HANSELL GALLERY
Current Exhibition
Splendor and Formation by Benjamin Lowder | curated by David Orr
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"PRS Geoflake 1" and "Eclipse Totems" images courtesy of the artist
PRS is pleased to present Splendor and Formation, a new exhibition of works by Benjamin Lowder at the Hansell Gallery. This marks Lowder’s first showing at PRS.
Works in the Splendor and Formation exhibition — sculpture, installation, and objects — are a continuation and extension of Lowder’s Myth, Math & Magic series of artworks. “On both formal and intellectual levels, Lowder’s process simultaneously explores construction and deconstruction,” says curator David Orr: “he often uses vintage advertising signage as a source to create work that breaks the spell of marketing and points toward the transcendent. In Splendor and Formation he is expanding ideas of language as source and geometry.”
This exhibition at PRS is especially meaningful to Lowder, whose practice is directly influenced by the work of founder Manly Palmer Hall. “I often listen to Manly Hall’s lectures while working in the studio, especially his rendition of the Sefer Yetzirah also known as the ‘Book of Formation.’” Lowder says, then elaborates: “The Sefer Yetzirah describes the specific way in which language, through the power of the ‘Word,’ sparks the formation of material existence.” Another influence on Lowder’s constructions is legendary designer, inventor, philosopher, and futurist R. Buckminster Fuller (Lowder is center director at the Fuller Dome at Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville, and a board member of the R.Buckminster Fuller Dome Home at Southern Illinois University, Carbondale). Echoes of Fuller’s geometries and social theories permeate Lowder’s work, and will manifest as an entryway installation via dome components unwrapped to form arches. “I’m interested in Fuller’s social theories as well as his visionary technical prowess,” Lowder says. “I always want my work to reflect both.”
It is fitting that Lowder is bringing architectural influences which bridge ancient and futuristic to PRS, a Los Angeles landmark designed by Robert Stacy-Judd. “I am grateful for the opportunity to show my work at the source of my inspiration," says Lowder. “I see this as an opportunity to explore connections between Manly Hall and Buckminster Fuller and their ways of thinking.”
David Orr is an LA-Based artist and curator. He founded the Hansell Gallery in 2018.
Works in the Splendor and Formation exhibition — sculpture, installation, and objects — are a continuation and extension of Lowder’s Myth, Math & Magic series of artworks. “On both formal and intellectual levels, Lowder’s process simultaneously explores construction and deconstruction,” says curator David Orr: “he often uses vintage advertising signage as a source to create work that breaks the spell of marketing and points toward the transcendent. In Splendor and Formation he is expanding ideas of language as source and geometry.”
This exhibition at PRS is especially meaningful to Lowder, whose practice is directly influenced by the work of founder Manly Palmer Hall. “I often listen to Manly Hall’s lectures while working in the studio, especially his rendition of the Sefer Yetzirah also known as the ‘Book of Formation.’” Lowder says, then elaborates: “The Sefer Yetzirah describes the specific way in which language, through the power of the ‘Word,’ sparks the formation of material existence.” Another influence on Lowder’s constructions is legendary designer, inventor, philosopher, and futurist R. Buckminster Fuller (Lowder is center director at the Fuller Dome at Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville, and a board member of the R.Buckminster Fuller Dome Home at Southern Illinois University, Carbondale). Echoes of Fuller’s geometries and social theories permeate Lowder’s work, and will manifest as an entryway installation via dome components unwrapped to form arches. “I’m interested in Fuller’s social theories as well as his visionary technical prowess,” Lowder says. “I always want my work to reflect both.”
It is fitting that Lowder is bringing architectural influences which bridge ancient and futuristic to PRS, a Los Angeles landmark designed by Robert Stacy-Judd. “I am grateful for the opportunity to show my work at the source of my inspiration," says Lowder. “I see this as an opportunity to explore connections between Manly Hall and Buckminster Fuller and their ways of thinking.”
David Orr is an LA-Based artist and curator. He founded the Hansell Gallery in 2018.
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On View: November 5, 2022 - February 25, 2023
Opening Reception: Saturday, November 5th, 2022 2:00-6:00pm Free and Open to the Public RSVP Regular Exhibit Hours: Tuesday-Friday 12:00-6:00pm, and by appointment ([email protected]) *for sale inquiries please email [email protected] Additional Programming: Splendor and Formation: A Conversation with Artist Benjamin Lowder, curator David Orr, and L.A. Weekly Arts Editor Shana Nys Dambrot, Tuesday, November 8th at 7:00 pm PT | WATCH HERE “Myth, Math & Magic”: Connecting Buckminster Fuller's Legacy Using Geodesic Geometry and Sacred Geometry to the Hermetic Wisdom Traditions that Manly P. Hall Explored with artist Benjamin Lowder | Thursday, February 23rd at 7:00 pm PT | RSVP |
“Exponentially greater than the sum of their parts, Benjamin Lowder’s reconfigurations of elements culled from vintage metal ads and reclaimed wood resemble mandalas, totems, and auric power portals. A shift in perspective occurs as the visual tropes and familiar design motifs of the signs are broken down — physically, literally, and cognitively — and reassembled into sacred geometric patterns in an architectural armature of tactile and weathered salvaged lumber. With a melancholy futurism and a sustainable-practice agenda, Lowder has been steadily exploring the universe of possibilities derived from this process.” - Shana Nys Dambrot, LA Weekly Arts Editor
“ All great art shares a secret but reveals its existence. Each of Benjamin Lowder's pieces not only invite us to share the adventure they hold within, but they also inspire us to imagine our own.” - Patti Astor, Fun Gallery |
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“La Merica," “Emissary," and “The Arbiter” images courtesy of the artist
Past Exhibitions
BOILING AND DIVINE: Art and Alchemy with the Golden Dome School
ARTISTS: Syd Buffman, Jesse Carsten, Josie Close, Elizabeth Huey, Sarah Manuwal, Mollie McKinley, Samantha Rehark, Carolina Mariana Rodriguez, Eliza Swann with performances by Diva Dompé, Kwonyin, Patrick Mansfield
ON VIEW:
Saturday, September 17th - Saturday, October 15th
“How does Nature learn to give and to receive? Metals give and plants receive. The stars give and flowers receive. The sky gives and the earth receives. Thunder yields flashing fire. All things are interwoven and unravel. All things mingle and fuse. All things mingle and disperse. All things moisten and dry. Inhalation and exhalation are the method of Nature. Nature rotates and cycles back upon itself." - Visions of Zosimos, Zosimos of Panopolis, 3rd century CE
BOILING AND DIVINE is a collection of artworks and a series of lectures made in response to the literary and visual legacy of alchemy. Participating artists made work alongside one another during the Golden Dome School's ALCHEMICAL IMAGINATION intensive led by Eliza Swann and is being exhibited at the Philosophical Research Society from September 17th-October 15th. Manly Palmer Hall and PRS have contributed an enormous amount to the preservation and propagation of the divine arts of alchemy – we are indebted to him. The Golden Dome is an educational and curatorial platform dedicated to studying the relationship between art and mysticism.
OPENING:
Saturday, September 17th 6-8 pm
ADDITIONAL PROGRAMMING:
Thursday, September 22nd at 7 pm | THE STARS GIVE AND FLOWERS RECEIVE: Alchemical Distillation and Perfume Making with Sydney Buffman and Eliza Swann
Saturday, October 8th at 1 pm PT | VISIONS OF ZOSIMOS: Alchemical Strategies for Art Making with Eliza Swann (online event)
BOILING AND DIVINE is a collection of artworks and a series of lectures made in response to the literary and visual legacy of alchemy. Participating artists made work alongside one another during the Golden Dome School's ALCHEMICAL IMAGINATION intensive led by Eliza Swann and is being exhibited at the Philosophical Research Society from September 17th-October 15th. Manly Palmer Hall and PRS have contributed an enormous amount to the preservation and propagation of the divine arts of alchemy – we are indebted to him. The Golden Dome is an educational and curatorial platform dedicated to studying the relationship between art and mysticism.
OPENING:
Saturday, September 17th 6-8 pm
ADDITIONAL PROGRAMMING:
Thursday, September 22nd at 7 pm | THE STARS GIVE AND FLOWERS RECEIVE: Alchemical Distillation and Perfume Making with Sydney Buffman and Eliza Swann
Saturday, October 8th at 1 pm PT | VISIONS OF ZOSIMOS: Alchemical Strategies for Art Making with Eliza Swann (online event)
mano de dios: the nonsense continues by Elizabeth T. Vazquez
On View: June 11, 2022 - Aug 6, 2022
PRS is pleased to present the first solo exhibit of Elizabeth T. Vazquez (ETV), mano de dios: the nonsense continues, a selection of work featuring drawings, paintings, sculptures, and videos. Exploring notions of historical and contemporaneous toxicity in body, mind, and spirit through their choice of materials and imagery, ETV stumbles into a fleshy unraveling of the absurdities, profanities, complexities, and profundities that shape our paradoxical existences.
At times grotesque, at times humorous (usually both simultaneously), mano de dios: the nonsense continues serves as a mercurial entity—a grimacing trickster—that guides us into a strange, yet familiar underworld adorned by warped objects, precarious religiosity, and broken-down technologies. The trickster deity reminds the viewer that processes of purification, transmutation, and catharsis begin and end with a destruction of what has been. As the artist states, “Here, destruction imitates creation and creation is destructive. It's all apart, all a part.”
"In an age characterized by perpetual hyper-consumption, pollution, and collapse, poison is synonymous with preservation—delicious, manufactured preservatives. We are filled with plastic, and we would love some more please! Meanwhile, we inhabit the uninhabitable as we dumb ourselves down to play with sharp objects. So, the nonsense continues.” – ETV
mano de dios engages this age of plastic with its own peculiar malleability, connecting a broad range of contemporary anxieties, socio-political confusions, and personal unravelings between waivering hopelessness and awakening curiosity.
Elizabeth (Liz) T. Vazquez is a first-generation Mexican-American artist, writer, and filmmaker from Los Angeles. After briefly studying anthropology and philosophy at Moorpark College, they received their BA in Film Production at the Arts University of Bournemouth in the UK. They began regularly attending lectures at the Philosophical Research Society in 2016 and in 2021 was made an artist-in-residence. They've continued their education at the American Film Institute Conservatory as a Screenwriting Fellow. For more info, visit: etvazquez.com // @stripmalldreams
PRS is pleased to present the first solo exhibit of Elizabeth T. Vazquez (ETV), mano de dios: the nonsense continues, a selection of work featuring drawings, paintings, sculptures, and videos. Exploring notions of historical and contemporaneous toxicity in body, mind, and spirit through their choice of materials and imagery, ETV stumbles into a fleshy unraveling of the absurdities, profanities, complexities, and profundities that shape our paradoxical existences.
At times grotesque, at times humorous (usually both simultaneously), mano de dios: the nonsense continues serves as a mercurial entity—a grimacing trickster—that guides us into a strange, yet familiar underworld adorned by warped objects, precarious religiosity, and broken-down technologies. The trickster deity reminds the viewer that processes of purification, transmutation, and catharsis begin and end with a destruction of what has been. As the artist states, “Here, destruction imitates creation and creation is destructive. It's all apart, all a part.”
"In an age characterized by perpetual hyper-consumption, pollution, and collapse, poison is synonymous with preservation—delicious, manufactured preservatives. We are filled with plastic, and we would love some more please! Meanwhile, we inhabit the uninhabitable as we dumb ourselves down to play with sharp objects. So, the nonsense continues.” – ETV
mano de dios engages this age of plastic with its own peculiar malleability, connecting a broad range of contemporary anxieties, socio-political confusions, and personal unravelings between waivering hopelessness and awakening curiosity.
Elizabeth (Liz) T. Vazquez is a first-generation Mexican-American artist, writer, and filmmaker from Los Angeles. After briefly studying anthropology and philosophy at Moorpark College, they received their BA in Film Production at the Arts University of Bournemouth in the UK. They began regularly attending lectures at the Philosophical Research Society in 2016 and in 2021 was made an artist-in-residence. They've continued their education at the American Film Institute Conservatory as a Screenwriting Fellow. For more info, visit: etvazquez.com // @stripmalldreams
Perpetual Morphosis by Dustin Wong
Dustin Wong, video still from Vibra, 2022
'Squaring the Circle' a solo art exhibition by Burton Kopelow | curated by David Orr
and so we blossom gently into the infinite garden by Lani Trock
Lani Trock, and so we blossom gently into the infinite garden, 2021, courtesy of the artist
Opening Reception: Sunday, October 10, 2021 | 1-5 pm with the co-creation of aural harmony, facilitated by the Open Source Community Choir at 3 pm
Closing: Friday, December 3, 2021
Gallery Hours: Fridays 12-6 pm, and by appointment ([email protected])
Closing: Friday, December 3, 2021
Gallery Hours: Fridays 12-6 pm, and by appointment ([email protected])
PRS is pleased to present a new solo exhibition by Lani Trock titled and so we blossom gently into the infinite garden. With this exhibit, Trock investigates the relationship between our evolving collective consciousness and the emergence of blockchain technology. Blockchain tech and web3 (the layer of the internet built on this decentralized protocol) are, for Trock, both direct reflections of humanity’s evolution into unity consciousness and an economic scaffolding that may support society’s transition into a culture of care and wellbeing for all kind. As she writes in her essay for the forthcoming Biodiversity issue of Autre Magazine: “When we can mint virtual representations of physical entities, we can attribute worth to that which has been historically under-appreciated. We can co-create entirely new systems of value and organize our resources around them.”
and so we blossom gently into the infinite garden is an evolving installation, which will shape-shift throughout its duration as a living, breathing sanctuary and will be host to several related public programs, made possible by nps, (www.nps.us) - including during the opening reception, the co-creation of aural harmony, facilitated by the Open Source Community Choir, and an artist talk in November, facilitated by Summer Bowie, managing editor of Autre Magazine. The exhibit is part of www.web3edu.us – an ongoing research project and curated archive of educational resources, meaningful dialogue, and opportunities to participate in the development of the web3 ecosystem. As she builds this project throughout her year-long artist residency at PRS, Trock tends to the practical and moral imperatives that arise in an increasingly interconnected and interdependent reality, namely, how to care for all aspects of the collective whole and thus improve conditions of the material world.
Lani Trock is a multi-disciplinary artist based in Los Angeles. Through archival research, audiovisuals, movement, sculpture, and immersive, participatory installations, she works to facilitate planetary evolution into unity consciousness. With a practice centered in world-building, she frequently utilizes fragile, evolving, and ephemeral materials, exploring non-attachment, slowness, and deep patience. With an awareness of this universe as a fundamentally interconnected, symbiotic organism, all aspects are honored as equally essential for their unique contribution to the collective whole. Her work envisions alternative future paradigms that embody a cultural shift away from scarcity, commodification, and competition, in favor of abundance, collaboration, and mutual benefit. The primary objective of her practice is to advocate for the peaceful evolution and spiritual elevation of humankind. // lanitrock.com
and so we blossom gently into the infinite garden is an evolving installation, which will shape-shift throughout its duration as a living, breathing sanctuary and will be host to several related public programs, made possible by nps, (www.nps.us) - including during the opening reception, the co-creation of aural harmony, facilitated by the Open Source Community Choir, and an artist talk in November, facilitated by Summer Bowie, managing editor of Autre Magazine. The exhibit is part of www.web3edu.us – an ongoing research project and curated archive of educational resources, meaningful dialogue, and opportunities to participate in the development of the web3 ecosystem. As she builds this project throughout her year-long artist residency at PRS, Trock tends to the practical and moral imperatives that arise in an increasingly interconnected and interdependent reality, namely, how to care for all aspects of the collective whole and thus improve conditions of the material world.
Lani Trock is a multi-disciplinary artist based in Los Angeles. Through archival research, audiovisuals, movement, sculpture, and immersive, participatory installations, she works to facilitate planetary evolution into unity consciousness. With a practice centered in world-building, she frequently utilizes fragile, evolving, and ephemeral materials, exploring non-attachment, slowness, and deep patience. With an awareness of this universe as a fundamentally interconnected, symbiotic organism, all aspects are honored as equally essential for their unique contribution to the collective whole. Her work envisions alternative future paradigms that embody a cultural shift away from scarcity, commodification, and competition, in favor of abundance, collaboration, and mutual benefit. The primary objective of her practice is to advocate for the peaceful evolution and spiritual elevation of humankind. // lanitrock.com
SAT 11.13.21 the bridge & open dialogue, co-facilitated by Lani Trock & Celeste B. Young
11am-1pm | PRS COURTYARD & GALLERY
the bridge is a practice of collective self-inquiry, to cultivate peace within, building pathways between heaven and earth. from this sacred space of inner balance and self-awareness, we are invited to imagine society blossoming into its highest, most peaceful potential. from a multitude of diverse perspectives, we may each contribute our unique vision for the future of all life flourishing on this planet and beyond. open dialogue is a safe space to discuss and share our somatic, spiritual and philosophical experiences, through meaningful conversations together in community.
FRI 11.19.21 tend to care & open dialogue co-facilitated by Summer Bowie, Tulpa & Lani Trock
3pm | HANSELL GALLERY
tend to care is a durational performance, occurring throughout the exhibition, during which the installation will evolve and shift shape as a living, breathing, ever-blossoming garden & sanctuary, mirroring the mycelial networks of web3. on 11.19.21, Lani Trock will engage with this process as a public performance co-facilitated by Summer Bowie & Tulpa, followed by open dialogue, a safe space to discuss and share our somatic, spiritual and philosophical experiences, through meaningful conversations together in community.
SAT 12.4.21 the galactic wave co-facilitated by Nate Mercereau, Josh Johnson & Lani Trock
3:33pm-4:44pm | HANSELL GALLERY
the galactic wave is a participatory music and movement performance, to awaken the innate awareness of our fundamental interconnectedness, tipping the scales towards our continuous evolution into unity consciousness. RSVP
This program is presented by Los Angeles Nomadic Division (LAND) and made possible in part by a grant from the City of Los Angeles, Department of Cultural Affairs.
all public programs are made possible by the national peace service (NPS), an ongoing project initiated in 2017. Through radical thought experiments made into tangible, temporary expressions, NPS imagines a decentralized, post-capitalist future society; one that facilitates our collective liberation, mirroring the effortless, symbiotic flow of nature’s zero-waste, circular systems. As we honor each individual aspect as essential to the collective whole, we in turn build a more just, equitable, loving and peaceful world.
11am-1pm | PRS COURTYARD & GALLERY
the bridge is a practice of collective self-inquiry, to cultivate peace within, building pathways between heaven and earth. from this sacred space of inner balance and self-awareness, we are invited to imagine society blossoming into its highest, most peaceful potential. from a multitude of diverse perspectives, we may each contribute our unique vision for the future of all life flourishing on this planet and beyond. open dialogue is a safe space to discuss and share our somatic, spiritual and philosophical experiences, through meaningful conversations together in community.
FRI 11.19.21 tend to care & open dialogue co-facilitated by Summer Bowie, Tulpa & Lani Trock
3pm | HANSELL GALLERY
tend to care is a durational performance, occurring throughout the exhibition, during which the installation will evolve and shift shape as a living, breathing, ever-blossoming garden & sanctuary, mirroring the mycelial networks of web3. on 11.19.21, Lani Trock will engage with this process as a public performance co-facilitated by Summer Bowie & Tulpa, followed by open dialogue, a safe space to discuss and share our somatic, spiritual and philosophical experiences, through meaningful conversations together in community.
SAT 12.4.21 the galactic wave co-facilitated by Nate Mercereau, Josh Johnson & Lani Trock
3:33pm-4:44pm | HANSELL GALLERY
the galactic wave is a participatory music and movement performance, to awaken the innate awareness of our fundamental interconnectedness, tipping the scales towards our continuous evolution into unity consciousness. RSVP
This program is presented by Los Angeles Nomadic Division (LAND) and made possible in part by a grant from the City of Los Angeles, Department of Cultural Affairs.
all public programs are made possible by the national peace service (NPS), an ongoing project initiated in 2017. Through radical thought experiments made into tangible, temporary expressions, NPS imagines a decentralized, post-capitalist future society; one that facilitates our collective liberation, mirroring the effortless, symbiotic flow of nature’s zero-waste, circular systems. As we honor each individual aspect as essential to the collective whole, we in turn build a more just, equitable, loving and peaceful world.
there our star lies visible | a solo exhibition by Marcus Zúñiga
ON VIEW: July 10 - August 21, 2021
GALLERY HOURS: Friday 12pm-6pm, and by appointment ([email protected])
About the exhibition:
there our star lies visible is a solo exhibition by artist Marcus Zúñiga on view from July 10 through August 21, 2021, and presented by the Philosophical Research Society. The exhibition follows the release of gila emplacement, an artist book and land art project Zúñiga completed in 2020 and presented last fall at PRS. The project saw the artist return to his family home in New Mexico to observe the sunrise from the mountains of the Gila forest, when the planet Venus was at its brightest magnitude for the year. Zúñiga laid wildflowers gathered from the region into a circle on the terrain of the mountain landscape to ceremonially mark the celestial event.
there our star lies visible shares the essence of the sunrise experience outside of when it originally happened. The exhibition includes telescopic-satellite inspired sculptures that interact with reflected sunlight in the gallery for a duration of the day. Additionally, the windows of the gallery are tinted with the colors of the sky from the images of gila emplacement. Zúñiga uses the image of the sky as an expression of the cosmos that represents a multitude of ideas inspired by Aztec cosmology, Curanderismo, and the observational history of Venus.
About the artist:
Marcus Zúñiga makes experiential works of art using time-based mediums and the primary use of sunlight. The central theme of the work is locating place within the universe. His works interact with their surroundings to embody the space between the Earth and sky. The artist asserts that looking at the sky is a highly personal experience unique to the time, place, and observer of the sight. Zúñiga received his BFA from the University of New Mexico and MFA from Art Center College of Design. // marcuszunigaart.com
GALLERY HOURS: Friday 12pm-6pm, and by appointment ([email protected])
About the exhibition:
there our star lies visible is a solo exhibition by artist Marcus Zúñiga on view from July 10 through August 21, 2021, and presented by the Philosophical Research Society. The exhibition follows the release of gila emplacement, an artist book and land art project Zúñiga completed in 2020 and presented last fall at PRS. The project saw the artist return to his family home in New Mexico to observe the sunrise from the mountains of the Gila forest, when the planet Venus was at its brightest magnitude for the year. Zúñiga laid wildflowers gathered from the region into a circle on the terrain of the mountain landscape to ceremonially mark the celestial event.
there our star lies visible shares the essence of the sunrise experience outside of when it originally happened. The exhibition includes telescopic-satellite inspired sculptures that interact with reflected sunlight in the gallery for a duration of the day. Additionally, the windows of the gallery are tinted with the colors of the sky from the images of gila emplacement. Zúñiga uses the image of the sky as an expression of the cosmos that represents a multitude of ideas inspired by Aztec cosmology, Curanderismo, and the observational history of Venus.
About the artist:
Marcus Zúñiga makes experiential works of art using time-based mediums and the primary use of sunlight. The central theme of the work is locating place within the universe. His works interact with their surroundings to embody the space between the Earth and sky. The artist asserts that looking at the sky is a highly personal experience unique to the time, place, and observer of the sight. Zúñiga received his BFA from the University of New Mexico and MFA from Art Center College of Design. // marcuszunigaart.com
Locating the Cosmic Spirit through Emplacement with artist Marcus Zúñiga
Marcus Zúñiga, Venus (from gila emplacement), 2020, courtesy of the artist
.“The emplacements are a means to further my artistic understanding of the cosmos in direct communion with earth and sky,” says Zúñiga, “and in doing so my goal then becomes to determine the form that can communicate the essence of the work’s spacetime specific experience beyond the moment it unfolds from.”
SUNDAY OCTOBER 18TH 2PM: LOCATING THE COSMIC SPIRIT THROUGH EMPLACEMENT
Artist Marcus Zúñiga will present a live virtual lecture on his recent land artwork gila emplacement, sharing the research and development of this project that took course over 14 months and was partially informed from materials of the Philosophical Research Library. The land artwork, gila emplacement, was performed in July 2020, close to the artist’s family home in Reserve, New Mexico, to engage with the planet Venus as a meditative exercise for articulating the conditions that constitute a specific moment in spacetime.
The presentation coincides with the release of a new artist book made to represent gila emplacement. The artist book will be an edition of 100, and sold through the Philosophical Research Society bookstore. The book includes writing contributions from Zúñiga, Alicia Inez Guzmán, Zachary Korol-Gold, and artist Lita Albuquerque, with design by Laura San Román and Jonathon Durate at RAROS.co.
ORDER BOOK HERE
SUNDAY OCTOBER 18TH 2PM: LOCATING THE COSMIC SPIRIT THROUGH EMPLACEMENT
Artist Marcus Zúñiga will present a live virtual lecture on his recent land artwork gila emplacement, sharing the research and development of this project that took course over 14 months and was partially informed from materials of the Philosophical Research Library. The land artwork, gila emplacement, was performed in July 2020, close to the artist’s family home in Reserve, New Mexico, to engage with the planet Venus as a meditative exercise for articulating the conditions that constitute a specific moment in spacetime.
The presentation coincides with the release of a new artist book made to represent gila emplacement. The artist book will be an edition of 100, and sold through the Philosophical Research Society bookstore. The book includes writing contributions from Zúñiga, Alicia Inez Guzmán, Zachary Korol-Gold, and artist Lita Albuquerque, with design by Laura San Román and Jonathon Durate at RAROS.co.
ORDER BOOK HERE
About the Emplacement series: An emplacement is an artwork performed to locate the self within the cosmos, and feel the local and cosmic scale of place simultaneously. In doing so, the individual sees themselves in many places at once. The emplacement is specific to the place and time they occur within where there are reasons for coordinating the conditions of spacetime to support the act of engagement between the Earth and Sky. Natural materials, often gathered from the ecology of the place, are used to make a circle barrier on the ground as a visual marking where the individual can echo between the local and cosmic. It is meant to be an experience which can only be expressed once, and nothing but the total experience can represent it outside of itself. From the emplacement, a lesson of cosmic consciousness is learned.
About the artist: Interdisciplinary artist Marcus Zúñiga creates time based works, using direct sunlight and video projection to generate temporal registrations. The primary theme of the work is locating place within the universe, and by extension contemplating local and cosmic scales of place simultaneously. Informed by research from a combination of sources, including astronomy, digital aesthetics, and Xicanismo, his works interact with their surroundings to embody specified spatiotemporal relationships between human and cosmic bodies. Zúñiga received his BFA from the University of New Mexico in 2013 and MFA from Art Center College of Design in 2019. @marcuszunigaofficial | marcuszunigaart.com
About the artist: Interdisciplinary artist Marcus Zúñiga creates time based works, using direct sunlight and video projection to generate temporal registrations. The primary theme of the work is locating place within the universe, and by extension contemplating local and cosmic scales of place simultaneously. Informed by research from a combination of sources, including astronomy, digital aesthetics, and Xicanismo, his works interact with their surroundings to embody specified spatiotemporal relationships between human and cosmic bodies. Zúñiga received his BFA from the University of New Mexico in 2013 and MFA from Art Center College of Design in 2019. @marcuszunigaofficial | marcuszunigaart.com
WELL BORN seeking Truth beyond the western lexicon -a virtual retrospective
image credit: Elizabeth T. Vazquez
Join us on Sunday, 8/30 at 5pm PT as we revisit video works by artists Zen Cohen, Sterling Hedges, Vinhay Keo, Silvi Naçi, Yunuen Rhi, & Elizabeth T. Vazquez presented last year as part of the Well Born exhibition at PRS. Videos from the artists including a guided meditation by Ana Estela are on view at the Well Born playlist|PRS YouTube Channel. Talk will be moderated by Yunuen Rhi & Elizabeth T. Vazquez and will include artists Zen Cohen, Sterling Hedges, & Silvi Naçi
about the exhibition:
Well Born: seeking Truth beyond the western lexicon
Taking place within the historical Philosophical Research Society over the course of two evenings (8/30-31/2019), artists Yunuen Rhi, Elizabeth T. Vazquez, and Kandis Williams presented a salon of creative discourse from institutionally othered perspectives using art, film, writing, and performance to reframe quests for knowledge through Black, brown, immigrant, and queer narratives. The panel discussion from 2019 with the artists moderated by Williams is available on the PRS YouTube channel.
about the exhibition:
Well Born: seeking Truth beyond the western lexicon
Taking place within the historical Philosophical Research Society over the course of two evenings (8/30-31/2019), artists Yunuen Rhi, Elizabeth T. Vazquez, and Kandis Williams presented a salon of creative discourse from institutionally othered perspectives using art, film, writing, and performance to reframe quests for knowledge through Black, brown, immigrant, and queer narratives. The panel discussion from 2019 with the artists moderated by Williams is available on the PRS YouTube channel.
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Yunuen Rhi is a two-spirit martial and performance artist, anthropologist, and healer with roots in Mexico, the United States, and Korea. They have cultivated theirself in western, eastern, native medicine pathways and practices as a way to deepen the understanding of “selves.” Rhi’s performance work incorporates ritual and psychomagic elements. Their performance interests lie in social practice as a way to build bridges between performance and the communities with which they interact. @yunuen_rhi // isuini.com
Elizabeth T. Vazquez is a first-generation, Mexican-American artist, writer and filmmaker from Los Angeles. She received her B.A. in Film at the Arts University of Bournemouth and is currently a Screenwriting Fellow at the American Film Institute. Additionally, she has been attending the Philosophical Research Society since 2017. Her work has been shown all over the world and often incorporates deconstructions of logic through off-beat relationships between text and image. @stripmalldreams // etvazquez.com Kandis Williams is an artist, writer, editor, and publisher living and working in Los Angeles and Berlin. She received her BFA from the Cooper Union School of Art, New York and has had recent solo shows in New York, Los Angeles, Baltimore and Vienna. She has an active curatorial and writing practice, and runs CASSANDRA Press with artist Taylor Doran. Her work often explores contemporary critical theory including, but not limited to, racial-nationalism, authority and eroticism. She is also a visiting faculty member at CalArts. Kandis is represented by Night Gallery in Los Angeles.For the inaugural Well Born event, Kandis presented works by her students: Sterling Hedges, Vinhay Keo & Silvi Naçi. @kandis_williams @cassandra_press // cassandrapress.org Zen Cohen is a time-based media artist working with video, sound, digital photography, installation and performance. She received her MFA in Art Studio at the University of California at Davis and her BFA in Media Art from the California College of the Arts in Oakland, CA. Her work has been exhibited throughout the San Francisco Bay Area at the deYoung Museum, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, SFMOMA, SOMarts, The Lab, The Montalvo Center, and nationally at ARTSpace New Haven in CT, Vanity Projects in NY, Public Space One in Iowa City, and internationally at the Museo de Arte Moderno in Mexico City and Centro Atlántico de Arte Moderno in the Canary Islands. Her photographs have been published in Hyperallergic, Art Practical and Southern Illinois University Press. In 2013, she received an Individual Artist Commission Grant in Media Arts from the San Francisco Arts Commission. Additionally, she curated monthly moving image programs and group exhibits at artist run spaces. Her production experiences include working as a video editor for Al Jazeera America and owning a media production studio in San Francisco, which produced short documentaries, music videos, photo shoots and graphic design for artists and organizations. She moved to Iowa City in 2018 and is currently an Assistant Professor of Media Art and Film Studies at Coe College. @zen_cohen // zencohenprojects.com |
Ana Estela was born and raised in South Los Angeles. She is an accredited Akashic Record reader, poet and writer who has studied anthropology, art, literature, psychology, and sociology. Her voracity for learning initially led her down the path of logic and science. However, after a near death experience in 2014 during the birth of her son, she began questioning everything. A continued hunger for truth along with a brief stint as a Children’s Behavioral Therapist eventually led her to Mostly Angels LA, a local metaphysical shop. Through the various classes and workshops taken and led at Mostly Angels LA, Ana began to understand her calling. The need to nurture, to hold space, in a compassionate and loving way was not just a personality trait but also a necessary tool to use within her community. Ana continues to study esoteric philosophy and mysticism at The Philosophical Research Society while practicing Aka Dua healing, Akashic Record reading, guided meditation workshops and dream interpretation. @wondrousninfa // wondrousninfa.com
Sterling Hedges was born in Pasadena, CA and lives and works in Los Angeles. They/them hold a BA in Art History from the University of Arizona and are currently an MFA candidate for Art & Technology at the California Institute of Arts. @sterlinghedges // cargocollective.com/sterli_ng Vinhay Keo is originally from Battambang, Cambodia. He received his BFA from Kentucky College of Art + Design at Spalding University and is currently an MFA candidate at the California Institute of the Arts. As an interdisciplinary visual artist, his work examines intersectional identities as an immigrant, a Cambodian-American, a brown-body, and a queer person. His practice unpacks the nuances of trauma in a historical and contemporary context in order to address the marginalization of minorities. @vinhaykeo // vinhaykeo.com Silvi Naçi (b.1987, Albania) is an art worker and educator working between Albania and Los Angeles. They work with performance, video, sculpture, photography, text, and installation. Their interest lies in the subtle and violent ways decolonization and migration affects and reshapes a people, language, gender identity as well as social and cultural dynamics. Naçi holds a dual BFA in Fine Arts and Graphic Design from Suffolk University (2011), and an MFA in Photography + Media from California Institute of the Arts (2019). Naçi co-founded Radical Sense, a feminist reading group in Tirana, Albania, with Leah Whitman-Salkin and Doruntina Vinca. The group has taken form as performance in the Romania Bienniel (2019), presented at Montez Pres Radio, NY (2020), and is in the process of publishing two volumes of feminist translated texts into Albanian for the very first time. They work closely with a group of volunteers translating and making texts available to communities in Albania who do not speak English nor have access to feminist texts. The group meets weekly at 28 November, a bookshop and gathering space for readings and organizing. With Arts in a Changing America, they created opportunities for artists and community leaders, bringing unheard leadership voices to the forefront of social discourse, arts production, and community change. Naçi teaches at the Photo Conservatory at NYFA, Burbank, sometimes writes for East of Borneo, and other independent publications. @silvi.naci // silverprojects.co |
free food by Lani Trock
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On Fridays in summer 2020 and 2021, artist Lani Trock will present free food – a continuous series that explores ideas of interdependence, gift economics, mutual aid, sovereignty and the de-commodification of food systems through the regeneration of backyard farming and communal sharing practices. Past offerings have included meals prepared on-site, saved seeds, homegrown herbs & produce, gleaned citrus, and sprouted seedlings. free food is part of an ongoing project, the national peace service (NPS), initiated in 2017. Through radical thought experiments made into tangible, temporary expressions, the series imagines a decentralized, post-capitalist future society. One that mirrors the effortless, symbiotic flow of nature’s zero-waste, circular systems and honors each individual as essential to the collective whole, intending to build a more just, equitable, loving and peaceful world.
THE ALCHEMICAL VISIONS TAROT DECK BY ARTHUR TAUSSIG
sponsored by Red Wheel/Weiser Publications
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Dates: January 18-Februrary 21, 2020 Exhibit Hours: Tuesday 5-7pm, Friday 11am-4pm, and by appointment ([email protected]) This exhibit is sponsored by Red Wheel/Weiser Publications The artist donated the Justice Card which is on display permanently in the PRS Bookstore The Alchemical Visions Tarot brings the promise of the Magnum Opus—the Great Work—to travelers on the modern path. Combining Jungian psychology and ancient alchemy, mysticism, and mythology, Arthur Taussig has created a powerful tool for self-transformation—a Tarot for personal alchemy and psychic health. Meditative and full of symbolism, The Alchemical Visions Tarot invites you to journey deep into the cards; each an individual story and work of art. Taussig began this project in the 1990s. |
Arthur Taussig was born and raised in Los Angeles with early schooling in Eagle Rock, and in 1963, received a degree in Physics from the University of California, Berkeley. In addition to science, he studied anthropology and music history. He received his Masters in Biochemistry and a Doctorate in Biophysics in 1971 while beginning to exhibit his photography internationally. The Robert Freidus Gallery in New York City represented his photographs and placed them with many collectors and museums including The Art Institute of Chicago, Denver Museum of Art, Fogg Art Museum of Harvard University, Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Portland Art Museum, Seattle Art Museum, New Orleans Museum of Art, and many others. Taussig’s work has been included in over 300 exhibitions world-wide. In 1982 he received the National Endowment of the Arts Visual Artist’s Grant. He began playing American primitive folk guitar and banjo, and soon began teaching and performing on radio station KPFK’s “Midnight Special” folk music program. Tompkins Square Records issued his second album in 2010 to world-wide acclaim, and in 2012, he was invited to perform at the South by South-West Music Festival in Austin where Wired Magazine listed him as one of the top 50 performances. Currently, in addition to continuing his photographic works, he has produced a series of illuminated books of classic works: Dante’s “The Divine Comedy,” James Joyce’s “Ulysses,” Shakespeare’s “Hamlet,” and so on. Taussig has also embarked on a series of collage works based on Jungian Psychology: “Alex’s Abventures in the Five Rivers of the Underworld” and “Alice’s Alchemical Adventures.” In this vein, he has done what he calls “a 21st century” set of Tarot Cards.
GRAVEN IMAGE – AN EXHIBITION OF PAINTINGS BY ZHENYA GERSHMAN
Opening Reception: Saturday, September 28th, 2019 | 5-7pm
Art Panel: Sunday, October 20th, 1-2pm, featuring Pinchas Giller, Ph.D. (American Jewish University), Jack Rutberg (Jack Rutberg Fine Arts) and Zhenya Gershman
Closing Reception: Saturday, November 16th, 2019 | 4-6pm, featuring classical guitar performance by Fabio Zini
Exhibit Hours: Tuesday 5-7pm, Friday 11am-4pm, and by appointment ([email protected])
Show dedication: In memory of my friend John Slifko ⏤ your dream is alive! -Zhenya Gershman
Artist Statement: GRAVEN IMAGE is inspired by the Sefer Yetzirah, known as The Book of Creation, one of the earliest surviving books on Jewish mysticism. This group of paintings holds questions more important than answers. To ask a question—is to wonder, to open a door, to see the old in the new way, to engage in a conversation, to embark on a journey without preconceived destination, to discover the unimaginable, to peer into the dark, to be blinded by the light, to challenge the taboos, to follow the destiny. The word Graven itself is directly related to the very root of artistic creation: "And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul" (Genesis 2:7, King James Bible). GRAVEN IMAGE is thus a mirror through which the painter invites the viewer to explore the world filled with the "breath of life" together. A particular relevant passage from Sefer Yetzirah is beautifully loaded with meaning and poetry:
Three: Water from Breath.
With it He engraved and carved / [22 letters from] chaos and void / mire and clay
He engraved them like a sort of garden
He carved them like a sort of wall
He covered them like a sort of ceiling
[And He poured snow over them / and it became dust / as it is written
“For to snow He said, ‘Become earth'” (Job 37:6)]
GRAVEN IMAGE merges traditional oil painting with unorthodox sculpture technique application. Experimenting with ceramic tools allows the artist to literally carve out the material and physically engrave into the body of paint. As a result, a sculptural painting⏤a hybrid form of art is developed, stimulating the viewer to experience two-dimensional art in a surprisingly tactile and phenomenological way. This technique facilitates a kind of psychological archaeology in portraiture, challenging the core of a viewer's perception of the very border separating what we call our reality and that of art.
Artist Bio: Zhenya Gershman is an internationally renowned artist. She was born in Moscow and held her 1st solo exhibition in St. Petersburg at age 14. She was selected as a subject of the TV documentary film Our Generation, a project dedicated to searching for the five most talented teenagers in Russia, showing hope for the cultural future of the country. The youngest student to be admitted to Otis Art Institute, Zhenya graduated with Honors and later received her MFA from Art Center College of Design. Today, Gershman's portraits are featured in public and private collections including Douglas Simon and Richard Weisman (she is included in the book Picasso to Pop: The Richard Weisman Collection). Gershman's portrait of Sting was acquired for the permanent collection of the Arte Al Limite Museum in Santiago, Chile. Zhenya participates in important international exhibitions including Art Aspen, Art Miami, and Art Chicago. The GRAMMY MusiCares Foundation selected Gershman to create portraits of Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen. Her exhibition "Larger Than Life" was broadcast by Entertainment Tonight, Extra, and featured in The New York Post. A documentary film, The Model's Artist, highlights Gershman's innovative approach to working with artists' models. In 2000, Gershman was a recipient of ALEX Award in Visual Arts from The National Alliance for Excellence, Honored Scholars and Artists Program, presented by Peter Frank, who is quoted as saying that Gershman's effort evokes not only Whistler's and Sargent's but that from which they took inspiration, Manet's and Velazquez's⏤masters of the figure who in their own ways avoided the banal literalities of their contemporaries for a rendition truer to the vagaries of vision, and (thereby) to the dynamics of human presence.
In addition to her artistic career, Gershman is an independent scholar and a museum educator. She has worked for over a decade at the J. Paul Getty Museum, and has contributed to such exhibitions as Rembrandt's Late Religious Portraits and Rembrandt: Telling the Difference. As a co-Founder and President of Project AWE, a nonprofit foundation for the arts and education, Gershman has dedicated her scholarly and charitable work to provide new dimensions in understanding and experiencing the cultural icons of Western European heritage. Gershman's groundbreaking discovery regarding the presence of a hidden Rembrandt self-portrait was published by Arion, Boston University and was brought to European audiences by Le Monde. She continues to work in her studio and is currently working on a book Dürer's Labyrinth: Melencolia in the Context of Early Modern Knowledge following her article Dürer's Enigma: A Kabbalistic Revelation in Melencolia §I published by Brill's Aries Journal.
Art Panel: Sunday, October 20th, 1-2pm, featuring Pinchas Giller, Ph.D. (American Jewish University), Jack Rutberg (Jack Rutberg Fine Arts) and Zhenya Gershman
Closing Reception: Saturday, November 16th, 2019 | 4-6pm, featuring classical guitar performance by Fabio Zini
Exhibit Hours: Tuesday 5-7pm, Friday 11am-4pm, and by appointment ([email protected])
Show dedication: In memory of my friend John Slifko ⏤ your dream is alive! -Zhenya Gershman
Artist Statement: GRAVEN IMAGE is inspired by the Sefer Yetzirah, known as The Book of Creation, one of the earliest surviving books on Jewish mysticism. This group of paintings holds questions more important than answers. To ask a question—is to wonder, to open a door, to see the old in the new way, to engage in a conversation, to embark on a journey without preconceived destination, to discover the unimaginable, to peer into the dark, to be blinded by the light, to challenge the taboos, to follow the destiny. The word Graven itself is directly related to the very root of artistic creation: "And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul" (Genesis 2:7, King James Bible). GRAVEN IMAGE is thus a mirror through which the painter invites the viewer to explore the world filled with the "breath of life" together. A particular relevant passage from Sefer Yetzirah is beautifully loaded with meaning and poetry:
Three: Water from Breath.
With it He engraved and carved / [22 letters from] chaos and void / mire and clay
He engraved them like a sort of garden
He carved them like a sort of wall
He covered them like a sort of ceiling
[And He poured snow over them / and it became dust / as it is written
“For to snow He said, ‘Become earth'” (Job 37:6)]
GRAVEN IMAGE merges traditional oil painting with unorthodox sculpture technique application. Experimenting with ceramic tools allows the artist to literally carve out the material and physically engrave into the body of paint. As a result, a sculptural painting⏤a hybrid form of art is developed, stimulating the viewer to experience two-dimensional art in a surprisingly tactile and phenomenological way. This technique facilitates a kind of psychological archaeology in portraiture, challenging the core of a viewer's perception of the very border separating what we call our reality and that of art.
Artist Bio: Zhenya Gershman is an internationally renowned artist. She was born in Moscow and held her 1st solo exhibition in St. Petersburg at age 14. She was selected as a subject of the TV documentary film Our Generation, a project dedicated to searching for the five most talented teenagers in Russia, showing hope for the cultural future of the country. The youngest student to be admitted to Otis Art Institute, Zhenya graduated with Honors and later received her MFA from Art Center College of Design. Today, Gershman's portraits are featured in public and private collections including Douglas Simon and Richard Weisman (she is included in the book Picasso to Pop: The Richard Weisman Collection). Gershman's portrait of Sting was acquired for the permanent collection of the Arte Al Limite Museum in Santiago, Chile. Zhenya participates in important international exhibitions including Art Aspen, Art Miami, and Art Chicago. The GRAMMY MusiCares Foundation selected Gershman to create portraits of Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen. Her exhibition "Larger Than Life" was broadcast by Entertainment Tonight, Extra, and featured in The New York Post. A documentary film, The Model's Artist, highlights Gershman's innovative approach to working with artists' models. In 2000, Gershman was a recipient of ALEX Award in Visual Arts from The National Alliance for Excellence, Honored Scholars and Artists Program, presented by Peter Frank, who is quoted as saying that Gershman's effort evokes not only Whistler's and Sargent's but that from which they took inspiration, Manet's and Velazquez's⏤masters of the figure who in their own ways avoided the banal literalities of their contemporaries for a rendition truer to the vagaries of vision, and (thereby) to the dynamics of human presence.
In addition to her artistic career, Gershman is an independent scholar and a museum educator. She has worked for over a decade at the J. Paul Getty Museum, and has contributed to such exhibitions as Rembrandt's Late Religious Portraits and Rembrandt: Telling the Difference. As a co-Founder and President of Project AWE, a nonprofit foundation for the arts and education, Gershman has dedicated her scholarly and charitable work to provide new dimensions in understanding and experiencing the cultural icons of Western European heritage. Gershman's groundbreaking discovery regarding the presence of a hidden Rembrandt self-portrait was published by Arion, Boston University and was brought to European audiences by Le Monde. She continues to work in her studio and is currently working on a book Dürer's Labyrinth: Melencolia in the Context of Early Modern Knowledge following her article Dürer's Enigma: A Kabbalistic Revelation in Melencolia §I published by Brill's Aries Journal.
WELL BORN – A two-part art, performance, and literary salon
Friday August 30th, 2019 7pm-10pm | Saturday August 31st, 2019 6pm-9pm
A two-part art, performance and literary salon featuring works by Yunuen Rhi, Elizabeth T. Vazquez, Silvi Naçi, Vinhay Keo, Zen Cohen, Sterling Hedges, Ana Estela, and a discussion with Kandis Williams in conjunction with CASSANDRA Press. Over the course of two evenings, artists Kandis Williams, Yunuen Rhi and Elizabeth T. Vazquez present a salon of creative discourse from institutionally othered perspectives using art, film, writing, and performance to reframe quests for knowledge through Black, Brown, Immigrant, and Queer narratives. Friday night will start the event with performances and readings outside in the courtyard. Artist, writer and publisher Kandis Williams will lead a discussion in conjunction with CASSANDRA Press at the Hansell Gallery where multimedia works will also be exhibited. Beverages, snacks, and opportunities to mingle will be provided at the reception outside the gallery space. On Saturday, all video works (including performance documentations from the previous night) will be showcased in the auditorium throughout the evening.
Participant bios:
Yunuen Rhi is a two-spirit martial and performance artist, anthropologist, and healer with roots in Mexico, the United States, and Korea. They have cultivated theirself in western, eastern, native medicine pathways and practices as a way to deepen the understanding of “selves.” Rhi’s performance work incorporates ritual and psychomagic elements. Their performance interests lie in social practice as a way to build bridges between performance and the communities with which they interact. @yunuen_rhi // isuini.com
Elizabeth T. Vazquez is a first-generation, Mexican-American artist, writer and filmmaker from Los Angeles. She received her B.A. in Film at the Arts University of Bournemouth and is currently a Screenwriting Fellow at the American Film Institute. Additionally, she has been attending the Philosophical Research Society since 2017. Her work has been shown all over the world and often incorporates deconstructions of logic through off-beat relationships between text and image. @stripmalldreams // etvazquez.com
Kandis Williams is an artist, writer, editor, and publisher living and working in Los Angeles and Berlin. She received her BFA from the Cooper Union School of Art, New York and has had recent solo shows in New York, Los Angeles, Baltimore and Vienna. She has an active curatorial and writing practice, and runs CASSANDRA Press with artist Taylor Doran. Her work often explores contemporary critical theory including, but not limited to, racial-nationalism, authority and eroticism. She is also a visiting faculty member at CalArts. Kandis is represented by Night Gallery in Los Angeles.For the inaugural Well Born event, Kandis presented works by her students: Sterling Hedges, Vinhay Keo & Silvi Naçi. @kandis_williams @cassandra_press // cassandrapress.org
Silvi Naçi (b.1987, Albania) is an art worker and educator working between Albania and Los Angeles. They work with performance, video, sculpture, photography, text, and installation. Their interest lies in the subtle and violent ways decolonization and migration affects and reshapes a people, language, gender identity as well as social and cultural dynamics. Naçi holds a dual BFA in Fine Arts and Graphic Design from Suffolk University (2011), and an MFA in Photography + Media from California Institute of the Arts (2019). Naçi co-founded Radical Sense, a feminist reading group in Tirana, Albania, with Leah Whitman-Salkin and Doruntina Vinca. The group has taken form as performance in the Romania Bienniel (2019), presented at Montez Pres Radio, NY (2020), and is in the process of publishing two volumes of feminist translated texts into Albanian for the very first time. They work closely with a group of volunteers translating and making texts available to communities in Albania who do not speak English nor have access to feminist texts. The group meets weekly at 28 November, a bookshop and gathering space for readings and organizing. With Arts in a Changing America, they created opportunities for artists and community leaders, bringing unheard leadership voices to the forefront of social discourse, arts production, and community change. Naçi teaches at the Photo Conservatory at NYFA, Burbank, sometimes writes for East of Borneo, and other independent publications. @silvi.naci // silverprojects.co
Vinhay Keo is originally from Battambang, Cambodia. He received his BFA from Kentucky College of Art + Design at Spalding University and is currently an MFA candidate at the California Institute of the Arts. As an interdisciplinary visual artist, his work examines intersectional identities as an immigrant, a Cambodian-American, a brown-body, and a queer person. His practice unpacks the nuances of trauma in a historical and contemporary context in order to address the marginalization of minorities. @vinhaykeo // vinhaykeo.com
Sterling Hedges was born in Pasadena, CA and lives and works in Los Angeles. They/them hold a BA in Art History from the University of Arizona and are currently an MFA candidate for Art & Technology at the California Institute of Arts. @sterlinghedges // cargocollective.com/sterli_ng
Zen Cohen is a time-based media artist working with video, sound, digital photography, installation and performance. She received her MFA in Art Studio at the University of California at Davis and her BFA in Media Art from the California College of the Arts in Oakland, CA. Her work has been exhibited throughout the San Francisco Bay Area at the deYoung Museum, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, SFMOMA, SOMarts, The Lab, The Montalvo Center, and nationally at ARTSpace New Haven in CT, Vanity Projects in NY, Public Space One in Iowa City, and internationally at the Museo de Arte Moderno in Mexico City and Centro Atlántico de Arte Moderno in the Canary Islands. Her photographs have been published in Hyperallergic, Art Practical and Southern Illinois University Press. In 2013, she received an Individual Artist Commission Grant in Media Arts from the San Francisco Arts Commission. Additionally, she curated monthly moving image programs and group exhibits at artist run spaces. Her production experiences include working as a video editor for Al Jazeera America and owning a media production studio in San Francisco, which produced short documentaries, music videos, photo shoots and graphic design for artists and organizations. She moved to Iowa City in 2018 and is currently an Assistant Professor of Media Art and Film Studies at Coe College. @zen_cohen // zencohenprojects.com
Ana Estela is a writer born and raised in South Los Angeles to Salvadoran immigrants. She leads writing workshops and meditations at Mostly Angeles, a metaphysical shop based in L.A. Her work at the shop and in her writing aims to hold space for those needing to find their place. @wondrousninfa
A two-part art, performance and literary salon featuring works by Yunuen Rhi, Elizabeth T. Vazquez, Silvi Naçi, Vinhay Keo, Zen Cohen, Sterling Hedges, Ana Estela, and a discussion with Kandis Williams in conjunction with CASSANDRA Press. Over the course of two evenings, artists Kandis Williams, Yunuen Rhi and Elizabeth T. Vazquez present a salon of creative discourse from institutionally othered perspectives using art, film, writing, and performance to reframe quests for knowledge through Black, Brown, Immigrant, and Queer narratives. Friday night will start the event with performances and readings outside in the courtyard. Artist, writer and publisher Kandis Williams will lead a discussion in conjunction with CASSANDRA Press at the Hansell Gallery where multimedia works will also be exhibited. Beverages, snacks, and opportunities to mingle will be provided at the reception outside the gallery space. On Saturday, all video works (including performance documentations from the previous night) will be showcased in the auditorium throughout the evening.
Participant bios:
Yunuen Rhi is a two-spirit martial and performance artist, anthropologist, and healer with roots in Mexico, the United States, and Korea. They have cultivated theirself in western, eastern, native medicine pathways and practices as a way to deepen the understanding of “selves.” Rhi’s performance work incorporates ritual and psychomagic elements. Their performance interests lie in social practice as a way to build bridges between performance and the communities with which they interact. @yunuen_rhi // isuini.com
Elizabeth T. Vazquez is a first-generation, Mexican-American artist, writer and filmmaker from Los Angeles. She received her B.A. in Film at the Arts University of Bournemouth and is currently a Screenwriting Fellow at the American Film Institute. Additionally, she has been attending the Philosophical Research Society since 2017. Her work has been shown all over the world and often incorporates deconstructions of logic through off-beat relationships between text and image. @stripmalldreams // etvazquez.com
Kandis Williams is an artist, writer, editor, and publisher living and working in Los Angeles and Berlin. She received her BFA from the Cooper Union School of Art, New York and has had recent solo shows in New York, Los Angeles, Baltimore and Vienna. She has an active curatorial and writing practice, and runs CASSANDRA Press with artist Taylor Doran. Her work often explores contemporary critical theory including, but not limited to, racial-nationalism, authority and eroticism. She is also a visiting faculty member at CalArts. Kandis is represented by Night Gallery in Los Angeles.For the inaugural Well Born event, Kandis presented works by her students: Sterling Hedges, Vinhay Keo & Silvi Naçi. @kandis_williams @cassandra_press // cassandrapress.org
Silvi Naçi (b.1987, Albania) is an art worker and educator working between Albania and Los Angeles. They work with performance, video, sculpture, photography, text, and installation. Their interest lies in the subtle and violent ways decolonization and migration affects and reshapes a people, language, gender identity as well as social and cultural dynamics. Naçi holds a dual BFA in Fine Arts and Graphic Design from Suffolk University (2011), and an MFA in Photography + Media from California Institute of the Arts (2019). Naçi co-founded Radical Sense, a feminist reading group in Tirana, Albania, with Leah Whitman-Salkin and Doruntina Vinca. The group has taken form as performance in the Romania Bienniel (2019), presented at Montez Pres Radio, NY (2020), and is in the process of publishing two volumes of feminist translated texts into Albanian for the very first time. They work closely with a group of volunteers translating and making texts available to communities in Albania who do not speak English nor have access to feminist texts. The group meets weekly at 28 November, a bookshop and gathering space for readings and organizing. With Arts in a Changing America, they created opportunities for artists and community leaders, bringing unheard leadership voices to the forefront of social discourse, arts production, and community change. Naçi teaches at the Photo Conservatory at NYFA, Burbank, sometimes writes for East of Borneo, and other independent publications. @silvi.naci // silverprojects.co
Vinhay Keo is originally from Battambang, Cambodia. He received his BFA from Kentucky College of Art + Design at Spalding University and is currently an MFA candidate at the California Institute of the Arts. As an interdisciplinary visual artist, his work examines intersectional identities as an immigrant, a Cambodian-American, a brown-body, and a queer person. His practice unpacks the nuances of trauma in a historical and contemporary context in order to address the marginalization of minorities. @vinhaykeo // vinhaykeo.com
Sterling Hedges was born in Pasadena, CA and lives and works in Los Angeles. They/them hold a BA in Art History from the University of Arizona and are currently an MFA candidate for Art & Technology at the California Institute of Arts. @sterlinghedges // cargocollective.com/sterli_ng
Zen Cohen is a time-based media artist working with video, sound, digital photography, installation and performance. She received her MFA in Art Studio at the University of California at Davis and her BFA in Media Art from the California College of the Arts in Oakland, CA. Her work has been exhibited throughout the San Francisco Bay Area at the deYoung Museum, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, SFMOMA, SOMarts, The Lab, The Montalvo Center, and nationally at ARTSpace New Haven in CT, Vanity Projects in NY, Public Space One in Iowa City, and internationally at the Museo de Arte Moderno in Mexico City and Centro Atlántico de Arte Moderno in the Canary Islands. Her photographs have been published in Hyperallergic, Art Practical and Southern Illinois University Press. In 2013, she received an Individual Artist Commission Grant in Media Arts from the San Francisco Arts Commission. Additionally, she curated monthly moving image programs and group exhibits at artist run spaces. Her production experiences include working as a video editor for Al Jazeera America and owning a media production studio in San Francisco, which produced short documentaries, music videos, photo shoots and graphic design for artists and organizations. She moved to Iowa City in 2018 and is currently an Assistant Professor of Media Art and Film Studies at Coe College. @zen_cohen // zencohenprojects.com
Ana Estela is a writer born and raised in South Los Angeles to Salvadoran immigrants. She leads writing workshops and meditations at Mostly Angeles, a metaphysical shop based in L.A. Her work at the shop and in her writing aims to hold space for those needing to find their place. @wondrousninfa
SACRED ORNAMENTS BY MALADO BALDWIN – A PRS LIBRARY EXHIBIT
Opening: Saturday, June 22nd, 2019 - 5pm-8pm
Closing: Saturday, August 31, 2019
*Inner Light Embroidery sculpture and Talisman Charm were donated by the artist and are permanently on display in the PRS Library
Malado Baldwin (b. Malado Francine Baldwin-Tejeda) is an American artist based in Los Angeles. The daughter of Peace Corps volunteers and development workers, she spent her childhood in West Africa. Her diverse cultural and genetic background becomes a rich source for her telling of personal narratives as presented through larger cultural myths and histories. Highly researched and richly textured, Malado's work draws us into stories where symbolic artifacts from one culture can be reworked by another. New meaning is created in objects by allowing cultures to mix in surprising ways. The artist’s curiosity about her roots began a journey of exploration and discovery, and years of research into symbolic ornamentation across diverse cultures and religions. She began her research in our Library, so it is fitting to see her work displayed in this context, exemplifying our mission of the diversity of wisdom.
INNER LIGHT EMBROIDERIES (embroidery on fabric) 2018
The embroidered textile collars were made in the style of contemporary Senegalese embroidery. The designs are based on representations of sacred “inner light,” or “divine presence,” sometimes depicted as halos or rays of light in Christian, Buddhist, and other religions. By flipping the imagery and turning them into vibrantly-colored ornamental wearables in collaboration with Muslim tailors, they become newly symbolic works of art. They are presented encased as in a jewelry display, as objects to ponder.
PECTORAL (3D print) 2018
The "wind breastplate" of the “feathered serpent" -a Mesoamerican iconic image of Quetzalcoatl’s pectoral is rendered as a 3D print as a "ghost image" in white of a disappearing artifact. Traditionally the pectorals were made of conch shells and worn by priests throughout the region of various religions, and through generations. As original artifacts, few remain. In Nahuatl, the neckpiece is called the ehecailacacozcatl, meaning the wind before a rainstorm, or the “spirally voluted wind jewel.” As the multi-faceted God of wind, air, and learning, the planet Venus, of arts, crafts, and knowledge, Quetzalcoatl is depicted as a benevolent God who taught humans science and invented the calendar.
HALO / CROWN (3D print) 2019
This 3D-printed “ghost image” of a halo, crown, or laurel, is based on depictions of the Virgin Mary in Mexican and Italian sculptures. Halos often represent a circle of light around a holy person or saint. It is a modern “pop” interpretation, which includes snakes, daisies, and moons. With thirteen extended rays carrying flowers, the Chinese lucky number symbolizes ‘assured growth’ and ‘vibrancy’.
TALISMANS / CHARMS (3D prints) 2019
In these jewelry-like 3D-printed objects, versatile symbolic talismans are fashioned in multiple mediums in geometries of colored plastic and plated metals. They recall Tuareg veil weights, or veil fasteners worn by the nomadic women in the African desert to keep their head scarfs from flying off in the wind, also called “assrou n’ swoul”, or, “the key which is thrown over the shoulder”. Made as wearable pendants or charms, they are intended to bring good luck and to unlock wishes.
Closing: Saturday, August 31, 2019
*Inner Light Embroidery sculpture and Talisman Charm were donated by the artist and are permanently on display in the PRS Library
Malado Baldwin (b. Malado Francine Baldwin-Tejeda) is an American artist based in Los Angeles. The daughter of Peace Corps volunteers and development workers, she spent her childhood in West Africa. Her diverse cultural and genetic background becomes a rich source for her telling of personal narratives as presented through larger cultural myths and histories. Highly researched and richly textured, Malado's work draws us into stories where symbolic artifacts from one culture can be reworked by another. New meaning is created in objects by allowing cultures to mix in surprising ways. The artist’s curiosity about her roots began a journey of exploration and discovery, and years of research into symbolic ornamentation across diverse cultures and religions. She began her research in our Library, so it is fitting to see her work displayed in this context, exemplifying our mission of the diversity of wisdom.
INNER LIGHT EMBROIDERIES (embroidery on fabric) 2018
The embroidered textile collars were made in the style of contemporary Senegalese embroidery. The designs are based on representations of sacred “inner light,” or “divine presence,” sometimes depicted as halos or rays of light in Christian, Buddhist, and other religions. By flipping the imagery and turning them into vibrantly-colored ornamental wearables in collaboration with Muslim tailors, they become newly symbolic works of art. They are presented encased as in a jewelry display, as objects to ponder.
PECTORAL (3D print) 2018
The "wind breastplate" of the “feathered serpent" -a Mesoamerican iconic image of Quetzalcoatl’s pectoral is rendered as a 3D print as a "ghost image" in white of a disappearing artifact. Traditionally the pectorals were made of conch shells and worn by priests throughout the region of various religions, and through generations. As original artifacts, few remain. In Nahuatl, the neckpiece is called the ehecailacacozcatl, meaning the wind before a rainstorm, or the “spirally voluted wind jewel.” As the multi-faceted God of wind, air, and learning, the planet Venus, of arts, crafts, and knowledge, Quetzalcoatl is depicted as a benevolent God who taught humans science and invented the calendar.
HALO / CROWN (3D print) 2019
This 3D-printed “ghost image” of a halo, crown, or laurel, is based on depictions of the Virgin Mary in Mexican and Italian sculptures. Halos often represent a circle of light around a holy person or saint. It is a modern “pop” interpretation, which includes snakes, daisies, and moons. With thirteen extended rays carrying flowers, the Chinese lucky number symbolizes ‘assured growth’ and ‘vibrancy’.
TALISMANS / CHARMS (3D prints) 2019
In these jewelry-like 3D-printed objects, versatile symbolic talismans are fashioned in multiple mediums in geometries of colored plastic and plated metals. They recall Tuareg veil weights, or veil fasteners worn by the nomadic women in the African desert to keep their head scarfs from flying off in the wind, also called “assrou n’ swoul”, or, “the key which is thrown over the shoulder”. Made as wearable pendants or charms, they are intended to bring good luck and to unlock wishes.
OBSERVED UNION – PHOTOGRAPHY EXHIBIT BY WYATT TROLL
Opening: Saturday, June 22nd, 2019 | 5pm-8pm, featuring dance performance by Katie Malia
Closing: Wednesday, July 10th, 2019
Exhibit Hours: Tuesdays 5pm-7pm, Fridays 11am-4pm, and by appointment ([email protected])
This exhibit is curated and produced by Yael Greenberg/CURRENT PROJECTS
Artist Statement: Our human experience finds us in conflict, both on and beneath the surface of life. We live in contradiction, feeling separated from our inner child, from nature, from love, and from the spiritual world while knowing there is a universal truth that connects everything down to the microscopic level. In OBSERVED UNION, the world is transcendent and filled with magic. Moments of divinity are revealed with a sense of patience and wonder; the contrasts of life depicted in harmony. Light and dark. Feminine and masculine. Each image, a meditation on beauty realized through expansive horizons and ephemeral nature, mirroring our union with the universe. The show features an original soundtrack by E Ruscha V., incorporating heartbeat recordings by Wyatt Troll.
Artist Bio: Wyatt Troll is passionate about creating images. As a photographer, cinematographer, and director, he is driven by honest storytelling through a visual language all his own. Being raised on a commune, then bred in New York City, makes for quite an interesting outlook. He attended LaGuardia School of Art, Music, and Performing Arts before moving to California to study photography at Art Center College of Design in Pasadena. Never without his camera, Wyatt has taken countless photographs throughout his life and career, honing a multifaceted understanding of spaces and human dynamics, both natural and staged. Drawing from art history, he is always looking for a new way of seeing. As a photographer, he has documented incredible human portraits and intimate circumstances of intrigue. His experiences have instilled a heavy desire to share the situations he has documented visually. His development as an artist never stops due to the dynamic surroundings of his life.
Closing: Wednesday, July 10th, 2019
Exhibit Hours: Tuesdays 5pm-7pm, Fridays 11am-4pm, and by appointment ([email protected])
This exhibit is curated and produced by Yael Greenberg/CURRENT PROJECTS
Artist Statement: Our human experience finds us in conflict, both on and beneath the surface of life. We live in contradiction, feeling separated from our inner child, from nature, from love, and from the spiritual world while knowing there is a universal truth that connects everything down to the microscopic level. In OBSERVED UNION, the world is transcendent and filled with magic. Moments of divinity are revealed with a sense of patience and wonder; the contrasts of life depicted in harmony. Light and dark. Feminine and masculine. Each image, a meditation on beauty realized through expansive horizons and ephemeral nature, mirroring our union with the universe. The show features an original soundtrack by E Ruscha V., incorporating heartbeat recordings by Wyatt Troll.
Artist Bio: Wyatt Troll is passionate about creating images. As a photographer, cinematographer, and director, he is driven by honest storytelling through a visual language all his own. Being raised on a commune, then bred in New York City, makes for quite an interesting outlook. He attended LaGuardia School of Art, Music, and Performing Arts before moving to California to study photography at Art Center College of Design in Pasadena. Never without his camera, Wyatt has taken countless photographs throughout his life and career, honing a multifaceted understanding of spaces and human dynamics, both natural and staged. Drawing from art history, he is always looking for a new way of seeing. As a photographer, he has documented incredible human portraits and intimate circumstances of intrigue. His experiences have instilled a heavy desire to share the situations he has documented visually. His development as an artist never stops due to the dynamic surroundings of his life.
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SOUL TONES: A VISUAL MEDITATIVE EXPERIENCE — FILM BY COURTNEY SELL | MUSIC BY KRISTIN PALOMBO
The exhibit runs June 4-11th, 2019. Please contact [email protected] to make an appointment at the gallery.
Public viewing hours are Tuesday evenings 5pm-7pm, and Fridays 11am-4pm.
Artist Statement: Upon my retreat from conventional narrative filmmaking in 2017, my creative and spiritual growth began to emerge as one. Meditation and trance work all became extremely important for me, and with all of that, my new body of films was born. My daily meditative practices allowed the creative floodgates to open, bringing a complete sense of inner joy. Upon the creation of many of these metaphysical films, I was unaware as to what they meant but went about the execution of each one as a form of meditation itself. After all, everything and anything can be meditation if it brings a sense of joy to our soul. I was so entranced by these recent visual developments that hours and days could pass without me even realizing. Some of these experimental films hold more emotional impact than any conventional film I’ve ever made. Now I know why. However, I will always leave the meaning of these works up to viewers with the hope that they will find the same sense of joy, love, and excitement that I experienced while making them.
Soul Tones was one of the first metaphysical films I made after moving to Los Angeles. I discovered the Philosophical Research Society at exactly the right time in my journey and eagerly began collaborating with some of the other artists who also consider it their home away from home. While many of my earlier films were developed and executed with inspiration from books by Manly P. Hall, Aleister Crowley, and Hermann Hesse, among many others whom I have been reading since I was a curious sixteen-year-old, Soul Tones was one of the first films where I really had no preconceived idea as to what it would be about. I had recorded Kristin playing her sound bowls for a separate short I was making months prior and upon editing said film, was so completely captivated and hypnotized by the beauty of the notes, I knew I had to use them for something else. The result became a trance film that works to expose the viewer to other dimensions and energies that surround us in every moment of our lives that we may otherwise ignore. Essentially, the film became a document of loving awareness and positive emotion. With this piece, I hope that the observer will be able to obtain, even if just for a split second, a moment of inner peace and inspiration. Like all of the films I now make in this new stage of my career, I hope the love, passion, and absolute heart I put into the creation will resonate with the viewer and that glorious positive energy will be experienced. As we commonly say to one another “I’m sending my love." This is my way of sending love to the viewer. —Courtney Sell
Public viewing hours are Tuesday evenings 5pm-7pm, and Fridays 11am-4pm.
Artist Statement: Upon my retreat from conventional narrative filmmaking in 2017, my creative and spiritual growth began to emerge as one. Meditation and trance work all became extremely important for me, and with all of that, my new body of films was born. My daily meditative practices allowed the creative floodgates to open, bringing a complete sense of inner joy. Upon the creation of many of these metaphysical films, I was unaware as to what they meant but went about the execution of each one as a form of meditation itself. After all, everything and anything can be meditation if it brings a sense of joy to our soul. I was so entranced by these recent visual developments that hours and days could pass without me even realizing. Some of these experimental films hold more emotional impact than any conventional film I’ve ever made. Now I know why. However, I will always leave the meaning of these works up to viewers with the hope that they will find the same sense of joy, love, and excitement that I experienced while making them.
Soul Tones was one of the first metaphysical films I made after moving to Los Angeles. I discovered the Philosophical Research Society at exactly the right time in my journey and eagerly began collaborating with some of the other artists who also consider it their home away from home. While many of my earlier films were developed and executed with inspiration from books by Manly P. Hall, Aleister Crowley, and Hermann Hesse, among many others whom I have been reading since I was a curious sixteen-year-old, Soul Tones was one of the first films where I really had no preconceived idea as to what it would be about. I had recorded Kristin playing her sound bowls for a separate short I was making months prior and upon editing said film, was so completely captivated and hypnotized by the beauty of the notes, I knew I had to use them for something else. The result became a trance film that works to expose the viewer to other dimensions and energies that surround us in every moment of our lives that we may otherwise ignore. Essentially, the film became a document of loving awareness and positive emotion. With this piece, I hope that the observer will be able to obtain, even if just for a split second, a moment of inner peace and inspiration. Like all of the films I now make in this new stage of my career, I hope the love, passion, and absolute heart I put into the creation will resonate with the viewer and that glorious positive energy will be experienced. As we commonly say to one another “I’m sending my love." This is my way of sending love to the viewer. —Courtney Sell
THE UNIFIED FIELD: Picking Up the Signal
The exhibit runs October 20th, 2018 - April 20th, 2019. Please contact [email protected] to make an appointment at the gallery.
Public viewing hours are Tuesday evenings 5-7, and Fridays 10:30-3:30.
THE UNIFIED FIELD: Picking Up the Signal features the work of emerging and established artists, working in a wide array of disciplines: photography, painting, performance, sculpture, spoken word, multimedia, installation, and interactive. In each case the work addresses the world beyond reason, and the ways in which we access it. The artists are: Michael Carter, Linda Connor, Mandy Kahn, Jeff Kober, Burton Kopelow, Joey Lehman Morris, Kristin Palombo, Craig Semetko, John Slepian, and Carel Struycken.
The exhibit is curated by LA-based artist, curator, and director David Orr.
Public viewing hours are Tuesday evenings 5-7, and Fridays 10:30-3:30.
THE UNIFIED FIELD: Picking Up the Signal features the work of emerging and established artists, working in a wide array of disciplines: photography, painting, performance, sculpture, spoken word, multimedia, installation, and interactive. In each case the work addresses the world beyond reason, and the ways in which we access it. The artists are: Michael Carter, Linda Connor, Mandy Kahn, Jeff Kober, Burton Kopelow, Joey Lehman Morris, Kristin Palombo, Craig Semetko, John Slepian, and Carel Struycken.
The exhibit is curated by LA-based artist, curator, and director David Orr.
HANSELL GALLERY ANNOUNCES INAUGURAL EXHIBIT: ILLUMINED BY DAVID ORR
ILLUMINED will be on display from March 24th through September 16th, 2018. Visitors can check gallery hours by calling (323) 663–2167.
The artist donated The Private Instructions of Helena Petrovna Blavatsky which is on display in the PRS Bookstore.
PRS is pleased to announce ILLUMINED, a brand new exhibition by Los Angeles-based artist and photographer David Orr, whose images are made from and inspired by our library's storied collection of rare texts and manuscripts.
For the ILLUMINED series David photographed spiritual, mystical, and philosophical texts—often one-of-a-kind, hand-printed and illuminated manuscripts—from our library’s private collection. After photographing a text, he recombines it, creating an abstracted, circular form that alludes to the worldview or mythology being represented. Each image becomes a balanced form, similar to a mandala, an idealized object of contemplation. The images are dye-infused into highly reflective aluminum discs, creating works of art that are as much objects as photographs.
“Worlds visible and invisible to us have been depicted in strikingly similar visuals over time,” says David, “the recurring form is always circular. Most often, these depictions possess a radial symmetry with repeated shapes emerging from a central point. You can see this arrangement in church and mosque ceilings meaning to represent the impossible order of the heavens; representations of the universe throughout time (the word cosmos itself means ‘order’); and in graphic depictions of particle motion, music, and sound—even the graphic symbol for chaos has order!”
Orr chose each text with an eye towards representing a range of disparate beliefs, from the sacred to the secular. The series includes recombinations of rare Alchemical and Theosophical manuscripts, hand-transcribed Buddhist Sūtras, and a first edition of Francis Bacon’s scientific work. “So many ideas and systems describe how the world works, and much of it can be thought of as a projection of our ideas onto the world,” Orr adds. “There are remarkable examples of ancient ideas proven correct by contemporary scientific study; Quantum Physics and Eastern thought, for example. These images mean to honor the ways in which we struggle to make sense of the world. Each image serves as a symbol and beacon of an ideal—sparks of thought in the dark.”
The artist donated The Private Instructions of Helena Petrovna Blavatsky which is on display in the PRS Bookstore.
PRS is pleased to announce ILLUMINED, a brand new exhibition by Los Angeles-based artist and photographer David Orr, whose images are made from and inspired by our library's storied collection of rare texts and manuscripts.
For the ILLUMINED series David photographed spiritual, mystical, and philosophical texts—often one-of-a-kind, hand-printed and illuminated manuscripts—from our library’s private collection. After photographing a text, he recombines it, creating an abstracted, circular form that alludes to the worldview or mythology being represented. Each image becomes a balanced form, similar to a mandala, an idealized object of contemplation. The images are dye-infused into highly reflective aluminum discs, creating works of art that are as much objects as photographs.
“Worlds visible and invisible to us have been depicted in strikingly similar visuals over time,” says David, “the recurring form is always circular. Most often, these depictions possess a radial symmetry with repeated shapes emerging from a central point. You can see this arrangement in church and mosque ceilings meaning to represent the impossible order of the heavens; representations of the universe throughout time (the word cosmos itself means ‘order’); and in graphic depictions of particle motion, music, and sound—even the graphic symbol for chaos has order!”
Orr chose each text with an eye towards representing a range of disparate beliefs, from the sacred to the secular. The series includes recombinations of rare Alchemical and Theosophical manuscripts, hand-transcribed Buddhist Sūtras, and a first edition of Francis Bacon’s scientific work. “So many ideas and systems describe how the world works, and much of it can be thought of as a projection of our ideas onto the world,” Orr adds. “There are remarkable examples of ancient ideas proven correct by contemporary scientific study; Quantum Physics and Eastern thought, for example. These images mean to honor the ways in which we struggle to make sense of the world. Each image serves as a symbol and beacon of an ideal—sparks of thought in the dark.”
