The Philosophical Research Society (PRS) is pleased to present the first solo exhibition in Los Angeles by internationally acclaimed visual artist, Charwei Tsai (Taiwan), The Eye is the First Circle. Following the opening on Sunday, 11/21 we are hosting a special ticketed concert with Grammy-nominated singer/songwriter Tenzin Choegyal (Songs from the Bardo a collaboration with Laurie Anderson and Jesse Paris Smith) and master performer artist Tsering Dorjee Bawa celebrating Tibet and its rich culture. About the exhibition: The Eye is the First Circle features new works based on the artist's research conducted at the PRS Library in 2019 on the mandala and its relationship to practices of pilgrimage. Tsai utilized Manly Palmer Hall's collection of tantric buddhist texts and artwork, and reflected on his writings on the thousand year old rituals and traditions at Koyasan tracing his own steps during her pilgrimage to Mount Koya, Japan. Taking its title from the opening sentence of Ralph Waldo Emerson's essay on spiritual growth Circles (1841), Tsai explores how artistic research coordinating with everyday interactions in life and nature are experienced as opportunities for personal growth and transformation, where the world itself is regarded as the manifestation of divine power. The exhibition consists of a series of interconnected bodies of work that explore the idea of the mandala, often described as a ritual circle. Taken together, the exhibition transforms the space of the PRS Library into a living mandala. Curated by Haema Sivanesan