The most telling photograph in Kelly Nipper’s latest exhibition offers sunlit branches and leaves surrounding a shadowy void. The scene, which could be deep in a forest or in the corner of a backyard at the right time of day, becomes a source of tension and expectation—this is the sort of spot from which a movie tiger might leap out. But the surprise never comes, and it’s oddly frustrating and compelling. Who would have thought a photograph of a dark spot in some plants could be so engaging precisely because it turns out to be just as mundane as it would be in real life? The piece showcases

Dean Sameshima eyes skinny boys with wan complexions and an air of Anglophilia. Such boys are everywhere, but Sameshima studies them in their native environment, LA clubs and bars like Bang, Cafe Bleu, and Akbar. Prefatory study for such outings would be a crash course in British fashion magazines (i-D, The Face, Dazed and Confused) and certain designers (Raf Simons in particular, but also Jean Colona and Hedi Slimane), whose talents are attuned to the slim-hipped protopunk and -goth. Through the lens of fashion, Sameshima proffers a trenchant commentary on photography and its documentary claims,

The modestly scaled, square color images included in Dutch artist Hellen van Meene’s first solo US exhibition depict seemingly vulnerable pubescent girls in poses and stages of undress that hint at sexual awakening. Because the photos address a time in life when the most common of experiences can be the most deeply personal and revealing, the viewer feels like an intruder—yet not an entirely unwelcome one.

In Untitled, 1998, a girl in her underwear awkwardly cranes to press her cheek against a smooth railing; in Untitled, 1999, another girl presses her cheek against what looks like a