Critic's picks - Art

Michele Natale on the best in visual art

Opening this week at the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University, "Street Level" presents the first collective show of acclaimed early-career artists Mark Bradford, William Cordova, and Robin Rhode. It marks Trevor Schoonmaker's curatorial debut at the Nasher.

Described as an "archeology of urban paper," Bradford's work collects fragments from billboards and uses them as the bases for huge paintings that suggest the grid of a city map. William Cordova makes delicate drawings of objects that trace his nomadic lifestyle and sculpts from discarded objects to create a monolith from stereo speakers, for example. Rhode's artistic practice is found at an intersection of performance, graffiti and exploration of political boundaries as he reinvents the backdrop of the street in photographs that mimic stop-action and videos that "document" impossible feats.

This up-to-the-minute combination of rising stars brings a burst of fresh energy to the Triangle. 2001 Campus Drive, Durham. 684.5135; www.nasher.duke.edu

Catch "Reclaiming Midwives: Stills from 'All My Babies' " before it closes this weekend at the Center for Documentary Studies. This moving collection of photographs was made by Robert Galbraith, cameraman for George Stoney's 1953 film, "All My Babies." Together, they form a moving document of African-American midwifery in Georgia. The training these midwives received enabled them to maintain an impressively high degree of success using the simplest of resources. 1317 W. Pettigrew St., Durham. 660-3663 http://cds.aas.duke.edu

At Branch Gallery, shows by painter Harrison Haynes, "Going Home is Such a Lonely Ride," and photographer Jeff Whetstone's "Pioneer Species," provide a cogently themed meditation on male domains. Men and trees supply imagery for both artists, elaborating ideas of alienation, bonding, and relationship to nature. 401C Foster St., Durham. 918-1116; www.branchgallery.com