Alex Grey
Alex Grey is an American visionary artist, author, teacher, and Vajrayana practitioner. His body of work spans a variety of forms including performance art, process art, installation art, sculpture, visionary art, and painting. Grey is a member of the Integral Institute. He is also on the board of advisors for the Center for Cognitive Liberty and Ethics, and is the Chair of Wisdom Universitys Sacred Art Department. He and his wife Allyson Grey are the cofounders of The Chapel of Sacred Mirrors , a nonprofit church supporting Visionary Culture in Wappingers Falls, New York.
Grey was born Alex Velzy in Columbus, Ohio on November 29, 1953, the middle child of a middleclass couple. His father was a graphic designer and encouraged his sons drawing ability. Young Alex would collect insects and dead animals from the suburban neighborhood and bury them in the back yard. The themes of death and transcendence weave throughout his artworks, from the earliest drawings to later performances, paintings and sculpture. He went to the Columbus College of Art and Design for two years , then dropped out and painted billboards in Ohio for a year. Grey then attended the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston for one year, to study with the conceptual artist, Jay Jaroslav.
Source: Wikipedia