33 
PRS Salon 
Group Exhibition
On View: September 2nd - 30th, 2023

“Alchemy is a threefold art, its mystery well symbolized by a triangle. Its symbol is 3 times 3 - three elements or processes in three worlds or spheres.” -Manly P. Hall, The Secret Teachings

​The Philosophical Research Society is thrilled to invite you to our inaugural PRS Salon exhibiting 33 distinct works by PRS staff, contributors and volunteers! This group exhibition will be on display from Saturday, September 2nd to Saturday, September 30th at the Hansell Gallery.

featuring works by: Alexandra Burden, Amanda Brass, Amanda Maciel Antunes, Anthony Cozzi, Brooke Brenton, David Orr, Devon Deimler, Dillan Conniff, Edgar Fabián Frías, Eliza Swann, Elizabeth Gill Lui, Elizabeth T. Vazquez, earpediem, Fahad Siadat, Kai Sugiyama, Kristen Phillips, Michael Dorsey, Sara Alessandrini, Stephen Reedy, Taylor Johnson, theatre dybbuk, Tiensirin Tienngern, Victoria Kraus

curated by: Michael Dorsey, dama, Kelly Carmena, Amanda Brass, and Liz Vazquez

  
ABOUT THE ARTISTS:

Alexandra Burden After growing up in Columbus, GA, Alexandra Burden (b.1990), lived and worked in Memphis, TN as an artist and musician. She received a BFA in Sculpture from the University of Memphis in 2018. Currently, she is based out of Los Angeles, CA. Her work is both highly intuitive and somewhat spontaneous, based in observing and investigating liminal spaces and metaphysical realms. @alexandraelizabeth /// alxburden.com

Amanda Brass (b. 1975) was the Hansell Gallery's first docent in 2018 and is seriously emotional to be exhibiting her first piece alongside its inaugural artist five years hence. Innumerable creative ideas spring forth from Amanda's head, fully armored like Athena, but sacred few have landed safely on paper. "These Are Not Even All of Them" is her attempt to heal the child who thought she could grow up to be an artist, and heal the woman who thought she would grow up to be a good mother. @okfinecheese​

Amanda Maciel Antunes (aka dama) is a self-taught Brazilian artist of Indigenous South American and Portuguese descent based in Los Angeles. Her transdisciplinary practice merges language and durational performance to create paintings, sculpture, sound, film and assemblage. She works in collaboration with public libraries, nature and communal spaces as points of departure for ritual and process, reflecting on the selective nature of memory, inherent language and anthropological references. Most recent select exhibitions and solo performances at Commons LA, Galeria Vermelho, Galeria Chão, Irrational Exhibits at Track16 Gallery, Luna Anaïs Gallery, Redondo Beach Historic Library, Irvine Fine Arts Center and Wignall Museum. Forthcoming in 2023, solo show at Flux Artspace and group shows at Brand Art Library, Wonzimer Gallery and 18th Street Art Center. @amandamacielantunes // amandamacielantunes.net

Anthony Cozzi is a musician, woodworker, and video artist from Chicago, living in Los Angeles. Cozzi uses the theories and practices of The Western Magic(k)al Tradition to inform his art and life. @anthonyjcozzi

Brooke Brenton Join Us......Psycho Daisies Presents : The Source. A collaboration project between Brooke Brenton, Emily Utne and friends modeling a collection from Psycho Daisies Vintage. Our concept was to celebrate our favorite 70's group, one that combines sex, drugs, rock and roll, glamour, money, celebrity, hang gliding, health food and a homegrown spirituality.@psychodaisiesvtg

David Orr is a visual artist based in California. His work has been shown extensively in the United States and internationally in shows juried by representatives from the de Young Museum, the International Center for Photography, the Lucie Awards, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, The New Museum of Contemporary Art, The New York Times, and the Whitney Museum of American Art, among others. His work is in public collections among such artists as Ansel Adams, John Baldessari, Jim Dine, David Hockney, The Brothers Quay, Edward Weston, and Joel-Peter Witkin. His work has appeared in Art Daily, Buzzfeed, Communication Arts, Graphis, Harper’s, Hyperallergic, The Photo Review, Print, The Art Director’s Club, LA Weekly, The Society of Publication Designers, Psychological Perspectives, The Theosophist, Tricycle: The Buddhist Review, VICE, and VICTOR: The Hasselblad Magazine. Independent film projects have aired on Channel 4 Britain and PBS. He speaks about his work regularly, and has presented at The Joseph Campbell Foundation, Death Salon, The Director’s Guild of America, Dublintellectual, The Mütter Museum, The New School, Pacifica Graduate Institure, Parsons School of Design, Reed College, Tibet House US, and UCLA, among other venues. David established the contemporary arts program at The Philosophical Research Society, and founded the Hansell Gallery, serving as curator during its first year.

Recent projects include collaborations with composer Concetta Abbate; Pulitzer- prizewinning poet Jorie Graham; musicians John Cale, Nick Cave, and Warren Ellis. David is a member of The Long Now Foundation. @davidorrart // david-orr.com

Devon Deimler, PhD is an artist, writer, mythologist, and teacher. She is adjunct faculty in Pacifica Graduate Institute's Depth Psychology and Creativity (DCH) and Mythological Studies programs, the latter of which is her alma mater. Devon's doctoral dissertation, Ultraviolet Concrete: Dionysos and the Ecstatic Play of Aesthetic Experience, received the institute’s Dissertation of Excellence award. Devon earned her BA in Interdisciplinary Sculpture from the Maryland Institute College of Art. Her professional experience in art and music includes founding an independent record label and collaborative event project, Wildfire Wildfire Productions, and working as Assistant to the Director at the Dennis Hopper Art Trust. She is currently Curator at OPUS Archives and Research Center, home to the collections of James Hillman, Joseph Campbell, and Marija Gimbutas, among others. During her time as a Contributing Scholar, Devon compiled the lectures of Manly P. Hall on Mythology for a newly designed and curated publication through PRS’ imprint - Mythology I: Stories and Symbols of the Sacred and Mythology II: Demons, Deities, Lovers & Fortune. @devondeimler ​//devondeimler.com

Dillan Conniff Through the process of my paintings I try to recreate the action of breathing, or the unconscious will to survive. With my paintings I want to explore that action, which feels to me like nothingness and existence. @dillanconniff // dillanconniff.com

Edgar Fabián Frías is a multidisciplinary artist, psychotherapist, educator, curator, and brujx based in Los Angeles. With a passion for breaking boundaries and creating new forms of knowledge, Frías blends diverse artistic disciplines to produce thought-provoking and immersive works of art that transcend conventional categories. Their oeuvre encompasses installation, photography, video art, sound, sculpture, printed textiles, GIFs, performance, social practice, and community organizing, reflecting their commitment to experimentation and innovation.

Frías' work explores themes of resistance, resiliency, and radical imagination in the face of colonization, environmental racism, and other contemporary issues. Drawing on Indigenous Futurism, spirituality, play, pedagogy, animism, witchcraft, and queer aesthetics, Frías offers a unique perspective on the complexities of modern society. Through their art, they bridge the gap between the traditional and the contemporary and create spaces for contemplation and transformation.

As a nonbinary, Wixárika, and Latinx artist whose family hails from Mexico, Frías brings a rich and diverse background to their practices. They hold dual BA degrees in Psychology and Studio Art from UC, Riverside, and an MA in Clinical Mental Health Counseling with a focus on Interpersonal Neurobiology and Somatic Psychotherapy from Portland State University. In 2022, they completed an MFA in Art Practice at UC Berkeley.

Frías' work has been exhibited internationally, including at prestigious venues such as the Vincent Price Art Museum, Institute of Contemporary Art San Francisco, Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, Oregon Contemporary, MOCA Jacksonville, Project Space Festival Juárez, and ArtBo. Their art, tarot, and multidisciplinary practices have also been featured in numerous publications, including Cosmopolitan, Taschen, ELLE UK, Bustle, Nylon, Los Angeles Times, Slate, CVLT Nation, Terremoto, and Hyperallergic, among others. @edgarfabianfrias // edgarfabianfrias.com

Eliza Swann aka Emerald is an interdisciplinary artist, intuitive, writer, and educator based in New York City. Eliza received a BA in Painting from the San Francisco Art Institute and an MFA from Central St. Martins in London. They studied hypnotherapy at the Isis Centre, Vedic cosmology with Dr. Vagish Shastri, Insight Meditation with the Insight Meditation Society and ancestral healing with Daniel Foor. They are an initiate of orders belonging to Gnostic Christian and Hermetic traditions. Eliza has contributed writing to BOMB, Arthur, Contemporary Art Review LA, Momus, and Perfect Wave. Their book The Anatomy of the Aura was released by St. Martin’s Press in April 2020. Eliza is the founder of The Golden Dome School and currently teaches alchemy at Pratt Institute. @thecircularserpent // elizaswann.com

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Elizabeth Gill Lui is a fine art photographer, published author, and educator. With a degree in comparative religion from Colorado College, she pursued graduate work in American Indian Studies at the University of Denver, and Transformational Psychology at the University of Philosophical Research. She has been a distinguished visiting artist at schools in the US and Asia, and the recipient of grants from the Ford Foundation, and the Graham Foundation and the Rockefeller Fund. Her books have looked at the cultural significance of architecture and the built environment as humanizing aesthetic forces, while promoting the need for architectural literacy. Her fine art work in photography expands that focus to consider the unity of consciousness and nature, the fractal patterns present in the organic world, and the profound connections that unite us all. //elizabethlui.com

Elizabeth (Liz) T. Vazquez is an artist, writer and filmmaker from Los Angeles. They received their BA in Film Production at the Arts University Bournemouth (U.K.) after studying cultural anthropology and philosophy at Moorpark College. While working at various art institutions and exhibiting work in Los Angeles, they nourished their academic curiosity at the Philosophical Research Society. There, began to organize artist-led events before continuing their studies at the American Film Institute Conservatory where they received an MFA in Screenwriting. Liz's work extends from video art to drawing, assemblage, photography and narrative filmmaking. Their projects often incorporate off-beat relationships between text and image while exploring "otherness.” They believe in play and playfulness as radical acts towards critiquing and ultimately dismantling stifling social constructions rooted in various forms of violence. @stripmalldreams // etvazquez.com

earpediem is host to a lightworker entity known to him as amalgam arte. earpe and amalgam enjoy listening to trees, British spellings, and practising non-being. they also work at PRS, but they do not consider it work. earpe is not on social media, but you can still follow him if you like. #ManlyPHall #Righthandpath #Beledbylight
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Fahad Siadat creates interdisciplinary storytelling works, folding together words, sound, and movement into ritualistic narratives. His work is described by the press as “Exceptional” (LA Times), “hypnotic” (Backstage) and having “a sophisticated harmonic vocabulary” (San Diego Story) with “characteristic vivaciousness” (Theatre Scene). He is an advocate of innovative and adventurous music, particularly music for the voice, and approaches this advocacy as a performer, composer, conductor and entrepreneur. Fahad maintains a robust performing schedule, and has performed as soloist with such groups as LA’s groundbreaking opera company The Industry, and the Grammy award-winning ensemble PARTCH. @fahad.siadat // fahadsiadat.com

Kai Sugiyama, born in Tokyo in 1992. My painting style is aggressive abstraction and figuration. Showing emotions and feeling through the paintings. Learning from the New York school and my grandfather. @burrito__army

Kristen Phillips is a Los Angeles based sculptor, designer, fabricator, and writer. Since 2004, she has created masks, props, sculptures, and costume pieces for film, TV, theater, live events, the haunted attraction industry, and private collectors. Her work has been shown at LACMA, Copro Gallery, Lethal Amounts Gallery, and The Hive Gallery. Since 2020, she has been writing and illustrating The Membrane, an illustrated novel published serially on Patreon and Substack. The first volume of The Membrane will be released in print in late 2023. She is also host of the recently launched Liminal Credential(s) podcast. @liminalcredential // floridixfauna.com

Michael Dorsey is a St. Louis-born writer and filmmaker based in Los Angeles. He received his BA in Cinema Art and Science from Columbia College Chicago, with a concentration in Cinematography and Cinema Studies, and his MFA as a Directing Fellow at the American Film Institute Conservatory. His work is centered on themes of memory, family, mysticism, and queer identity. Michael has directed several short films and assistant directed for five seasons at Upstream Theater, where he directed the 2018 production of A Tree, Falling. His video installation works have been exhibited at SMU's Mildred Hawn Exhibition Gallery and Hofmann La Chance Contemporary.

Sara Alessandrini is an Italian filmmaker based in Los Angeles who believes in filmmaking as a way to explore the human experience and analyze our society and its imperfections in a compassionate way. She graduated from the Academy of Cinema and Television in 2012, located at the famous Cinecitta Studios in Rome. After working a few years in the Italian movie industry, she moved to Los Angeles where she has worked as the facility manager of the Egyptian Theatre, the historic movie theatre in Hollywood, working on events of any kind, from red carpet premieres to international film festivals, while still continuing her work as a filmmaker. Her experimental video “Safe in the Storm”, explores the existential crisis of a dancer who has an encounter with her inner child to re-find herself. The short was selected at various film festivals around the world and won a bronze Remi Award at Houston International Film Festival. Her latest production is the feature documentary “This is What New Yorkers Says” that explores the resignation of Governor Andrew Cuomo through the perspectives of New Yorkers. @lasava.alessandrini

Stephen Reedy The power, function and mystery of symbolism has fascinated Stephen Reedy his entire life. He uses it practically via his career in the film and advertising industries and explores it academically as a writer, lecturer and educator of esoteric philosophy. He’s a longtime student of The Philosophical Research Society where he teaches a handful of classes, including “The Basics of Esoteric Symbolism” and “The Basic Keys to the Secret Teachings of All Ages.” @stephenreedy // stephenreedy.com

Taylor Cyan Johnson Raised in both NJ and Belgium, Taylor currently lives and works in Los Angeles. Her works explore a dreamlike inner world, expressionism, and romanticism in psychologically expressive, symbolic, mythologically- referenced paintings and whimsical line drawings. Her work meditates on fragmentation, devotion, and feelings of suspension, while playing with climactic movement and purposeful gazes. Employing subtle value shifts, light colour washes, and raw linework, she projects a delicate, uninhibited tenderness and sensuality with an intuitive hand and surreal lens. @taylorcyanjohnson  // taylorcyanjohnson.com

theatre dybbuk creates provocative performances and innovative educational encounters that explore Jewish thought to illuminate universal human experience. ​ We envision a world where people challenge themselves to revel in the complexity of our shared humanity. @theatredybbuk // theatredybbuk.org

Tiensirin Tienngern is a photographer and an advanced certified Akashic Records Reader. She is interested not only in how to use a camera to document information, but also how to use it to capture the energy of space. This body of work is part of her experiments in attempting to capture the energy of the space rather than its literal documentation. She recreated each location with mixed media, not what it looked like, but the energy which she experienced. All images were captured in camera with no further digital manipulation. Additionally, she is also interested in blurring the lines between painting and photography; including the art history dialogs and debate of the two mediums. Tiensirin is an award winning photographer, with fifteen years experience working in the entertainment industry and has had her work published in various publications including Photo District News. @_tiensirin_// tiensirin.com

Victoria Kraus is a half Japanese and half Jewish American born and raised in the predominantly working-class immigrant Latino communities in the East Los Angeles and San Gabriel Valley areas. She works in the nonprofit sector and is a cafe/restaurant operations consultant. As the daughter of a Japanese immigrant and a working-class family, Victoria is interested in cultural preservation, and issues of class and labor equity and activism. [email protected] | @hapahandrolls

images: Sphinx Gate, Taylor Johnson; ประชาธิปไตย | Democracy, Tiensirin Tienngern; The Middle Pillar, Anthony Cozzi

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