Richard Hagerty, Existential Jukebox

Event Details

The show will be on display October 1-31 with an opening reception on Friday, October 5 as part of the French Quarter Gallery Association artwalk which is open to the public and will run from 5-8pm. Corrigan Gallery is located at 62 Queen Street in historic downtown Charleston.

Hagerty’s colorful paintings in watercolor and oil draw much of their inspiration from the mid-nineteenth century philosophical writings of Søren Kierkegaard, often called the “Father of Existentialism.” Kierkegaard emphasized the importance of living with passion. “It is impossible to exist without passion. Eternity is the winged horse infinitely fast, and time is a worn out old jade: the existing individual is the driver,” he wrote. “To live without passion was like being a drunken man asleep in a cart, letting the horses attached to it take care of themselves. To truly live, one must take control of the cart and drive. In order to do so, one must be aware of the self.” (“jade” being a nag.)

As the artist reflects, “The essential existential questions are as much the sphere of the visual artist as of the philosopher…The spectrum of possibilities is as vast and eclectic as the selections on a Wurlitzer….insert your coin in the slot: Your choice automatically drops in the groove. The machine plays our individual selections, as if oblivious of the transcendental cosmic harmony that enwraps us all. “

Surgeon Richard Hagerty began painting before medical school honed his eye and hand coordination. He is a self taught artist who draws his surreal, fantastical imagery from dreams, mythology, history, science and stories. Often works are based on the artist's personal myth experiences and their connection to the collective unconscious. His works captured the viewer’s attention with movement, color and a complex story that tantalize far beyond a simple viewing of the work. Painting, he believes, is the language of the unconscious; the act of painting itself is as close as we get to dreaming in the conscious state. He works in a variety of media, including pen and ink, watercolor and oil. He has been a working artist for thirty five years. This manner of Renaissance man, a highly respected plastic surgeon, former Charleston City Councilman and environmental advocate is widely acclaimed for his fantastical, surrealistic paintings in which he utilizes free association to craft psychologically potent dreamscapes. Dr. Hagerty explains, "As an artist, I'm not so much interested in the interpretation of dreams as I am in taking the visual journey they open to us." His work recalls that of Dali, Bosch, Brueghel, Kandinsky, Miro, Klee and Chagall to name just a few. The symbolic art movement preceding World War II and the influence of the iconographic mark making of the Latin American and Asian cultures is evident in his work.


Hagerty was the 2007 Children’s Festival Poster Artist with his painting “Dream Children.” His work has appeared in numerous solo and group exhibitions, throughout the southeastern region, in New York and is in the collection of the Gibbes Museum of Art and the Burroughs Chapman Museum. The Tippy Stern Fine Art gallery exhibition entitled Paintings in May 2001 featured works by Richard Hagerty along with two other artists. He has three times been selected as the Piccolo Spoleto poster artist, in 1984 and 1990 and specially commissioned for the 30th anniversary poster (2008). He was the 2003 Piccolo Spoleto Invitational Exhibition artist and for 2008 the exhibition entitled “Celebration” was held at Corrigan Gallery. His solo show in October 2010 at the gallery was entitled “Sex and Death.” The artist has begun creating works to be produced in other media such as the new silk scarves that will be available in November at the Gibbes Museum of Art and Gwynn’s of Mt. Pleasant.