Working with ordinary people who answered ads in local papers, posing them in their nondescript homes or unexceptional landscapes and using relatively simple equipment, Katy Grannan alchemizes these factors into extraordinary photographs. Disarming for their directness and for the provocative but casual nudity on display, her pictures capture the spirit of her subjects in the manner of Diane Arbus, but they also draw upon the artificial, posed tableaux of Gregory Crewdson and, indeed, art history. The posture of the tattooed and tanned (and nude) figure in "Mike," a 2003 portrait which...

onthisisland is the newest series by American artist Jack Pierson (born 1960), consisting of small watercolors, graphite works on paper and driftwood assemblages. Pierson applies the Surrealist technique of automatic drawing to paint, allowing his subconscious to guide his brush. Limited quantity available.