Alex Grey is a more recent discovery of mine that came with the CD design he created for Tool’s Lateralus (pictured here). Upon purchase of the cd I was stunned by the intricacy of his artwork and remaining faithful to the human anatomy. Not only does he show what is beneath our skin, but he does it with such mathematical and anatomical preciseness that it almost appears that he’s nuts.
I have since done quite a lot of research into Grey’s works and have discovered it isn’t so much his pieces that I’m a fan of, but more his conceptual and execution of each one. I might not like the finished product aesthetically, but each work floors me with it’s accuracy and metaphysical nature which is probably what draws the boys in Tool to his work.
My newest pieces ride very closely on the heels of Grey’s work, in an attempt to show our inner workings below what we all see each day. Obviously I will never attempt something of Grey’s complexity because I’m not about to do any autopsies as artistic research, but his works are incredibly inspiring due to the amount of study he must have done to get to the point of executing such complex art pieces.
You can check out Alex Grey’s website for all of his latest works and news, and go buy Lateralus by Tool for a more hands-on demonstration of his amazing work.
Im a HUGE alex grey fan. Very influential to me as well. He was a big part of why i started to go more figurative with my work, as well as showing representations of organs, etc.
How did you like the cover art for 10,000 days?
Grey’s work is wonderful. He’s been working with Tool for quite some time. The last album, 10000 Days, features other great work by Alex Grey and the package design has also been done by him. By the way, I really enjoy your work. Cheers.