I wasn't sure where to put this. You have a section called, 'The Arts' which includes the subforums, 'Books', Film, 'TV and Gaming' and, 'Music', but no 'Art' section.

Anyway I came across this artist, Alex Grey, through a video on my friends Facebook...

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08R8tgvXa7o[/youtube]

...and despite his absolutely sickening woo, endorsed by Deepak Chopra of all people, I think his art work is amazing. Looking at his works brings me right back to experiences I've had on LSD. Everything looks like some sort of electrified dream.



I especially like the detail he puts into things like the nervous and respiratory systems.





The patterns in the background have a very natural look to them. Like the ones you see burned onto your retina when you close your eyes fast.
What do people think of this type of painting? I'm sure some will find it gaudy or excessive in its colours.

Another thing, while I'm on this subject, in the video above he talks about an experience he had when deep in meditation when he saw all around him a grid, as if made of electricity, going on for infinity. It reminds me of when I was a child. Often at night I would let my mind go and I used to be able to create something like this, a green grid which looks like a wire frame on a computer model before any textures or anything is put in. I used to be able to make myself feel like I was floating, similar to a dream, I could move along over wire frame peaks and valleys. This would usually last until I got that sudden falling feeling and put my arms out to catch myself.
Did anyone else ever get that?

Please someone say they got that.

Here's Alex Grey's website. Careful now. It has more woo than a Chinese phonebook.
http://www.alexgrey.com/

I didn't get that you crazy woo person

Back to la la land with me.

Animavore wrote:Back to la la land with me.

I lack the imagination to be an artist (My loss ) so I'm always a bit jealous of those that can create such stuff in their mind. I love stuff by artists like Salvador Dali as it gives me the opportunity to experience something that my own mind couldn't conjour. The pictures by that guy in your original post are very good.

I've still got this at my parents house that I need to pick up at some time

I love Dali. He's my favourite artist.

I just realised that guy Alex Grey done the cover art for one of Tool's albums.



This one's not as sore on the eyes and doesn't make me feel like I'm going to have an acid flashback any second.

Ah Tool, awesomeness. Although I do respect art and artists I do find that by its nature it encourages them to indulge in 'fuzzy' thinking which is why I find them frustrating to discuss things with as I have a background in science.The artists I've met all to readily retreat back into the subjective experience corner or make the frustrating claim that science is just another religion because in artist circles anything goes as long as you can give an explanation for why you think that, even if it doesn't really hold up to scrutiny.

Still I value artists and their work and wouldn't want to be without either.

Not all artists are like that, of course. There is that artist guy they consult every time they want someone to do an artist representation of fossils, afarensis for instance. A brilliant anatomical artist. His name slips me but he's 100% into science.

Animavore wrote:Another thing, while I'm on this subject, in the video above he talks about an experience he had when deep in meditation when he saw all around him a grid, as if made of electricity, going on for infinity. It reminds me of when I was a child. Often at night I would let my mind go and I used to be able to create something like this, a green grid which looks like a wire frame on a computer model before any textures or anything is put in. I used to be able to make myself feel like I was floating, similar to a dream, I could move along over wire frame peaks and valleys. This would usually last until I got that sudden falling feeling and put my arms out to catch myself.
Did anyone else ever get that?

Please someone say they got that.

I could float they way you describe (can still do it but not as much) but I don't remember any grids. I would be lying on my back, staring up at the stars and think "wow all us people are really HERE ( not anywhere else in the universe)" and that created a feeling of floating up.

Here's Alex Grey's website. Careful now. It has more woo than a Chinese phonebook.
http://www.alexgrey.com/

Yes but it's really cool art.

I just looked it up. He's well into his psychedelics.

I knew it.

The amount of dedication Alex Grey puts into his work, which is clearly "spiritual" is quite impressive. Sure it's "psychedelic" and a bit clichéd, but it's an astonishing labour of love. There's another guy... Paul Laffoley, who is even more kooky and deeply into his enthusiastically detailed weirdness.

Check eet out...

I just read his Wiki. He's an architect, which doesn't surprise me. You can see it coming through in his art. You have plans, elevations, polygons and isometric views.
Nice one.

I wish you could see his stuff in all it's glory. It's batshit crazy, but interestingly so.

Just got around to reading Paul Laffoley's website now. He's a bit of an Icke job.

His paintings are great though. I have one as my wallpaper currently.

Animavore wrote:I love Dali. He's my favourite artist.

I just realised that guy Alex Grey done the cover art for one of Tool's albums.



This one's not as sore on the eyes and doesn't make me feel like I'm going to have an acid flashback any second.

I was just going to say... this Tool album cover looks like something of his:



I like that kind of art - the bright colours, dreamlike images.

It's interesting that he claimed to have a vision of the 2 airplanes, and twin towers in 1989. I think he said that's when he had it.

Also, his paintings remind me of the one episode in the Animatrix.

I never had floating dreams as if I was in a grid, when I was younger. Though, I used to have constant dreams where I could float - by doing some leg pump thing. I had the dream so often, that I actually thought it was real, and that I could do it in real life. I think everyone has the type of dream though...

Mantisdreamz wrote:I never had floating dreams as if I was in a grid, when I was younger.

Actually it wasn't a dream. I could do it at night while I lay awake in the dark is what I meant.

Mantisdreamz wrote:It's interesting that he claimed to have a vision of the 2 airplanes, and twin towers in 1989.

It's not as interesting that he claimed that alright. The two planes contrast the two birds on the other side of the painting. He actually talks about this painting in an other video without mentioning 9/11 at all. But in typical woo merchant fashion when the connection is later made by someone else he makes the claim, "I forgot about this but someone pointed out to me about the planes over the Twin Towers"...etc as if it's something incredible 1. I don't believe he "forgot" about it because when you put that much work into something you never forget it without having mental trauma and 2. the planes are flying in different directions.
It's a coincidence but an interesting one none the less.

Animavore wrote:
It's not as interesting that he claimed that alright. The two planes contrast the two birds on the other side of the painting. He actually talks about this painting in an other video without mentioning 9/11 at all. But in typical woo merchant fashion when the connection is later made by someone else he makes the claim, "I forgot about this but someone pointed out to me about the planes over the Twin Towers"...etc as if it's something incredible 1. I don't believe he "forgot" about it because when you put that much work into something you never forget it without having mental trauma and 2. the planes are flying in different directions.
It's a coincidence but an interesting one none the less.

But in his defence, he'd probably say something in reference to 9/11, because it was just a 'vision' that came to him, and he went with it - without knowing what it meant, as visions are symbolisms of the truth, yet 'obscured'.

I don't really believe that it is any more than a coincidence. But - I know when these kinds of things happen to people - it really does act as a reinforcer of a universe that can be tapped into and understood.

Animavore wrote:
Actually it wasn't a dream. I could do it at night while I lay awake in the dark is what I meant.

Ahh, okay. Can't say I've had anything like that. But, I used to have this thing where when I closed my eyes, not sleeping, I'd get what was like a running clips of faces that I had never seen before, and with really strange attributes.