Sagacity

To be sagacious is to have a keen discernment, an almost prophetic knowledge. The sagacious character of the wise old man is an archetype described by Carl Jung. This figure is represented as a wise person with a personal knowledge of people and the world to tell stories and offer guidance in mystical ways. In some cases this persona can even be seen as a liminal being. In The Crock of Gold by James Stephens, the philosopher talks about the “owls, who are a venerably sagacious folk”, who do not sleep at nights compared to humans. The vision and myth of the artist is to see in the dark, to penetrate the unintelligible and find new forms of language.

The group of artists presented here deals with ideas around altered perceptions, exploring the interior of both the physical space as the psychological dimensions of the complexities of perception. It is their “wisdom” which challenges our sight and our view around us. In the mechanics of juxtaposition, comparison and the superimposed it is not these techniques, which inform our perception, it is what the artist is trying to unearth. The symbol or the metaphor is not the actual work; it is what exists beyond the given structure. Here the grid is both concealing the impulsive as well as allowing a sense of meditation or where the organic forms play on the uncanny.