Wexler Gallery was so packed during Old City's First Fridays for the opening of the (In)Between exhibition that the owners had to stand by the doors and regulate traffic and let new visitors in as people left the show. It was clear that we weren't the only ones really looking forward to check out British bad boy of art Damien Hirst's debut in the Philly gallery scene.

And Hirst didn't disappoint visitors. His two sculptures and diamond-peppered limited edition print clearly were the magnet that attracted most of the visitors to the exhibition and they certainly were worth the visit.

We quite liked his Sacred Heart sculpture, which depicts the silver cast of a cow's heart pierced by dozens of embalming needles, razors and scalpel blades. It is somewhat sexy, odd and macabre at the same time, like a modern interpretation of a sinister Celtic triple deity. It also has historical ties to Hirst's most famous work, The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living.

A contemporary art history refresher: The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living was the '90s vintage shark in a tank of formaldehyde that made art news all over the world back in 1991, and by 2006 it was decomposing so badly that it became $8 million dollars worth of rotting fish and had to be replaced with a new shark.

This second time Hirst made sure that the replacement shark was embalmed properly, and the needles that we see in the Wexler sculpture were the embalming needles used for the shark process, recycled by Hirst for a new piece.

At $250,000 for either sculpture, and with the way that Hirst's prices have been skyrocketing in the upwards direction since the '90s, we suspect that the sculptures will find their way to a local wealthy private or corporate collection seeking to add a real "blue chip" artist to their holdings. It would also be nice for Philadelphia if a local philanthropist would buy them and then donate them to the PMA.

For the rest of us, the other artists in this group show more than hold their own.

Washington, DC's uberartist Tim Tate also made his Philadelphia gallery debut in this show. (Disclaimer: Tate is our good friend and we used to be his dealer back in DC. We also have his work in our private collection and stand to become fabulously wealthy if he ever reaches Hirst's price points—we wish!)

These days he is being described at art fairs and galleries as a "self-contained installation video artist," and his gorgeous glass reliquaries incorporate original video, microelectronics, sound, motion detectors and flawless blown and cast glass to deliver something new and fresh in the contemporary art dialogue that is finally bringing glass to the galleries as fine art and not just "craft."

This is what the future of glass looks like.

We also quite liked Philadelphia's own Adelaide Paul's obsessive sculptures of Italian greyhounds with their meticulous stitching and interesting positions and poses.

Paul's technical mastery of her craft, coupled with a visible personal connection to the subject matter (she had a very cute Italian greyhound with her at the opening) work to deliver what would otherwise be a little overboard focus into a superbly interesting work of art.

This is a visibly talented artist continuously refreshing a theme and focus that so far seems inexhaustible.

Dirk Staschke's ceramic sculptures were also quite interesting and for some odd reason caused me to see them as a bridge to the present from those beautiful and delicate Mayan sculptures from Yucatan.

Self-taught artist Joe Boruchow's paper cut-outs also stood out, looking visibly indebted to linoleum cuts or perhaps woodblocks, but nonetheless also revealing something of the obsessive methodology that is an essential part of a paper cut-out artist.

I wasn't too impressed with the paintings of German-born Seattle artist Anne Siems. They tried a little too hard to approach a sense of naive painting and appeared too busy and heavy-handed in their approach to conjure ideas about sex, life, death, etc.

We're also big fans of drawing, and Jim Thorpe artist Randall Sellers' drawings rounds up an interesting and intelligently assembled exhibition. The show runs through June 28, 2008.

(In)Between
Wexler Gallery (205 N. 3rd St.)
Opening reception: Fri, 5/2/08, 5PM-8PM
Show: Fri, 5/2/08 - Sat, 6/28/08
Free