An Interview with Artist and Founder of the Church of Sacred Mirrors Alex Grey

Alex Grey worked in a morgue long before he became a renowned painter. An interest in the body and its applications beyond the ordinary are evident in Grey’s work, which has graced the covers of albums by Tool, Nirvana, and the Beastie Boys, as well as tabs of blotter acid. Situated between the sacred and the psychedelic, Grey’s work aims for transcendence, however subtle.

Following a 1978 performance entitled “Life Energy,” Allyson Grey, Alex’s wife, inspired and gave name to the Sacred Mirrors series, twenty-one works that aim to explore the anatomical, socio-political and spiritual dimensions of our collective selves. Like an interactive performance, viewers are invited to stand directly in front of the painting, hands in the anatomical position and imagine that the painting reflects the system inside of you. Alex’s approach to art relates to the ritual use of Tibetan Thangkas by Buddhist practitioners, who focus on the art to identify with the deities of either wrath or peace.   The Sacred Mirrors were created for display at The New Museum, but have also been exhibited in places like, The Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston, and The American Visionary Art Museum.

Grey co-founded the Church of Sacred Mirrors (CoSM) with Allyson in 1996. Since then, the institution has moved from a gallery space in New York City, to a large woodsy estate in Wappinger, NY. CoSM occasionally throws large parties that aim to serve as interfaith gatherings where “expanding on one’s consciousness” is not unheard of.

Reluctantly, I attended a CoSM event in 2015, thinking it would be all psychedelics and proselytizing, as some of my more wayward acquaintances had gushed about the higher-level spirituality of events they’d attended on the compound. I was pleasantly surprised to find that the nature of the event seemed to exist beyond simple labels and pretenses. While I still don’t know what the organization ultimately aims to accomplish, I found that the people involved created a space that was simultaneously encouraging and indifferent as to whether or not visitors were on board.

Alex Grey wasn’t the towering unreachable figure one might expect him to be, but a genuinely genial guy who is well aware of how his art and legacy might be seen by the general public. In the first three minutes of chatting, Alex joked that he put the “cult” in culture, and went on to mock the reclusive sensibilities many might believe him to possess. I honestly felt a little ashamed about how smug I’d been in my own reservations and thought that if I had already relegated CoSM to...