This Week in Art Openings: David McDermott and Peter McGough, Andy Warhol and Takashi Murakami, James Welling

David McDermott and Peter McGough, “Detroit”

In this photograph exhibition collaborative duo and masters of history David McDermott and Peter McGough revisit 1950s suburbia when the automobile ruled. Shot at the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan, these photographs of retro jukeboxes and Buddy Holly haircuts were set amongst vintage clothing and antique interiors, and developed using a historic color developing process. The people in the photographs may be modern-day models, but this exhibit is totally old school. (Also be sure to check out the duo’s painting exhibition on display until April 26 at Cheim & Read, featuring TV divas of the same era.)

Nicholas Robinson Gallery, 535 W. 20th St., (212) 560-9075. Opening reception Thursday, Apr. 3, 6-8 p.m. Through May 17.

Consumerism and Painting by Two Legends: Andy Warhol and Takashi Murakami

Warhol is to Campbell’s soup as Murakami is to Louis Vuitton -- both are legendary for turning pop culture into art (or is it the other way around?). Best known for creating those cute little multi-colored patterns reprinted on LV knock-offs everywhere, Murakami is also often known for paintings of complex Nickelodeon cartoon-character look-alikes, which can be seen in this exhibit alongside Warhol’s soup boxes from the 1980s. For more of Murakami’s oozing and oblong paintings and sculptures, visit © MURAKAMI, a comprehensive exhibition of Murakami’s lifetime work opening Apr. 5 at the Brooklyn Museum.

Michelle Rosenfeld Gallery, 16 E. 79th St., (212) 734-0900. Apr. 3-May 24.

James Welling: Works from 1980–2008

Watch James Welling’s photography come full circle over the course of his career --currently spanning nearly three decades -- in this exhibition at David Zwirner. A short order cook when he first started taking pictures, Welling chose aluminum foil, pastry dough, kelp and salt as his first subjects, which he then transformed into shapes reminiscent of stars, figures and 19th-century interiors. In 1998, after a ten-year departure from abstraction to documentary photography of actual 19th-century design, railroads and factories, he produced New Abstractions -- a return to work open to less literal interpretations. Most recently, he has done Torsos, in which he shaped screens to resemble the human figure.

David Zwirner, 525 W. 19th St., (212) 727-2070. Apr. 5–May 3.