The Artist's Origins
Alex Grey was born Alexander David Velzy on November 29, 1953, in Columbus, Ohio, the middle child of a graphic designer. From an early age he was drawn to both art and the macabre -- as a teenager he collected dead animals and insects, fascinated by anatomy and decay. He attended the Columbus College of Art and Design for two years before transferring to the Boston Museum School, where he studied with conceptual artist Jay Jaroslav and met fellow student Allyson Rymland, who would become his wife and lifelong creative partner.
A pivotal moment arrived in 1976 when Alex and Allyson shared an LSD experience that both later described as a vision of "a toroidal fountain and drain of self-illuminating love energy, a cellular node or jewel in a network that linked omnidirectionally without end." This shared revelation -- of universal interconnection made visible -- became the conceptual seed for Grey's life work.
