Wow, I just did a search to see if there were any topics about Grey, and to my surprise there were none! I thought that there would be some interest in this artist around this forum. Anyway, go check him out…
He’s a little too new-agey for my taste (but in the interviews I’ve watched of him, he seems like an insightful and funny guy with some great opinions), but I love his paintings (though I sometimes wish he used a less psychedelic palette) and I’m hoping to go to his gallery this December.
His Sacred Mirror paintings are life size, and you are meant to stand in front of them… and according to his philosophy, the paintings help to tune your energy to the layer depicted in the painting. It’s pretty interesting, and I’m excited to experience these paintings in person.
So check him out! I’ll be sure to post some more artists that the community here might enjoy in the future.
Ha! that was exactly what I was referring to so those images were created by this guy? I was under the impression they were older and more “general” (if that makes any sense) …
EDIT: like from ancient texts or traditions, I mean.
btw, here’s a link to the Parabola video by Tool, if anyone’s interested. If not you can skip to the end where the influence of Gray’s art is more evident. (worth watching the whole 10 minutes IMO )
That work wasn’t “inspired” by him, he actually worked with tool for some of their performances, he did a lot of their cover art, and he worked with someone to do that ending to the video.
Aesthetically mind-blowing!!! Can’t say I like the music too much, though. I guess we could have a big parabola interpretation topic just to discuss what all those images bring to mind
Oh, and the last minutes are 100% salvia trip. I’ve been thinking of buying some salvia, but damn, that ■■■■ is strong!
If you guys let me know what you’re interested in, I can definitely pick out some good ones. And yes, feel free to interpret that video in this topic since it’s about Alex Grey.
hm,
room one could be illusion,
consensus reality, upheld by business,
cutting reality in two, and only giving us half of the portion, separating us from organic awareness, as they circle endlessly with their power ,
they are only there to uphold illusion,
then this is smashed into pieces and perhaps the little self is the begin who is just learning to “swim” and understand reality, and is very beddazzled wide eyed and frightened about everything, constantly popping in and out, in and out, in and out, in and out, of the shell he was in,
and so he is afraid of evolution,
spirit, and his focus upon it causes it to smash him (instead of letting it be like the higher self ) ,
the higher self is then upset and works with the lower self’s half,
perhaps he is a high communicator and the suited beings are low ones,
i am not sure about the integration ,
he goes into the painting and examines something of color, and his focus on something of color leads him to see a higher reality of light and energy, perhaps he is unafraid of the molecule, and the other being is ? (pain is an illusion / here’s tom with the weather )
perhaps the businessmen created a fear of death ( and life )
now that i think on it more, and it comes to me, the box we see is the monitor,
a reality which circles endlessly with no point, and dark energy, this is BROKEN INTO PIECES to show another reality, the painting may be the artists ability to put color inside a static medium to try to reach people, but he himself is not ordinarily in it ? or it might be his potential to access himself ?
this explains that he is holding a being cut in half, as he can only hold while one listens ?
this video may be a warning against smoking certain things, as schism is much more clear, and share similar imagery , that it is not a true path ?
i feel a cloudy foggy feeling after watching it. (could the particles be smoke ? )
Sorry for the long post - I wanted to answer this sooner, but I thought I should first find the time to do it right
Presence of light, I’ve read your interpretation and used it as base to take another look at the clip. It came out as something similar but different… I found it a little hard to understand which sections of the video you were referring too, so there may be some stupid relations along the way…
Well, let’s start. What are those things at the very beggining? Don’t they look like microscopic life, maybe bacteria ou virus of some kind? At 0:58 they collectively look like an audience in a show (there’s even something stage-like in the distance). I’m not sure this is right, but many good bands like to explore this relation (Pink Floyd’s the Wall is a good example).
I guess this starts at 1:06. I definitly share a lot of that feeling - they do seems to be “illusion upholders”. Not only they are cold and twistedly fish-like (Innsmouth, anyone?) but they also dress like bussiness men. Next time someone says “they’ve raised the price of oil again” I’ll have those figures in mind, damned illuminati = P
But what about the knife and (rotten?) fruit stuff at 3:05? Is it a “tradional” metaphor to fall-from-grace/damnation (y’know, Genesis - Adam and Eve and Serpent biblic imagery)? Or are they just playing hide’n’seek with the black sun(at 3:09)?
After that, this fella flames his finger and they start the regorgitating/flying/circle thing. One thing I disagree is that they circle endlessly - there’s a definite start and end, where we see a bunch of arms (4:05) that’s more similar to little-selfs’ arms than to the hands of the earlier flying folk.
Ok, so a bunch of little-selfs’ arms destroy the circle and one is newborn, touching it’s skin to check if he’s real . And the antennae-guy starts headbanging and breaks all hell loose…
The tree is definetly spirit, you can see the little guy climbing it
But how come the higher-self is smashed into a plastic container at 5:40? Is he being brainwashed by that sphere? He seems to have been, cause he’s all dopey when little-self needs some help from the now weirder sphere (6:44) and fails to notice it until it’s death.
I do have to make a note here - we’ve got to know the little-self here for less than 7m, and he’s constantly making that breathing-motion with his mask (which must have been hard to create!). Then suddenly he’s there on the ground, all loose and still. It goes for a big impact, thumbs up for the director!
Do you think the sphere could be the suited ones’ deed? They were after all making a sort of circle…
What with the autopsy at 7:38? Maybe it is just a way to properly categorize the little-self in the physical plane. I mean, they did take their time to make it look like living tissue. One thing I can’t explain is the thing’s skin - it looks far more like your typical grey aliens than a true human.
Then he goes through the window/painting/monitor chased by the “sphere”, and the pace slows down to match the synch with the closing lyrics (8:10):
"This body holding me reminds me of my own mortality.
Embrace this moment. Remember. we are eternal.
All this pain is an illusion. "
But what of the imagery here why the transformation from leaf to fire and from fire to eyes (lots of 'em)? I can understand the fire entering him and infusing him with power (by the way, that’s Alex Grey for us here hehe) - but what of the eyes? They definetly show the 3rd eye chakra, but is this all there is?
probably not, but perhaps the black sphere things have something to do with the egg of life. I just randomly found that image after seeing the video…
anyway, when I see the black sphere thing it reminds me of cancer. Well, multiplying cells in general, but it’s black and kills the little guy so… perhaps it represents death and after the physical body (little guy) is dead, that spirit, or whatever you want to call the antena guy, is free to go outside (and eventually get enlightened or something, and join the Universal Mind Lattice from Alex Grey’s Mirrors).
Another idea I just had now is that scene where the antena guy puts his head against that glass box. Maybe it’s something like meditating, looking into himself, since he’s restrained by his physical little me. After that one is dead he opens him up to look inside, I guess, and say “wth?”. Maybe he’s looking for himself, strugling against the idea of him being something independent from the body.
Sorry for rambling nonsense I should watch that video again…
mattias…, it certainly looks like the egg of life but it acts more akin to cancer, as you’ve said. If we think of it as something cancer-like, it explaind the death of the little physical selg… But why would it stalk the antennae guy “outside”?
some “spiritual” (or whatever) references I’ve seenbefore bu have no idea what they are 
so those images were created by this guy? I was under the impression they were older and more “general” (if that makes any sense) …
)
. And the antennae-guy starts headbanging and breaks all hell loose…
I should watch that video again…