The idea for the Invisible College came from an emblematic illustration, by the same title. This 1618 work by Theophilus Schweighardt. Frances Yates in her book The Rosicrucian Enlightenment identifies this as the “Invisible College of the Rosy Cross.” The Invisible College has been described as a precursor group to the Royal Society of London.  This college mentioned in Rosicrucian Manifestos, is linked to alchemists like Robert Fludd, Michael Meier, Francis Bacon and John Dee, and a document of mysterious origins called The Chemical Wedding of Christian Rosencreutz.  I liked the idea of a college that studied numinosum, invisible forces, alchemical imagination, and dreams.  What if we could learn as much from inner visions as from texts.  This inner world as a source of wisdom has always been an obsession of mine. I made a bronze processional to carry a model of the winged Invisible College building on its wheels, shown in the 1618 drawing. I also made a large drawing of myself sleeping with the building of the Invisible College shown as a Byzantine church.

Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum

Dream of the invisible College
(Size: 9 x 14 ft. ) colored pencil on
paper on canvas (2018) photo credit: Peter Dressler

Detail/Dream of the invisible College
(Size: 9 x 14 ft. ) colored pencil on
paper on canvas (2018) photo credit: Peter Dressler

Procession of the Invisible College
(Size: 8 ft. 2 inches by 18 inches, by 9 in.)
cast bronze with silver crown (2016)
photo credit: Pater Dressler

The Invisible College installation GRIDSPACE
(Size: room 12 by 15 ‘)
cast bronze processional with 23 projectors (2018) photo credit: Paulina
Kim Joo

Yoyage Through the Nigredo
(Size: 77 3/4 ” by 30 inches)
pencil and water color on paper with gold paint (2015): photo credit: Peter
Dressler