Greenberg Van Doren Gallery
If the start of school and early onset of cool weather have got you feeling nostalgic for summer in the Hamptons already, look no further than the Greenberg Van Doren Gallery. But be warned—when relived through the photographs of Jessica Craig-Martin, cocktail parties and benefits won’t look quite the same. With what can only be described as a mischievous—and, at times, downright wicked—eye, Craig-Martin picks up the socialite story where Patrick McMullan leaves off: drooping decolletage, creeping cellulite on over-tan legs, and lone hot dog weenies. Her use of drastic cropping allows Craig-Martin to highlight the absurd in otherwise run-of-the-mill party pictures. In Cancer Benefit, Southampton, 2006 (Cosmo) a smiling Hamptonite looks as frothy and pink as her beverage. In Cancer Benefit, South Hampton, 2006 (Air Kiss) a moment of tense contortion uncovers a world of unspoken social awkwardness. Craig-Martin is less interesting when her images look straight out of a fashion-shoot but, at her best, she allows a kind of voyeurism that feels as juicy as gossip.

WMAA at Altria
While its hard to advocate a trip into midtown unless you’re planning to shut yourself up in Museum of Modern Art for the day, the Whitney Museum of American Art satellite, WMAA at Altria, may make the time you have to spend in the 40s a little more bearable. Located in a plaza on Park Avenue between 41st and 42nd Streets, Altria’s open space draws a sharp contrast to the bustle of its surrounding sprawl. But the latest exhibition, Undone, is centered on the theme of breaking down barriers and decomposing spaces. Tony Matelli’s hyperrealistic weeds push their way out of seams in the wall as though the pristine gallery were the side of a suburban garage. At the very least, the Altria show should play with your sense of location and do a little to subvert the white box of the traditional museum set-up. Next time you miss your train at Grand Central, buy a pretzel and take a look.

Ufizzi Gallery
The prospect of looking at 300 versions of the same images may not strike some as the most engaging exercise in art-viewing. Anyone who’s been to the Ufizzi Gallery knows that half the reason the Botticelli room is so popular is thanks to his willingness to paint something besides the Madonna and Child. But a new exhibit at the Audubon Terrace, a collaborative effort between the Dia Art Foundation and the Hispanic Society of America, manages to make visual repetition into a downright fascinating aesthetic and historical event. Belgian artist Francis Alys (Hispanic Society, you ask? Apparently he relocated to Mexico City in the ’90s) spent the last 20 years assembling an overwhelming collection of images from flea markets, antique shops, and private collections, each one a depiction of the fourth century St. Fabiola. The kicker is that all of the images—in mediums as varied as paint, needle-point, and wood-relief—are essentially the same and appear to be based off of a single, now-lost original by French painter Jean-Jacques Henner. Taking the subway the other direction, as it turns out, may yield a completely original, quirky gallery visit.