Richard Hagerty’s Piccolo Spoleto poster image is a fascinating marriage of family-friendly colors and impish myth. Hagerty has an invitational show at the Corrigan Gallery on Queen Street, and the opening way back on May 15 (which seems like a lifetime ago) was well attended.

I hit the show early expecting it to be fairly quiet. Instead, I could hardly squeeze in the door. The gallery was packed with lively figurative work, abstract paintings and a crowd of attendees. Viewers were intrigued and collectors snapped up six artworks.

I managed to break out of the mob long enough to grab a few photos of the exhibition, which is up through June 15 and has create a surge of visits to the gallery.

“We’ve sold a bunch of pieces and had lots and lots of interest,” says Lese Corrigan, owner of the gallery and a fine artist in her own right. “There’s been a fascination with the variety of Richard’s artwork and his ability to be a surgeon and still be a prolific artist. He’s been doing both in parallel for 30 years.”

Usually, Piccolo poster artists get their own shows at one of the Office of Cultural Affairs’ City Gallery spaces. But with the Dock Street Theatre closed for refurbishment and its back-up space the Gaillard kind of busy with Spoleto, it fell to Corrigan to present Hagerty’s art.

“I’d already set this show and the opening before Richard was asked to be the Piccolo poster artist,” says Corrigan. “I think we helped the city by providing a venue, and the gallery was helped with high visibility and having the original image for the poster hanging in the front window. It’s worked out well for everyone.”

Hagerty’s eclectic exhibition includes images and colors that seem to have leaped from a children’s storybook, alongside sophisticated art and hints of Miro, Kandinsky and Escher. The work of other artists, including Corrigan, Karin Olah and Manning Williams, are on display too. Corrigan’s mascot is also there – a crimson fish called Dot. That way, there will always be a red Dot in the gallery.