Artists Books

My son likes Dora. He loves this book. I read it to him every night. Some stories are too short though.

I ordered this for my Granddaughter that is 2 yrs old. She never puts the book down.Mommy has read it to her several times and she just can't get enough of it. Of course she is a die hard Dora fan. Great book!

excellent book, my daughter loves it. i didnt read the item properly an thort it was a dvd, but it turned out to be a book which was even better. very hard to find decent Dora books here. it was speedy delivery to australia an in perfect condition. gorgeously illustrated an big, bold easy to read wording. makes bedtime a fun an interactive time. my daughter can read along with me an learn spanish at the same time. extremely happy.

Both my 2 and 4yr olds enjoy this collection of Dora stories. I like the abridged story lengths.

Fast shipping! Great book, clean..makes a great Christmas gift for a Dora fan! Will definitely order from seller again! thanks!

This book features clear plates with apparently well painted views of probably all the species of amphibians and reptiles occuring in Canada and the USA east of the Rocky Mountains, apparently also including those of Puerto Rico and introduced ones. Unfortunately, the plates of the third edition from 1998 are printed badly, with the colour dots not completely blurring in front of the reader's eye, and the pictures are a little tiny anyway. On the page opposing the plates are the common and scientific names given, as well as some important details of their appearance. Many species are represented with several images (e.g. from the side, from below; adults, juveniles), but this would probably be warranted for even more species.
The species accounts are, however, usually much too short, giving almost no detail about biology and life history of the species. Among them are, however, some colour photographs, whose printing resolution is usually also somewhat too bad, though.
The range maps are in colour and show the different subspecies in different shades, yet they are also somewhat confusing, because water bodies like the sea or the great lakes are not shaded differently from the land, so that their borders look like the state borders, and because the range borders have also be drawn in black (maybe for copying?).
Laudable is the existence of a general section about amphibians and reptiles and their catching, handling and captive care. This section would be worth expanding, though.
The third printing (1998) is/was, as already stated, not very good because of its low colour resolution and its maybe somewhat too small size, and it is/was bind only as paperback with relatively thick pages throughout.

Thank you for your timely shipping of this brand new book. I ordered it for a friend who is looking forward to getting it soon.

I have had this book for several years and absolutly love it. Not only is it nicely informative, it holds up well in the feild. I can not begin to count the number of times I have slipped (I generally keep it tucked in my waist band) in creeks on outings. After years of abuse, my cover is a worn, spine wrinkled and paged stained, but it's still solidly bound.

The book is great. Wonderful range maps, nice pictures, generally good ID characters. Could use some more info on larval amphibian identification though.

We live on a lake and frequently refer to this book to identify our water and woodland snakes.This book is very user friendly.

Was absolutely delighted when we received this book. This is an artist who is so ripe for a reappraisal! Waterhouse managed to pull off a genuine and moving romantic vision. The writing is thoughtful and spirited. The reproductions are first rate. Can't imagine anyone would fail to love this one.

Philip Koch
Professor of Fine Art
Maryland Institute College of Art

This is the best book I have found on J.W. Waterhouse. Not only does this book talk about the painter's life, but more importantly, each of J.W .Waterhouse's paintings are described in very full detail (eg: OPHELIA).

I was so intrigued by reading about Waterhouses' pictures, because the author of this wonderful book (ie: PETER TRIPPI) elaborated in great detail about each work of Art, by contrasting and comparing Waterhouses' paintings to other famous paintings and sculptures (eg: Bourne Jones from the 1800's, and also many famous Italian 1400-th Century Artists) .

The author has attempted, (& with great success, I may add), to show how Waterhouse was influenced by past Rapheaelite Artists and also by some of the other famous first-phase Pre-Raheaelite English Artists.

Each synopsis, of each Waterhouse painting is quite amazing and like no other interpretation that I have read on this famous late-Pre-Raphaelite Artist.

The repro-photos of Waterhouse's works are amazing, -----showing such wonderful details and colors.

If you are an art lover of paintings that can take your breath away, and pulling you int it than John Waterhouse is a must for your collection. He is such a great artist and this book is so incredible you want to devour it. He is one of the greatest artists of his time that I would recommend this book because it is affordable and wonderful.

I received this book quickly and with no delays.

Would love to have ordered the hardcover for a coffee table book but this one does just fine for the cost and over-seas shipping it would have taken for the hardcover. Lots of information on J W Waterhouse and great pictures. It even has some of his less known works and pictures that you can't find prints for. A true keep sake and treasure for those who are interested in this artist and his time. Oh, and a few of the house guests, students, have even asked to borrow the book. First table book to have created some interesting conversations.

Peter Trippi's monograph has done what I would assume had to be very difficult to do: he has a good feel for the quiet,quiet man behind the paintings. The depth of his study helped me to verify a number of pieces of information that led me into my own research, and has continued to be my main reference as I continue my work. I recommend that this is the book to begin with if you are going to enter any serious study of John William Waterhouse; however, don't let that make you think it is only a scholar's read: it is well written, beautifully illustrated, and simply a joy to behold.

This is a delightful living book. An opportunity to learn a lot about Monet, his work and his life while enjoying a beautifully told story.

Fabulous book about places I have visited and loved -- I actually
know Michelle who owns the Hotel Esmerelda (she will autograph my
copy of book), and have spent many happy hours in the bookstore
around the corner (never go to Paris without visiting it), and
of course, Monet's art and home are the pinnacle. A wonderful
and inspirational book for all!

I absolutely LOVED this book when I was younger. So, if you're having doubts about your child liking it, I wouldn't...I had the doll of Linnea and I carried it around with me everywhere...and I also brought the book everywhere I could as well.

Linnea, a young Swedish girl has developed quite a friendship with the elderly Mr. Bloom, her upstairs neighbor. Mr. Bloom is a retired gardener who is the proud owner of a lovely book about the great French artist, Claude Monet. After hours and hours of studying Monet and his life, the pair begin the ultimate adventure: a trip to Paris, and where it all began! Linnea and Mr. Bloom visit the Marmottan museum to observe the many paintings of Monet. They study his artwork and how the genius painted. They learn about other Impressionist artists--many who were great friends of Monet. Eventually the young child and elderly gentleman make the ultimate trek to Giverny, where Monet lived and painted.
This book could almost be a 'fun' textbook. The artwork, both of the author's and of Monet's is absolutely exquisite. Becoming familiar with Monet's life and his paintings become a marvelous art history lesson. As an adult, I not enjoyed reading this lovely book but I learned a lot. In fact, a few days after reading LINNEA in Monet's Garden I was watching a Sex in the City episode where Charlotte was showing a group of people one of Monet's 'lily' murals. Being familiar with that painting because of this book was an exciting moment for me!

In 1988 I begged my Principal(I was a teacher in the Salinas valley) to purchase a set of this book.I taught in the "middle of nowhere " that now holds a good chunk of my heart. This was the time of teaching through literature sets, wholly in love with language, and inspiring children by creating together environments to make meaning and to find "context" for learning.It was a time to motivate lives. Toni Ungs, my then Principal, turned to me and replied, no, that I would be the "only teacher" on site who would use the set. And so it goes in teaching, yet another opportunity denied by those thinking within their prodigious logic systems.
So... I bought the set out of pocket as I do most everything, a teacher tale for another time I spend thousands each year to do what matters. This book is just a delight for students. A young, girl, Linnea and her elder neighbor embark on a trip together to see Monet's Gardens.They live in Europe and this book offers a glimpse into another world for the children. Both share a love of the actual plants/flowers/gardens Monet painted, the artist, the paintings and after planning their trip together we in turn share their gentle journey as they go see the L'Orangrie/Paris and head to the gardens. Since I've had the pleasure of those places and share the love of Monet...it's a book that I share every spring with my classes. I choose to teach Monet in the spring when "what so soon will wake and grow , utterly unlike the snow" thoughts crowd my imagination. I am fortunate in that we have a TV and I bought a DVD player to share the DVD of this book.(among other things) The DVD's as good if not better than the book. I have a pop out book of his garden and a book from a Monet Retrospective I went to in New York in my teens to supplement the images and students seem as captivated as the rest of us in these experiments in light. The notion of a "series", of the way light, time, weather affect the same image are very fascinating things for my students.Then we paint. Of course I embed this in my talking of Paris, reading Madeline, trying to teach a bit of the French, and our sharing baguettes, cheese, Napoleons and a petit four or two. My first grade enjoys my attempts at cultural contexts and bringing into their lives a notion of great artists. I can confess here on this site, I suppose, that it's heady stuff to bring Monet, Picasso and the world of art to students.First grade allows you the kind of "you heard it here first" honor. I'm all the more brilliant in their eyes for it. Of course it connects them to much larger contexts and from time to time these are revealed in the year when my class screams out "Monet" at an assembly or "Beethoven, "Ode to Joy" "or somehow lets the school collective know we are up to something in room 10. And that something includes learning about a little girl that ventures to a hotel with her neighbor and picnics on the grounds of Monet's gardens and sees for herself the beauty of his creation from the world of nature. Now that's a sweet confession to share with Amazon readers. Choose this book for a child, you'll be glad you did.

this is the book for those people who have seen and like the Cremaster Cycle. a super companion that gives very interesting background, and criticism of the cycle.

Whether you like Barney or not, this book made for the Guggenheim solo exhibition in 2002 have lot of meat. 500 pages covering his Cremaster series (1,2,3), with numerous photograph stills of his films, reference photos, and his works. Approximately, 340 works are shown. The book quality is very good (did not quite match the creativity of Damien Hirst's I want to spend the rest...book), but nevertherless, this book will serve as Barney's important documentation.

I finally bought a copy of this book after putting it off since the show in 2003. I'm glad I got it before it goes out of print, and recommend the hardcover over the softcover as it is a beatiful object/catalog.

Sadly, as I have looked more closely into the book since I got it home, I noticed that the book doesn't come close to covering the majority of the actual works that resulted from the Cremaster films. Perhaps this wasn't the reason for the catalog, but I was under the impression that such a huge book would be pretty comprehensive in its documentation of the works it's about. Not so with this volume. Barney is a master of the capitalist side of the fine art world...and no doubt knew that if he reproduced the works he has sold in tandem with the release of each film, his auction prices would suffer. Therefore his immediate sale prices (from the studio/gallery) would stagnate as well(prices rarely drop from that artist directly).

So, what you get here is a fat volume with tons of sketches, production photos, and documentation of the sculpture. In addition you get a verbose essay by Nancy Spector as well as remembrances from participants in this massive undertaking. It is in the lists of works from the cycle that the volume's gaps become apparent. Barney sold several "artist framed" suites of photos from each film...which act as stand alone pieces of work to be consumed by collectors and institutions. It is these works that are not fully documented in this volume. Even if they had done a page of thumbnails for each of the five films, it would be better than to reproduce one photo from a suite of three or four as they have done here...and each film had 5-10 of these suites made in editions ranging from 2 to 50 copies. Look for another book somewhere down the line documenting these works (or the original volumes released for each of the films which cost an arm and a leg now) to get these in your library. Otherwise, the only place I've seen these works reproduced is in auction catalogs, exactly where Barney and his supporters are happy to see them show up.

I have a certain level of respect for what Barney has accomplished here. Both as an artist and as a viewer. Unfortunately, this amazing artifact if NOT the be all and end all of the Cremaster Cycle, and one must look elsewhere to get the whole picture(s).

Here's to hoping that a DVD release of the whole cycle fills in the gaps left over by this book, which is eye candy rather than a substantive look at this artist's work.

Why would anyone pay hundreds for the H/C version, if a shiny, new paperback is only $40? Please enlighten this fool? Thanks!

Nancy Spector, Matthew Barney: The Cremaster Cycle (Guggenheim, 2002)

Nancy Spector's tome may just have been meant as an accoutrement to the Guggenheim's massive Barney exhibition in 2002, but as an accoutrement, it stands out. Not only in its physical dimensions (Amazon's website says the shipping weight of this book is 8.6 pounds, but after lugging it around for six weeks, I'm willing to put money on the idea that it's closer to twenty-five; it's over a foot tall, and easily as thick as one of the larger volumes of the unabridged OED), but in the concept itself. Spector's essay on Barney takes up the first ninety-two pages, after which comes a glossary of Cremaster terms that reads better than any other glossary you've ever read (think of The Dictionary of the Khazars to get an idea, but using all terms that relate to the Cremaster cycle). Then, of course, the photographs. Mostly video and production stills from the films, but also photos of pieces of Barney's original sketches and storyboard, the sculptures made after the films, and other wonderful little oddities. Good stuff, and a must-have for any Barney fan. Those who have just heard the name, but not seen the films, will get an excellent overview of what you've managed to miss. Those who have no idea who Matthew Barney is, check it out to see what all the fuss is about.

In other words, you want this. ****

I love this book!! The squirrel is adorable and I love how he has his own art exhibit in the end!! Great art appreciation! I also love the great use of vocabulary in the text! I had to grab a dictionary on a word and that was great to show my children that even adults are always learning!!!
My 2 1/2 year old and 6 year old fell in love with Micawber as well!! Well written and CF Payne does wonderful illustrations! A perfect gift for a budding artist! I just bought 2!!

My nine year old daughter thinks this was a really good book which was easy to read and very creative. Loved the pictures!!! Great childrens book!!! I completely agree with her. This was a very cute book with a nice message!

It's a cute story, but I'm a little unsure about the morals behind a squirrell using someone's paints without permission. It's kind of...um..stealing. It's cute for a young reader who may not yet have the concept of property.

Might be a little confusing for kids because of the big words (I had to look a few up!) but it is so much fun to read. I really liked that my son questioned a lot of the words he hadn't heard before so he learned some vocabulary too. At first I thought it wasn't a "kid's" book but now I think it's awesome.

With no intended offense to Mr. Lithgow, I've not watched many episodes of "Third Rock from the Sun". I've never seen him on Broadway. Chances are, I'll miss his new show that's slated for TV's fall season. But without a doubt, I am one of his biggest fans, and so are our twins.

Mr. Lithgow's affinity for cadence, rhyme and the wonder of under-used words is nothing shy of invigorating. Mr. Lithgow doesn't shy from vocabulary that may be naively viewed as "daunting" to child readers/listeners. Instead, he embraces the intricacies and beauty of language. How excited I was to be asked to define "peregrination" to my listening audience! Not since Judy Sierra's "Wild About Books" have I discovered a book I so look forward to reading aloud repeatedly; our 5-year-old twins feel the same about hearing it.

Our duo received this book as a birthday gift from great friends, and it's been read almost daily since. For a museum-minded family such as ours, the heroic squirrel (of the title) embodies all our creative and curatorial cravings.

C.F. Payne's inimitable talent, and familiarity with the styles of great masters, facilitates illustrations that visually companion the text pluperfectly.

After enjoying Micawber, I dare you not to rush out and purchase The Remarkable Farkle McBride !

I just picked up the hardcover edition yesterday at the bargain section of my local bookstore. Once I started reading it I couldn't put it down. It's in chronological order of R. Crumb's work broken into chapters. Each chapter starts with a write up by him telling about what was going on in his life at that time, and how some of the drawings came to be. I find him to be a fascinating artist. He bares his soul in his work, not really caring how he appears or what people think.

I have the hardcover edition. I collect Robert Crumb's works and this is a favorite of everyone looking at my collection. It you are an art student this along with his Gotta Have'Em Portraits of Women by R.Crumb is good resource material. I'd give The R. Crumb Coffee Table Art Book in (hardcover) ten stars if I could. I have not had the opportunity to look at the soft cover version but I would bet it is well done.

Just about every huge page (this book is big!) is filled with inspired color drawings from the legendary underground artist. Crumb gets very personal in this book, it's incredibly honest and, at times, deep. He takes the reader on a nostalgic journey through his childhood, life, and career. It's about growing up, finding the artist within, and adjusting to the insanity of the world. Or, you can simply read it for the edgy, often sexual comics. Either way, this is a big heavy book that is hard to pick up, but harder to put down.

This book is the ultimate Crumb. You won't be disappointed if you love his work.

A generation ago, American poets such as Sylvia Plath, Robert Lowell, John Berryman, and Anne Sexton gave birth to a genre that's come to be known as "confessional poetry." Their verse revealed intimate facts about their lives that simply weren't spoken of in polite company: fears, phobias, sexual hang-ups, pettiness, depression, suicidal tendencies. Some of their work wound up being rather pathetic, more confessional than poetic. But when it was good, it invited readers to face their own demons.

Robert Crumb, whom the art critic Robert Hughes has called the "Breughel of the 20th century," is a confessional artist whose chosen genre is comics. For 50-odd years (with the emphasis on "odd"!), R. Crumb has explored his many identities and personae in thousands of sketches, drawings, and paintings. The R. Crumb Coffee Table Art Book is actually an autobiography put together from a handful of the work Crumb has produced over the years. It's interspersed with essays by Crumb on his childhood, school days, the hippie scene in San Francisco, his marriages, his "personal obsession with big women," his spiritual yearnings, and his love of old music. Taken together, it's a fascinating portrait of a man who's dared to explore some of his deepest and darkest places, and to do so (at least sometimes) publicly.

Crumb believes that the pivotal moment in his personal and artistic life was the period in the mid-60s to the early 70s when he dropped acid on a regular basis. Although he sometimes worries that he might've fried his brain, he also thinks that the LSD trips liberated his psyche and helped him break through to new and deeper levels of creativity. The LSD was, he tells us, his "road to Damascus."

Perhaps. It's true that Crumb's work has changed over the years--it's become more brutally honest, more introspective, darker and at the same time funnier. Perhaps the LSD had something to do with it (although, personally, I quite dislike some of the work that comes from that period, finding it rather flat and silly). But I suspect that the single greatest influence on Crumb was his childhood and his family, especially his brother Charlie, who seems to have been just as much a genius as Robert. Crumb the man really is the child of Crumb the boy. The LSD may've helped Crumb get in touch with the raw energy generated from those days.

Crumb has become notorious for the sexuality of some of his comics, and has taken his share of political correct knocks. But The R. Crumb Coffee Table Art Book makes clear that the bottom line of much of his art is his existential need to explore and expose the shallowness and absurdity of much of modern life. Above all, as he tells us (p. 247), he wants to tell the truth, not only about himself but about us as well. Whether it's in the pages of "Zap" or "Weirdo" comics, or in panels featuring Shuman the Human or Mr. Natural, Crumb continuously questions racial, sexual, cultural, and artistic conventions, pushing the envelope as far as it can go and frequently causing readers discomfort. There's also a longing on Crumb's part for deep meaning in a universe that appears crazy. This most often reveals itself as nostalgia for bygone days (his love of "old" music, for example), but also more explicitly as a yearning for a god that he can no longer fully believe in and frequently mocks.

Reading R. Crumb is an intense experience. Like all good art, his stuff can make one laugh with joy or send shivers down the spine. The R. Crumb Coffee Table Art Book is a good place to start if you're just discovering Crumb, and an equally good collection to help long-time admirers get some idea of the big picture of Crumb's work and to better appreciate its depth. It's also a good catalyst for getting in touch with one's own multiple identities.

Captured moments of Amercian Life, often shown here with an American flag in the photo. These images in this book portray a visual artist who is creating photos by shifting angles, waiting for the right moment, using light in a different way. Its tough to describe this book other than to say that it was edited pretty well.

This book is the real thing, it should be part of any collection of outstanding photography books. Robert Frank shoots beautifully and unselfconciously, this is exemplary photojournalism that takes a viewer into the deep waters of the truly gifted.

I've been a professional photographer, still in love with photography after 40 years shooting, still shooting every day. Thank you Robert Frank. You've had a vision that is the best photography book ever done, I wish I could do it!!!!

Si os gusta la fotografía de reportaje compradlo sin reservas.
No tiene desperdicio, ojalá encuentro más libros de fotógrafos como Robert Frank.
Muy bueno.
Un saludo desde España a todos los hispanos.

This is a wonderful monograph of Frank's early work, presented in a highly innovative sequence of images based loosly on formal and thematic topics. The book's meaning grows and changes with every read. Although it is hailed as a seminal work of progressive street photography now, it was not so warmly received in its postwar days. For instance, in 1960 a critic for Popular Photography called it, "A sad poem for a sick people." However, Frank maintained an aloof political stance and managed to escape McCarthyism's career-ending scrutiny, unlike many of his coleagues.
If you like this book, you might enjoy Walker Evans' "American Photographs" and Tod Papageorge's comparison of the two photo-books. Also see Frank's later works, as seen in the retrospective "The Lines of My Hand" and such extensive exhibition catalogues as "Hold Still-Keep Going" and "Moving Out." Frank's later body of work reveals a preoccupation with the passage of time, perhaps inspired by his 40+ years in film. These photos also bear negative scratching, collage, over-painting, and the deliberate addition of text--all of which vastly different from his Americans-era images. Although these photographic accomplishments, stunning in their own right, have been ignored by scholarship for some time, the 1990s establishment of the Robert Frank Collection at the National Gallery promises to preserve as well as present Frank's later works in a new and interesting light.

Also:
Dear Benjamin,

Per your inquiry, Robert Frank's book was published in Switzerland because the photographer is SWISS. Scalo has made an effort to publish most of Frank's books in his home country, as well as the US, England, France, Canada (where he lives now), etc. Frank emigrated to the US in 1947 and became an American citizen in 1963. Knowing these simple facts might help you examine this work with renewed clarity. Also, people in Switzerland enjoy books just as much as Americans. Perhaps you should conduct some research every now and again, it might make you look less ignorant.

A visually stunning body of work. This book shares rare and unusual images not seen in the series of children's books Dr. Seuss penned. Some of the images are dark and disturbing but then that's what makes it worth seeing. A wonderful and beautifully written forward by Maurice Sendak, another children's author, adds an interesting insight to the quirky and unique personality, of my beloved childhood hero, Theodore Geisel aka Dr. Seuss.

I recommend this book for kids and adults and anyone interested in animation or comic art.

this book is moving. in the way that a rainy day or a kitten effect your mood, this book too, will leave you changed.

i love this book.

I've always been fascinated by Dr. Seuss's illustrations & the art pictured here just adds to my interest.

This book gives you some of the everyday images from Dr. Seuss' children books and sketches for those characters, but also invites you into a secret world of other at that he created, some reminiscent of his popular books, but some much more abstract and interesting.

This book is a good buy for those who want to see more of who Dr. Seuss really was and what other art he created.

Ted Geisel, more widely known as Dr. Seuss, was a consummate writer and illustrator. His children's books have sold millions of copies; it is a near certainty that few children grow up in the United States without being exposed to Seuss books. This book contains some of Seuss's art that has not had a great deal of exposure. Most are paintings, although there are some works of three-dimensional art.
There are some very subtle messages in these paintings. On page 67 the image has the title "A Man Who Has Made an Unwise Prochess (sic)." A sad-looking man is walking from a distant building along a trail where there are sharp drops on both sides. The image caught and held my eye as I tried to determine what was so familiar about it. Then I realized that the man looked a great deal like Adolph Hitler. The eyes, hair, mustache and shape of the face all match.
Most of the other works contain characters similar to those that have appeared in his books. They are all well done, exuding a brightness and joy so typical of the Dr. Seuss books. Geisel was just as much an artist as he was a writer, perhaps even more so. If you examine this book, you may also reach that conclusion.

I bought Transfigurations and Grey's earlier book Sacred Mirrors at the same time. Both are visually amazing and the print quality is excellent. I especially liked reading about Alex Grey's journey as an artist that is part of Transfigurations. It's not a path I would want to tread, but knowing about his life gives good insight and empathy into the aesthetics of his work. I'm very glad he met with Tibetan culture, which obviously has influenced him greatly, and helped him escape the dark trap of Euro-American nihilist existentialism

Transfigurations is a beautiful book that does an excellent job presenting the work of Alex Grey, one of the most important artists of our times. There is no artist quite like Alex Grey. For many years, I have used this book and an earlier Grey book, Sacred Mirrors, as a transformative tool both in my own life and helping others.

I bought this book for my son who'd asked for a coffee table art book
by Alex Grey, and he was happy to have received it. When it was under the tree unwrapped after Christmas, I took a look, and it's an interesting work. I'm not sure if it's in his room or if he took it to college; I'll have to look. If it's home, I can read more of it.

It arrived in beautiful condition.

Truly edifying, powerfully enlightening art of the nervous system (peeled open) and all its glory.

The universe is marvelous, indeed. Grey is a shining star.

Although my other books reviews are totally sarcastic this one is sincere. Giving TRANSFIGURATIONS five stars tells you nothing, it is my most cherished possession purchased from Amazon. Alex Grey is the most beautiful inspiring artist I know of, disturbing as well. For both reasons I get goosebumps each time I hear his weird kind of slimy sounding voice on the DVD and audio tapes that I also purchased. I find his whole dark side very intimidating and there are a couple of spots where the blur between holy and immoral is way to ominous for my churchy little, reactionary mind to consider but I'm sure that in his genius he is expressing things that, like all of his works, are simply way beyond my comprehension.

Even though I really like Grey's self-portraits as a boy, I usually skip past the first thirty-five or so pages to his more inspiring works of colorful anatomy charged with energy and connected to occult and mystical symbols of the spirit. I've always thought of these symbols as pertaining to aesthetics who live an isolated existence, however, for Grey's works they seem to be intimately associated with love, family, personal growth, and the journey through life.

I find his most beautiful works to be his oil on linen anatomical scenes of his family which include one of him and his wife embracing and another with both of them, eyes shut, in a moment of reverence with their daughter in which all three pineal glands are actively sharing an interwoven and upward spiraling rainbow of purely intelligent energies. Another is of his young daughter, as a toddler, who draws out a sphere from her heart encircled by a rainbow of noble and vital energy containing within it a Tibetan symbol of primal purity.

Alex Grey expresses better than anyone I've found how religious symbols from around the world are spun from the same spiritual desires and aspirations of people everywhere and are all equally divine.

Transfigurations shows Alex Grey's development through his life cycle from the dark cocoon of young manhood through his emergence as a man of tremendous knowledge and beauty expressed in fantastic colors and intricate and intriguing layers and details. He is clearly one who has made an incredible journey in life and easily ranks with all of the most famous and greatest artists in art history.