Dvir Gallery is happy to announce the participation of Mirsolaw Balka, Etti Abergel, Yudith Levin and Marianne Berenhaut at ‘The Poet’s Folly and the Sovereign’s Hand’ in Art Biesenthal 2023, curated by Alexia Timmermans. Exhibition dates: June 3-July 30, 2023.
Folly has long fascinated as a subject. The fool has evolved as a metaphor conveying the dichotomy between insanity and common sense. While the fool may lack reason, it possesse hidden or prophetic wisdom that is unattainable to the sane. Its most prominent representation, perhaps, is that of a ship with dysfunctional crew aimlessly crossing the ocean. The allegory of the ship of fools can be traced back to Plato’s Republic, and by the sixteenth century, penetrated Western literature and visual arts, with notable works including Sebastian Brant’s Das Narrenschiff (Ship of fools), Hieronymus Bosch’s The Cure of Folly, Desiderius Erasmus In Praise of Folly, and more recently, Michel Foucault’s Madness and Civilization, which has revived critical attention to this enduring theme.
