Brought to you by the charmingly off-hinge imaginations of some of Philly’s Dumpsta Players and featuring work by local artists, Regeneration presents re-imaginings and re-purposed inventions from illustrative typography to ornate wig art. I attended the reception at ArteMystic Gallery on Saturday and was met not only with art hanging from the walls and ceilings, but also artists donning costumes and traipsing about both within and outside of 243 South Street. As Lance Pawling (once introduced to me in a chest hair-baring figure skating outfit, as “Tanya Hardon” ) said of the touristy water-ice sippers who stopped to gawk through the window, “We were just as entertained by their reactions as they were taken with us.”

In all fairness to the curious passers-by, the spectacle behind the windows is indeed queer, not least because of a three-foot spire of heavily accessoried curly platinum hair — something akin to a beehive ‘do on several simultaneous acid-trips — taunting you from inside the glass with its bizarre pomposity. The pieces in the gallery space include  photography, dynamic life-drawings, and reclaimed-obect wind chimes, among others. Also, my Philly pride was captivated by a set of to-scale drawings by Michael Bufalino, who crafted studied recreations of Philadelphia rowhomes based on the distinctive architectural personality of their respective neighborhoods.

The show opens back up this Wednesday 5/13 and will run through Sunday 5/17. Brave the place where all the hippies meet and support your hometown eccentrics.”