This Week in Art Openings: Bruce Wighton, Beverly Pepper and Susan Breen

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Bruce Wrighton

Bruce Wrighton, "Through an Open Window"
You may not have heard of this documentary photographer because he spent most of his 38 years holed up in Binghamton, New York, capturing the locals, the carnies, the working class and the architecture of the town with an 8x10-inch camera. This exhibition takes works from his three signature projects of the 1980s -- "Street Portraits," "Dinosaurs and Dreamboats and "St. George and the Dragon" -- showing us the scruffy and the scrappy, from classic cars to iconic images both secular and sacred. It’s the real deal.

Laurence Miller Gallery, 20 W. 57th St, (212) 397-3930. Sept. 11-Oct. 25.

Beverly Pepper, "Voyages Out"
Pepper, born in Brooklyn in 1922, has not slowed down. She is still creating monumental (in both size and implication) works, including this exhibition of five steel sculptures with her signature red-brown finish. Having been known for the intense strength of her oxidized steel and iron sculptures, these new pieces are rather sweeping and curvilinear. She has done works for public sites around the world, experimented with materials for both John Deere and U.S. Steel, and is currently working, among other projects, on a 60-foot fountain for a park of her design in Terni, Italy, and a 30-foot tall sculpture for the Cesar Pelli–designed Minneapolis Central Public Library. Small woman: big work.

Marlborough Gallery, 545 W. 25th St., (212) 541-4900. September 12–October 11.

Susan Breen, "Remedy"
Suffering from delusions of grandeur? Feeling superstitious or vulnerable? Fearing flying or celestial space? In the abstract world, there’s a visual representation of the ailment and the cure, according to Breen, who has slapped down your remedy down on canvas. Symmetrical shapes -- amoeba-like and many vaguely pill-shaped, anatomical-looking and brightly colored -- just might give you an idea to get rid of those hiccups. And take heart -- there’s one for political disillusionment, too.

Woodward Gallery, 133 Eldridge St., (212) 966-3411. Opening reception September 13, 6–8 p.m. Through November 1.