Hate to break it to you, but you probably aren't truly a new age hippie if you don't know the work of Alex Grey, I don't care how many pairs of Birkenstocks you own.

At Sartle, we often joke about oddball paintings being the result of a bad acid trip in an attempt to bring levity to the situation, since the other option that the artist is just mentally ill is sort of a bummer. In the case of Alex Grey though, his aesthetic truly is the result of a life spent kicking it with our girl Lucy. Yes, the man loves drugs, specifically hallucinogens.

The year was 1975. That's when it all happened for Grey. It was his last day of school at Boston Museum School, and his professor offered him a bottle of Kahula with acid in it, because apparently that is something art school teachers do in 1975. Grey then went to a party where he tripped balls and experienced the light of love. He felt he was spiritually reborn, and has been on a mission to spread his hippy-dippy vision with the world.

So you may be thinking, “He does a bunch of drugs, that must be why he is so out there.” While you are correct, turns out he has always been a bit zany. One of his favorite past times growing up was wondering around his neighborhood looking for dead bugs and animals, and then burying them in his backyard. While other kids were having tea parties, he was holding funerals. As he aged, his infatuation with death never wavered. He spent five years at Harvard preparing cadavers for dissection, during which time he learned the human body inside and out.

When Alex isn't work on a painting, preaching about non-localization of consciousness, or on a vision quest somewhere, he is busy constructing a temple. “A temple?” You may say, “aren't those buildings for religious purposes?” Well, since all lines have “magically” blurred together is Grey’s head, he feels that art and spirituality are synonymous and he is now building a crazy looking temple in New York so that he can exhibit “artwork of the Visionary Art movement, where precious paintings, drawings, sculpture and moving image resonate with the highest states of consciousness.” Far out, man. We can only assume that admission will be free but will require a ceremonial white sage smudging session and an honorary sip of mushroom tea. New Yorkers might not be ready for that much California. 

Alex Grey is far from an artistic recluse working madly in his studio. Rather he is a total people person and loves sharing his beliefs and visions with anyone willing to expand their minds with him. He holds regular full moon gatherings that all are welcome to attend. If you are into spirituality, this may be something you should consider doing as he was dubbed two years in a row to be one of the top twenty spiritual leaders alive today by the Watkins Review. He found his place on that list right next to the Dali Lama and Oprah...because apparently giving away free cars makes you a spiritual leader...?

Perhaps you like his work but aren’t ready to take the plunge and gallivant around with him on the equinox. If that is the case, his work can be found in a plethora of venues, ranging from album covers to sheets of blotter paper with acid on it. No joke, that is actually written in his personal bio. As if just looking at his work doesn’t make us feel high enough. And trust me, you might want to avoid the punch bowl at his art openings...