating 5 out of 5]

Artist Prayer

Creator of the universe
How infinite and astonishing
Are your worlds.
Thank you,
For your sacred art
and sustaining presence.

Divine imagination,
forgive my blindness,
open all my eyes.
Reveal the Light of your Truth.
Let original Beauty
Guide my every stroke.

Universal Creativity,
flow through me,
Through my heart,
from my mind to my hand
Infuse my work with spirit
to feed hungry souls.

-Alex Grey


Oh how deeply inspiring:)

[James Stone · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is pure joy! I love Alex Grey's art and his philosophy of art as expounded in his book, "The Mission of Art." Here, in "Art Psalms," Grey brings the Spirituality of his art home to the reader/viewer by means of art work in gorgeous color, and his "psalms" which are unique, compelling and transformative. I believe that this book is further proof that Alex Grey is one of the most important artists of his time, and maybe of all time. I recommend this book highly, especially in hardcover because it is easier to just open randomly and seek inspiration from where ever you land. As with many other "sacred" books, this book includes a marker ribbon attached to the binding, making it convenient to open to where you were reading or to mark an entry you want to be sure to share with others. If I could I would give this book 10 stars out of five. I want to explain that I did not enter a date for when I finished the book because this is the sort of book with which one is NEVER finished...

[ApolloEyes7 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book! I had the honor and privilege of sweeing Van Gogh's art, my grandfather's art which my family saved over the years; and in 2009, as Avatar was premiering during my college winter break, the work of Alex Grey!

This took me back to that exhibit. It's nice to have your own display in the palm of your hand. Grey's LSD experiences became a catalyzing moment in his spiritual life and artistic mission. This book is filled with many pieces of his art, which are inspired by spiritual experiences with entheogens such as Ayahuasca, LSD, and Psilocybin.

It's more on the poetry side than art gallery, which speaks my language of spiritual/hippie/uninhibited splam poetry!

He and his wife Alyson have other books, I'm sure some of them have more paintings. But at the end of the book I felt like I went to his exhibit again! Nice portable size, too! Bravo!

[DEBORAH · Rating 5 out of 5]

Profound. I love reading these " psalms " before the day begins.

[Fraser Hoban · Rating 5 out of 5]

These have poems have inspired a lot of Art here!

[Natalie Kinney · Rating 1 out of 5]

At the time of me reading this book, I was very lost in life. I thought that this reading would have all the answers that I was looking for. However, I found that I was betrayed. This book has a false representation of Christ and gives you “answers” that are all about seeing the world from a lost mindset. That lost mindset being heavy drugs. I don’t necessarily recommend reading this, as it may lead you astray, as it did for me.

[Gary · Rating 4 out of 5]

Inspires and implores to live a creative and explorative life

[aaaasssiia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Outstanding!

[Nathaniel Glosson · Rating 5 out of 5]

What could be better than a book of Alex Grey's art? A book of Alex Grey's art AND poetry of course! Excellent subject matter covered all around!

[Savannah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful!!!

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Beautiful poetry and beautiful artwork.