Richard Mosse at Jack Shainman Gallery

Richard Mosse pictures European refugee camps like you’ve never seen them in monumental new photos taken with a military grade telephoto camera. Normally used for combat and border surveillance, the camera detects thermal radiation, turning individuals into ghost-like presences. (At Jack Shainman Gallery’s 20th Street location in Chelsea through March 11th).

Richard Mosse, (detail of) Idomeni Camp, Greece, digital c-print on metallic paper, 40 x 120 inches, 2016.

Uta Barth at Tanya Bonakdar Gallery

Inspired by the light in her adopted home-city of LA and by the still life arrangements of Italian painter Giorgio Morandi, Uta Barth employs everyday glassware as lenses. Transparent objects in various shapes, colors and combinations shift light to harness the properties of nature in service of art. (At Tanya Bonakdar Gallery in Chelsea through March 11th).

Uta Barth, In the Light and Shadow of Morandi (17.03), face mounted, raised, shaped, Archival Pigment print in artist’s frame, 48 ¾ x 52 ¾ inches, 2017.

Elliott Hundley at Andrea Rosen Gallery

A woman calmly looks out from a storm of activity in this detail from a new collage by Elliott Hundley at Andrea Rosen Gallery, suggesting that she is uniquely adapted to life in an environment of overload.   Countless masks, eyes and assorted circular shapes – from lotus slices to flowers – are equal parts portal to another world and big brother. (In Chelsea through March 11th).

Elliott Hundley, (detail of )Until the end, paper, oil, pins, glass, lotus, plastic, foam and linen over panel, 96 ½ x 80 ¼ x 8 ½ inches, 2017.

Steve Wolfe at Luhring Augustine Gallery

This well-worn tome isn’t a book at all but a meticulous painting by the artist Steve Wolfe. Not only does it memorialize a classic novel but serves as a tribute to Wolfe himself, who passed away last year.  Well-known for creating trompe l’oeil paintings of favorite books and records, Wolfe indirectly created a portrait of himself and his era. (At Luhring Augustine Gallery through March 11th).

Steve Wolfe, Untitled (Portrait of the Artist), oil, silkscreen, modeling paste, and linen on stretcher, 7 ¾ x 5 x ½ inches, 1991.

Jaume Plensa at Galerie Lelong

Jaume Plensa’s latest exhibition at Galerie Lelong continues his investigation of portraiture, featuring several of his signature, elongated heads with closed eyes that suggest unseen inner lives. In Chelsea, they are arranged on wooden beams and are joined by spectral faces on the wall that transform the gallery into a contemplative space. (On view through March 11th).

Jaume Plensa, Silence, melis wood, variable dimensions, 2016.