Alex Grey

Hi Guys!
How are you all doing? I'm in my final year of CyberArts now! Exciting eh?
Well for my first post of the new semester we were asked to research an artist who created a modern or postmodern portrait that interested us. I chose to talk about Alex Grey.

Alex Grey was born on November 29th, 1953 in Columbus, Ohio. Grey spent five years at Harvard Medical School studying body in the Anatomy department as well as the department of Mind/Body. He worked with many doctors conducting scientific experiments to investigate subtle healing energies. Grey was asked to do illustrator work and spent 10 years as an instructor in Artistic Anatomy and Figure Sculpture at the New York University. After that Grey started to paint a series of paintings that wanted to "take the viewer on a journey towards their own divine nature by examining, in detain, the body, mind, and spirit".

I am going to talk about Alex Grey's 'Oversoul'.



This portrait really interested me. 'Oversoul' in my eyes is beautiful; I really enjoy the 3D feel that is created by the pyramid composition. Depth is added to the painting because the body of the man is created with vertical lines but the background is created with radial lines. You can really tell the difference between background and foreground; I like how Grey used lines more than colour to show them apart. Another thing I love is the repeating pattern of the eye that is used through out the painting because at first glance they look like simple radial designs. The eyes really stand out because Grey alternated cool and warm colours. Where there were warm colours grey added blue eyes and where there were cold colours Grey added red eyes. The eyes also stand out because they are integrated everywhere.

This portrait to me is very spiritual, I believe Grey was trying to show the relation between the eyes, body, brain and soul. I think that portrait has something to do with knowledge as well as the man in the portrait is looking upwards; or maybe he is looking up towards a higher being. I don't know. But I do know that I love this portrait; the overall look is very interesting. I spent a great deal of time just looking at it, taking in all of the details.

If you found this piece interesting, do check out more pieces by Alex Grey here.

Have a good night!