RICHARD HAGERTY

Richard Hagerty is a surrealist artist who for more than five decades has painted fantastic, visionary worlds. Often based on his dreams and fueled by intense curiosity, Hagerty's paintings explore manifold realms, including mythology, astronomy, anatomy, botany, history, philosophy and world religions.

Widely collected and exhibited in numerous solo and group exhibitions, this prolific, self-taught artist is perhaps best known for his popular Piccolo Spoleto Festival posters. His works are part of the permanent collections of the Gibbes Museum of Art, the Burrough-Chapin Museum, and the Albany Museum of Art, as well as the College of Charleston's Addlestone Library.

Formerly a plastic surgeon and frequent medical overseas volunteer, Hagerty is also an ardent conservationist and outdoorsman, perpetual student, and amateur musician.  His band, Post-Life Crisis, performs in various venues around the lowcountry. Hagerty lives and works not far from where he grew up in downtown Charleston, South Carolina. He raises Monarch Butterflies and can often be seen jogging on Edisto's dirt roads with his "grand-dogs," Gaucho, Blue, Dune, and Gunkie.