DoN‘s photo does no justice to Rick Wright‘s pristine photographs of hair balls shot against a stark white background now on display at Off the Wall Gallery @ Dirty Frank’s Bar. The first time DoN saw Wright’s compositions at The Center for Emerging Visual Artists he got kind of pissed off – is this what the competition in the art world is?  WTF are a bunch of hair balls doing in an art gallery?  And then they showed up in Dirty Frank’s Mid-Summer show and over drinks Rick explained the origins of the anamorphic fibrous images – a person who used to be in Wright’s life had Trichotillomania, an impulse control disorder manifested in hair pulling, twirling and twisting their hair into knots to be left sitting on tables, dressers, the mantle…It turns out the creepy little hair balls have a poignant back-story while transmitting secret messages.

The gorgeous flower photos by A. Celeste Hardester are simultaneously decorative and technical, impeccably presented and meticulously composed, botanical yet romantic.  Flowers are thought to emanate energy associated with particular stars; Hardester’s photos capture the star power of flowers.

The salon style hanging @ Off the Wall allows a good number of works to be shown in a limited space; Mid-Summer @ OTW was curated by Jody Schweitzer, hand picking pieces from the studios of former OTW award winners including Robert Bohne, Bob Jackson, Debbie Bonacci, Annette Saggiomo, Avalon Clare, Susan Stromquist, A. Celeste Hardester and Rick Wright.  Through October 2, 2009.