| Every work of art embodies the worldview of its creator and simultaneously reveals a facet of the collective mind. As Marcuse said, "Art is a metaphysics in a moment." Considering Modernism and Post-Modernism, the importance of mystic and visionary states of consciousness have been downplayed or ignored by most artists, critics, and curators. Picasso’s Cubism flattened the world into broken surfaces and shadows, with very little spiritual elevation. Pollock’s chaotic compositions reflect further fragmentation of self and a loss of center, continuing the existential crisis of Modernism. Pop art is a perfect mirror of our shallow, surface-oriented materialist corporate culture. | 
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Alex Grey
Every work of art embodies the worldview of its creator and simultaneously reveals a facet of the collective mind. As Marcuse said, "Art is a metaphysics in a moment." Considering Modernism and Post-Modernism, the importance of mystic and visionary states of consciousness have been downplayed or ignored by most artists, critics, and curators. Picasso’s Cubism flattened the world into broken surfaces and shadows, with very little spiritual elevation. Pollock’s chaotic compositions reflect further fragmentation of self and a loss of center, continuing the existential crisis of Modernism. Pop art is a perfect mirror of our shallow, surface-oriented materialist corporate culture. Most recent art that includes religious imagery profanes the sacred (Serrano, Warhol, Gober) or if there are spiritual intentions behind the work, its appearance is ambiguous (Rothko, Agnes Martin, Turrell). When art devalues the self and the authenticity of the inner worlds, we get art of the absent self, the hollow and shattered self, a hopeless self, in short, the art of today. Outsider Art is one cultural venue where visionary states are considered relevant, but often "Outsider" artists are considered naive or pathological. Humanity needs art that helps us reclaim the sacred experience of life, so that we will take actions that favor our species’ long-term survival.
A Johns Hopkins medical study, reported in Psychopharmacology Journal (2006), has proven scientifically that psilocybin can enable people to have full-blown life transforming mystical experiences. The mystical experience plunges the perceiver into the infinite unity of the cosmos, a classic "cosmic consciousness," glimpsing the profound ecstasies and revelations visited by visionaries like William Blake. As our art historical eye glances over world culture, one of the primary functions of visual art has been the iconic linking together of transcendental and worldly realms. For centuries, people have gone to view art in temples and cathedrals to see a reflection of our eternal self, our soul. Art makes the state of the soul perceptible. Meditative practices and entheogens, such as psilocybin, give artists at the dawn of the 21st century a unique opportunity to create more integrative and universal spiritual art than ever before. The great uplifting of humanity beyond its self-destruction is the redemptive mission of art.
For 30 years my art has portrayed higher states of consciousness available through psychedelic and meditative mystical experiences. My wife, Allyson Grey, and I co-founded the Chapel of Sacred Mirrors (CoSM), open for four years in the NYC Chelsea gallery district, as a showcase for visionary art and to further the alliance between art and community in a contemporary sacred space. Josef Beuys used the term "social sculpture" to define his activism as art. CoSM is offered in the same spirit. There is a growing worldwide community of artists meeting in clubs and festivals, in workshops and on-line groups evolving a new alliance of creativity and spirituality, largely under the radar of the art world. Soon CoSM will move to quarters in upstate New York in order to work on our long-term goal to build a visionary temple.
