Brain Drawings: The Art of Harry Smith - Gallery Exhibition Opening
Schedule
Thu May 07 2026 at 06:00 pm to 09:00 pm
UTC-07:00Location
Philosophical Research Society | Los Angeles, CA
About this Event
This exhibition is part of the series THE COSMIC COLLAGE OF HARRY SMITH (April 25-May 31), co-presented by The Philosophical Research and Harry Smith Archives. See below for series description!
Brain Drawings: The Art of Harry Smith invites audiences into the singular world of Harry Smith (1923–1991)—experimental filmmaker, anthropologist, musicologist, and artist—whose practice was shaped by a deep engagement with esoteric spirituality, occult traditions, and systems of hidden knowledge. Describing himself as a “shaman in residence,” Smith approached art-making as a form of inquiry, mapping correspondences between sound, image, and cosmology.
This exhibition brings together a wide-ranging selection of Smith’s work, from early experiments in visualizing sound to a rare 1954 four-color silkscreen of the Kabbalistic Tree of Life. Also on view are string figure constructions, materials related to the Anthology of American Folk Music, photographs, and rarely seen films and audio works. Archival footage—including documentation of Smith’s rooms at the Chelsea Hotel and Naropa Institute—offers an intimate view into the environments that shaped his thinking.
Both rigorous and idiosyncratic, Brain Drawings presents Smith’s practice as a sustained exploration of pattern, transformation, and meaning—an invitation to encounter a body of work that resists easy categorization and rewards close attention.
Brain Drawings: The Art of Harry Smith is on view May 7-May 31, 2026
The Hansell Gallery at The Philosophical Research Society
Gallery Hours: Tuesdays-Saturdays 12-6pm and by appointment ([email protected])
This exhibition is presented in collaboration with the Harry Smith Archives
We invite you to join us for a multimedia presentation and panel exploring the esoteric aspects of Harry Smith’s visual art and creative practice in the PRS Auditorium.
Mind Maps: Exploring Harry Smith’s Hermetic Allusions
with David Orr, Rani Singh, William Kiesel, Jessica Hudley, & Charles Stein
May 7, 2026 7:30-9:00pm
$15 TICKETS
main image: Harry Smith, String Figure, ca. 1960s
Harry Smith, First Note, Fourth Chorus, Boplicity, 1950
Harry Smith was one of the most complex figures of twentieth century American culture, a brilliant polymath who made major contributions to the fields of sound recording, independent filmmaking, the visual arts, hermetic philosophy, and what might be termed "outsider anthropology."
Harry Smith was born May 29, 1923, in Portland, Oregon to a family active in freemasonry and occultism. By the age of 15, Harry had spent time recording many songs and rituals of the Lummi and Samish peoples. It was in San Francisco that Smith began to build a reputation as one of the leading American experimental filmmakers. Smith developed his own methods of animation, using both stop motion collage techniques and hand-painting directly on film. Smith's films have been interpreted as investigations of conscious and unconscious mental processes. At times, Smith spoke of his films in terms of synaethesia, the search for correspondences between color and sound and sound and movement.
His 1952 Anthology of American Folk Music, released on Moe Asch's Folkways Records triggered both the folk music revival and the maturation of rock and roll. The Anthology continues to serve as a uniquely profound introduction to some of America's greatest musical traditions.
Smith's broad range of interests resulted in a number of collections. He was a collector of Seminole textiles, paper airplanes and Ukrainian Easter Eggs. At the heart of his endeavors Smith was an alchemist interested in the correspondences and fundamental truths between all things. He was a gnostic bishop in the Gnostic Catholic Church of the Ordo Templi Orientis.
Smith spent his last years 1988-1991) as "shaman in residence" at Naropa Institute in Boulder, Colorado. In 1991 he received a Chairman's Merit Award at the Grammy Awards ceremony for his contribution to American Folk Music. Upon receiving the award, he proclaimed, "I'm glad to say my dreams came true. I saw America changed by music." Harry Everett Smith died at the Chelsea Hotel on November 27, 1991.
Harry Smith, June 1984 New York City, c. Allen Ginsberg Estate
This program is presented in collaboration with the Harry Smith Archives.
https://harrysmitharchives.com/
CONTENT DISCLAIMER: The views, opinions, and thoughts expressed by the presenters are solely those of the presenter and may not represent those of the Philosophical Research Society (PRS), its affiliates, or any individuals associated with PRS. Presentations are intended for informational and entertainment purposes.
ACCESSIBILITY
PRS wants all guests to be able to enjoy our events safely and comfortably. If you require any accessibility accommodation, please reach out to [email protected] before showtime and we will be happy to assist you.
REFUND POLICIES
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In the event that PRS is forced to cancel an event entirely, tickets will be refunded or vouchers offered for a rescheduled event.
PARKING
We encourage attendees to consider carpooling, walking or biking to events if possible, and please be considerate of our Los Feliz neighbors when parking. Street parking is available on Griffith Park Blvd. and (after 7 PM) on Los Feliz Blvd. Limited parking is available onsite at PRS in the front lot (entry from Los Feliz Blvd. when heading east). For ADA assistance, please reach out to us in advance via email ([email protected]) or phone (323.663.2167) and provide an email or number we can contact you at.
PRS EVENT POLICIES
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THE COSMIC COLLAGE OF HARRY SMITH – April 25 – May 31 – co-presented by The Philosophical Research Institute and Harry Smith Archives
In celebration of what would have been his 103rd solar return, The Philosophical Research Society is proud to present HARRY SMITH’S COSMIC COLLAGE, a series dedicated to the boundless, unruly imagination of Harry Everett Smith—artist, filmmaker, folklorist, collector, and self-described alchemist of culture—co-presented and co-curated by the Harry Smith Archive, and presented in collaboration with 7th House, Los Angeles Filmforum, The American Museum of Paramusicology, The Getty Research Institute, Zebulon, and 2220 Arts + Archives.
A singular figure of the American avant-garde, Smith moved fluidly between disciplines and identities, assembling a body of work that resists containment. From his hand-painted and cut-out animation films—whose vivid abstractions and visionary logic would prove foundational to the development of psychedelic art—to his groundbreaking Anthology of American Folk Music—a meticulously curated, deeply idiosyncratic collection of early American recordings that would go on to inspire the folk revival of the 1960s and shape generations of musicians beyond—from ethnographic recordings to vast personal archives of string figures, paper airplanes, and occult diagrams, Smith approached the world as something to be gathered, transformed, and re-enchanted. His practice was not simply interdisciplinary—it was cosmological.
Deeply engaged with esoteric traditions, mysticism, and systems of hidden knowledge, Smith understood art-making as a form of spiritual inquiry. Alchemical thought, Kabbalah, and ritual practice were not peripheral interests but central frameworks through which he interpreted sound, image, and pattern. Across his work, correspondences emerge: between music and geometry, folklore and magic, the everyday and the divine.
Bringing together film screenings, an art exhibit, live musical performances, panel discussions, artist presentations, an online class, and a special visit to the Getty Research Institute’s Harry Smith collection, this series traces Smith’s expansive creative universe, reflecting both the breadth of his output and the coherence of his vision. Join us as we investigate and celebrate Smith’s remarkable life and works, where disciplines dissolve, curation becomes creation, and art serves as a bridge between the material and the unseen.
PROGRAM:
4/25 — (1939–56) screening — co-presented by 7th House & Los Angeles Filmforum
5/7 — Brain Drawings: The Art of Harry Smith (Exhibition Opening) in The Philosophical Research Society's Hansell Gallery
– Panel Discussion w/ David Orr, William Kiesel, Jessica Hundley and Chuck Stein
5/21 — Adam Green Explains Harry Smith + HEAVEN & EARTH MAGIC (1957) screening — Adam Green in person! — co-presented by 7th House & Los Angeles Filmforum
5/24 — Harry Smith’s Anthology as a Magical Instrument presented by Matt Marble of The American Museum of Paramusicology (Online Presentation)
at the Getty Research Institute
5/29 — Celebration of Harry Smith’s Anthology of American Folk Music at Zebulon
5/31 — MAHAGONNY (1980) screening at 2220 Arts + Archives — co-presented by 7th House, Los Angeles Filmforum, and 2220 Arts
Where is it happening?
Philosophical Research Society, 3910 Los Feliz Boulevard, Los Angeles, United StatesEvent Location & Nearby Stays:
USD 0.00 to USD 12.51
