aanallein said:
I think he opens up mystical experience to a broader audience. There are people who don't do drugs or meditate who may become interested in the spiritual nature of his work and thus, dive into something they wouldn't otherwise be exposed to. Also, for former users who don't do drugs any longer, it gives the viewer the opportunity to look back on past experiences and perhaps relive them or discover something new about them.
I think Grey's following is a lot less wide than you assume, first of all. His work is almost always called "visionary art", not just "art". Most everybody I know who knows Grey knows him through Tool, or String Cheese. Those are people who frequently are into altered states of consciousness. Sometimes its yoga and meditation, but its typically psychedelics. If you ask me, appreciation of Art, or anything else, is severly limited by drugs, despite the fact that drugs absolutely do enhance art (among other things).
As for Grey's utility as a kind of surrogate for mystical experiences: thats fine if you think its a good idea. I'd prefer to keep my most cherished experiences somewhat separate from something you can buy on a website, and screen print on t-shirts. I don;t mean to sound derogatory; I feel the same way about memories that have nothing to do with drug experiences as well. Also, and I raised this earlier in the thread, but the last thing I would want is Grey's opinions about visionary states impacting somebody's first great acid trip, or an NDE, or anything else in life. What you're experiencing if the end of your mortal life is exactly like an Alex Grey painting (and I mean, uncannily alike) is a simulation. That's a simulation I'd prefer not to have for the sake of some kind of authenticity in my own experiences. The last thing the world needs is other people, even well-meaning ones, telling us how things are. The most salient example that comes to mind (for the drug experience), is how Fear and Loathing has indelibly colored so many trips over the course of its run as a book and a movie. Mine too. I'd unsee it if I could.
aanallein said:
I think the reason a lot of people don't like Grey's work is because they see something in his work that they thought was unique to them or to a particular experience they had and feel violated - as if the experience has been cheapened because it isn't theirs alone. I think this is a symptom of human egotism and the inability to share.
I don't like Grey's work because it threatens the integrity of individual mystical experiences, (I also think its exploitative of a demographic that has plenty of disposable income, and thinks this is a cool way to advertise their free-thinking lifestyle and antimaterial belief-system-- posters).
socko said:
I think of Alex Grey as a kind of inner landscape artist of the mind of the psychonaut.
I think that's a fair assessment, and I have no criticisms of it.
My only beef is with people who make comments like "best ever" without an appreciation of
why exactly the ones we call the best from the modern and postmodern period are so great. Call me elitist, but once you go from saying "he's my personal favorite" to "Definitely one of the greatest artists of our time", you need to be ready to back it up, and tell me who we're going to cut from the short list to make room for Grey.
![:\](https://bluelight.org/xf/BL_Images/Orig_Emoji/wrygrin.gif "wry grin :\")
