Visionary Idealism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Visionary Idealism - Essay ExampleFor him, the puzzle pop of blindistic creation holds the potential of transcending the limitations of the mind and more fully evidenceing the divine spirit. He also believes that guile can induce within the viewer an elevated state wherein apparitional states of being are attain ( grey). In this essay, I am going to cover a brief history of his life, the progression of his art and performances, where his art is displayed and has been used, and some positive and negative reviews of his whole kit and boodle. My purpose is to critically critique Alex grayishs artistic style and vision.Alex Grey was born in Columbus, Ohio on November 29, 1953. Being the middle child of a middle-class couple, he strove to recreate his father by excelling in drawing. It was his father, who was a graphic designer, who saw in him his exceptional talent and advance his drawing ability. As a young child he would collect insects and dead animals from around the resem blance and bury them in the back yard. From his earliest drawings to his performances, paintings and sculptures, the themes of death and transcendence have been woven throughout (Grey). During his teenage years he lived a solitary life in a world of his own tomography that could not be easily understood by others and did not give much concern to ripe or wrong. His art during that time shows how confused he was about himself, and about life and spirituality. It led him to express the tearing apart, the confusion, and the duality within his being. He attended the Columbus College of Art and Design for two years (1971-73), then dropped out and painted billboards in Ohio for a year (73-74) (Grey). He then attended the capital of Massachusetts Museum School for one year to study with the conceptual artist Jay Jaroslav (Grey). This is also where he met his wife Allyson, the artist. During this item he had a series of entheogenically induced mystical experiences that transformed his a gnostic existentialism to a theme transcendentalism (Grey). He then spent five years at Harvard Medical School working in the Anatomy department studying the human body (Grey). As expected, the earlier works of Alex Grey (both drawing and painting) are simpler and more of self depicting. His later works have shown maturity and complexness, moving out of self but still focusing on the human anatomy. What stuck out most about his untimely works is how talented and detailed his lines and features are, and how almost perfectly he has recreated himself in his visual arts. His later portrayal of himself reveals his own self realization and self actualization, revealing the inner struggles and duality of his inner being. He is qualified to show his audience what transpires within himself and the difficulties he has been going through as he is initiated into the growing complexity of his inner and outer world. In addition, his focus on the human eye in many of his works reveals an all- knowing existence of somebody, be it himself or God or any other important someone in his life, which truly affects him and all of his life. One example is the Vision Mission. The eye is placed above, which is believed as the vision, succession the hand with the pointing finger below may stand for the mission. This drawing may have a spiritual implication and may have a much deeper meaning from what is actually shown. Moreover, his