Search Results for: "alex grey"

Bright Color by Dominick McIntosh

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Long-time BME readers and IAM members will remember tattoo artist Dominick Allen McIntosh of Dead Gods Tattoo (deadgodstattoo.com) in Oregon from the MASH-themed tattoos back in 2006. An amazing Alex Grey inspired tattoo (the one you see below) of his creation was recently featured on Juxtapoz and wowing the online world.

Because in the tattoo world we see so many bright tattoos that look amazing the day they were done, and then look like faded “meh” when healed, I wanted to ask Dominick for healed pictures before posting. I was both pleased and surprised that this is a healed tattoo, taken two and a half months after the tattoo was first done. To get a better picture, he shaved the client and moisturized the skin — something I’d recommend to anyone who wants to show off their tattoos. You’d be amazed how much even a light covering of hair can obscure a tattoo, and moisturizer makes the upper layers of skin slightly more translucent, allowing the colors glow at their brightest. Anyway, what an amazing tattoo this piece is, and I’ve also included a small collection of other tattoos from a photoshoot at Dominick’s shop earlier this year. Unlike what you see in many magazines and portfolios, all of them are healed, and truly representative of the wonderful tattoos these clients will carry for life.

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Ecstasy in Grey

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I got a message a couple days ago from Allen telling me to check out the work of Dallas artist Mike Tidwell from Hold Fast Tattoo.  What caught Allen’s eye was this piece, a greyscale replica of Alex Grey’s “Ecstasy”.

Given how intricate Alex Grey’s art is, Mike should be commended for such an accurate recreation.  Let’s hope we see more from him in the future.

The Inner Eye

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I always like to save something special for my last post of the week, and I think you won’t be disappointed with what I found for you today.

First and foremost, I want to give you a little background on the man who inspired this piece.  You may or may not have heard the name Alex Grey before, although you probably have seen some of his work.  As one of the most distinctive artists in the past 50 years, his work explores spirituality through visionary art, a form of psychedelic art.  I’m definitely not an expert in art theory, so I won’t try to explain his works in-depth, but what I can tell you is that his art has a profound effect on the majority of people who see it.  For many people the first time they might have seen some of his work was on the album art for Tool’s Lateralus album.  Since then Alex has worked with the band, in addition to his own works, and has produced not only album art, but also set designs for their live shows and even created the visuals for this video.  One of Alex’s major works, The Sacred Mirrors, has been turned into a gallery exhibit known as the Chapel of the Sacred Mirrors.  A film was made about the gallery, and features interviews with Alex as he explains his paintings.

Of course with his art focusing on spiritual transformation, he easily became a natural inspiration for modification artists.  Gabriel Cece, from Studio Evolve Tattoo in Virginia Beach, VA, recently created this piece that is an interpretation of Alex’s work.

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The art of modification is strongly linked to a transformative spirituality, where the individual regardless of the personal reasoning behind it, transforms their body on a physical level to achieve some internal satisfaction.  This piece in particular speaks volumes towards this transformation, as the eyes placed on the transparent hands show the inner self looking out on the world.  The spirituality of self is viewing the outside world, and is changing the external self to reflect the thoughts and feelings of the inside.

I think I should stop myself there, as I could probably go on for hours about the beauty of this piece of art.  With the new gallery system on BME, you’re able to leave a comment directly on the page of the image, so if you wish to share your thoughts on this with Gabriel, head over to the religious and mythological tattoo gallery and leave a comment.

Wait It Out

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Sure, designing some Tool album art may have helped get his name out among folks who may not have normally been exposed to his work, but Alex Grey‘s paintings and drawings have always seemed particularly well suited to tattoo adaptations (we’ve featured a few in the past), and this application of one of his “vajra brush” designs by Alex Jazz at Extreme-Art in St. Petersburg, Russia, is no exception. It is interesting, however, to see his work in black and grey, considering how much he’s often associated with incredibly bright and vibrant colors, but hey, we think this works just fine.

After the jump, we zoom out a touch and see this piece in the context of (most of) the rest of clockorange.

See more in “Religious and Mythological Tattoos“ (Tattoos)

Eye Bending Tattoo

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I pity Nate Beavers, the tattoo artist that applied this piece — he must have gone totally cross-eyed from the concentration of doing this Alex Grey “One” painting (influenced by TOOL). Nate works at All or Nothing Tattoo but did this at Big Brain Productions in Omaha, NE.

Oh, yeah, and since there are now dozens of sites ripping the feed on this blog and using it to content-power their own sites, let me mention that if you’re not reading this at http://modblog.bmezine.com/, you’re not seeing the whole site (ie. comments, all the entries, etc.).