Grey - The Mission of Art

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There is no loftier mission than to approach the Godhead nearer than other people, and to disseminate the divine rays among humanity.

BEETHOVEN

The
MISSION of ART

ALEX GREY

Foreword by

Ken Wilber

SHAMBHALA

Boulder

2017

Shambhala Publications, Inc.

4720 Walnut Street

Boulder, Colorado 80301

http://www.shambhala.com

1998 by Alex Grey

http://www.alexgrey.com

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Grey, Alex.

The mission of art/by Alex Grey; foreword by Ken

Wilber.1st ed.

p. cm.

eISBN 978-0-83484-086-7

ISBN 1-57062-396-1 (cloth)

1. Grey, AlexPhilosophy. 2. Grey, AlexCriticism and interpretation.

I. Title.

N6537.G718A4 1998 98-16930

759.13dc21 CIP

Dedicated to the

Art Spirit in every person

Illustrations are by the author unless otherwise indicated

: Beethoven, graphite, ink & gouache on paper, 11 14, 1996.

Vision & Mission, charcoal, ink, & gouache on paper, 8 12, 1996.

Skeleton, pencil on watercolor on chipboard, 8 12, 1959.

Grim Reaper, gouache on paper, 8 1/2 11, 1964.

Anatomy Study, watercolor, 9 12, 1971.

Praying, oil on linen, 36 48, 1984.

Dying, oil on linen, 60 40, 1990.

The First Artists, ink on paper, 8 1/2 8 1/2, 1998.

Egyptian Goddess Tawaret, ink on paper, 8 11, 1997.

Klytios, Greek statue, third century BC, ink on paper, 8 11, 1996.

Jewel Net of Indra, by Allyson Grey. Oil on wood panel, 40 40, 1988.

Universal Mind Lattice (Sacred Mirrors series), acrylic on canvas, 48 84, 1981.

To See or Not to See, charcoal, ink & gouache on paper, 8 12, 1996.

The Thinker, ink on paper, 8 11, 1997.

Headache, ink on paper, 8 10, 1995.

Insomnia, ink on paper, 8 10, 1995.

Staring down the Chain of Being, ink on paper, 11 14, 1981.

Ken Wilber, ink & charcoal, 101/4 15, 1998.

Holding the Brush, charcoal, ink & gouache on paper, 8 12, 1997.

Deeply Seeing, charcoal, ink & gouache on paper, 8 12, 1996.

Transfiguration, oil on linen, 60 90, 1993.

The Imp of Inspiration, ink on paper, 9 12, 1996.

Piet, Michelangelo, ink on paper, 9 12, 1994.

van Gogh, ink on paper, 6 1/2 9, 1996.

Rembrandt, ink on paper, 9 12, 1995.

Psychic Energy System (Sacred Mirrors series), acrylic on linen, 48 84, 1980.

Artist at Work I, charcoal, ink & gouache on paper, 8 12, 1997.

Mystic Eye, charcoal, ink, & gouache on paper, 8 12, 1997.

Self-Portrait with Brain, photograph, 1974.

Polar Unity Spiral, photograph of painting, with author, 1975.

Study for Kissing Sculpture, ink on paper, 16 22, 1985.

DMT, ink on paper, 8 1/2 11, 1997.

Body, Mind, Spirit, oil on linen, three panels 12 12, 1985.

Eye of the Heart, charcoal, ink & gouache on paper, 1985.

Vision Practice, charcoal, ink & gouache on paper, 8 12, 1996.

The Seer, charcoal, ink & gouache on paper, 8 12, 1997.

Conversing with the Light, ink on paper, 9 12, 1997.

Clear Light, ink on paper, 8 1/2 11, 1986.

Vajra Brush, charcoal, ink & gouache on paper, 8 12, 1997.

Schopenhauer, ink & gouache on paper, 8 10, 1996.

Ecstasy, lithograph, 14 23, 1995.

Theologue: The Union of Human and Divine Consciousness Weaving the Fabric of Space and Time in Which the Self and Its Surroundings are Embedded (detail), acrylic on linen, 60 180, 1986.

Music of Liberation, ink & gouache on paper, 8 12, 1997.

The Gift, charcoal, ink & gouache on paper, 8 12, 1996.

Healing, oil on linen, 38 48, 1985

Schweitzer Playing Bach, ink on paper, 8 12, 1998

Journey of the Wounded Healer (panel three), oil on linen, 60 90, 1985.

Vision Taking Form, charcoal, ink & gouache on paper, 8 12, 1997.

Kongo Power Figure, ink on paper, 8 11, 1996.

Torah Scribe, ink on paper, 9 9, 1998.

Nature Study, ink on rice paper, 8 12, 1997.

Artist at Work II, charcoal, ink & gouache on paper, 8 12, 1997.

Michelangelos Captive, ink on paper, 11 14, 1997.

Daibutsu,

Holy Fire (panel three), oil on linen, 60 90, 1987.

: How to Be a Great Artist, by Zena Grey.

KEN WILBER

A LEX GREY MIGHT BE THE MOST SIGNIFICANT artist alive. In a world gone postmodern, bereft of meaning and value, cut loose on a sea of irony and indifference, Alex is taking a stunning stand: there is a God, there is Spirit, there is a transcendental ground and goal of human development and unfolding. Higher realities are available to usthat is the message of Alex Greys art and words in this book. He has set himself the extraordinary task of depicting, in art, these higher truths and here encourages all artists to find their own unique means of serving arts abiding mission.

This is art in its original and highest meaning: the subjective revelation of Spirit. When an artist is alive to the spiritual domains, he or she can depict and convey those domains in artistic rendering, which wrestles Spirit into matter and attempts to speak through that medium. When great artists do so, the artwork then reminds us of our own higher possibilities, our own deepest nature, our own most profound ground, which we all are invited to rediscover. The purpose of truly transcendent art is to express something you are not yet, but that you can become.

And this is exactly what Alex does in his truly stunning art. His 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. In the eternal trinity of the good, the true, and the beautiful, art, while it can be good and true, has always staked out the domain of the beautiful. Alexs art is deeply, profoundly, beautiful, the surest sign that it is on the trail of Spirit.

I myself have one other personal test of great art: when you first look at it, it simply takes your breath away. One of the great pleasures in my life is showing people Alexs art for the first time: they always gasp, wonderfully. You can almost see them thinking: perhaps there is more to reality, and to myself, than I thought. That is the great, profound, extraordinary service that Alexs art serves: it calls us beyond ourselves, it takes us beyond ourselves, to a transpersonal land where Spirit is real, where God is alive, where Buddha smiles and the Tao sings, where our own original face shines with a glory that time forgot and space cannot recall. We are confronted with the best that we can be, the deepest we can feel, the highest we can see, and so we go away from Alexs vision a little better than we were a minute before.