Ian Whittlesea | Drawings from The Rosicrucian Papers of Sissarrad G. Balyan

We are delighted to announce Ian Whittlesea's exhibition at our HQ in Bloomsbury, which will be the artist's first solo show in the UK since 2015. Accompanying the release of his latest book, The Rosicrucian Papers of Sissarrad G. Balyan, this original exhibition will present a selection of anonymous works on paper from a private collection of esoteric drawings. 

Over the last 25 years, Whittlesea has produced a body of artworks and books that have been collectively described as 'instruction manuals for transcendental exercise'. This area of the artist's practice draws on the intertwined histories of modernism and mysticism, particularly the esoteric traditions that believe revelation comes from control of breath and body.

Several years ago, Whittlesea was the only bidder on eBay for a lot that was described as 'Rosicrucian magazines etc'. When he collected the material, he discovered an extensive collection of papers, correspondence, diagrams and drawings from the 1950s that documented engineer Sissarrad G. Balyan's membership of the Rosicrucian order (AMORC) in California. Ironically Balyan was based in Alexandria, Egypt, a notorious haunt of cabbalists and gnostics, while writing monthly to the USA for its course in 'scientific mysticism'. Whittlesea has long been interested in the American manifestation of Rosicrucianism, which combined pyramid selling, perpetually deferred self-realisation and the promotion of cosmic consciousness and reincarnation. 

The drawings were in an unlabelled ring binder and a buff folder amongst the magazines and letters. The diagrams seem to be derived from illustrations in the Rosicrucian Digest and the loose pencil drawings show a man in a series of hieratic poses, his hands often forming an inverted triangle. There was no indication of who made them, or whether the serious young man depicted is Balyan himself, a friend or a lover.

Ian Whittlesea's latest book, The Rosicrucian Papers of Sissarrad G. Balyan, is published by The Everyday Press in London. Earlier publications include the first English translation of Yves Klein's Les Fondements du Judo, Mazdaznan Health Breath Culture, Becoming Invisible, The Egyptian Postures, On Colour... and Trataka.

Whittlesea’s work is held in private and public collections worldwide and his books are in the library collections of Tate, London; MoMA, New York; Stedelijk, Amsterdam and The National Art Library at the V&A, London. He has exhibited with the Barbican Centre, London; Artists Space, New York; Museum Boijmans van Beuningen, Rotterdam; BOZAR, Brussels; Wysing Arts Centre, Cambridge; Delfina Foundation, London; The Bluecoat, Liverpool; Temple Bar Gallery, Dublin; Canopy Collections, London.

Ian Whittlesea
Drawings from The Rosicrucian Papers of Sissarrad G. Balyan
24 April–9 May 2025
Private View: Monday 28 April, 6–8pm
Artist Talk from 7pm
Ian Whittlesea in conversation with Andrew Renton