"Lingerie: Secrets of Elegance" at Phoenix Art Museum: Yep, you read that right. Bras, baby doll nighties, and a sunburst display of girdles are just a gallery over from the paintings of dead white guys in powdered wigs. This fascinating fashion exhibition traces lingerie's evolution (or maybe devolution) from corsets to thongs, and shows how technology, cultural ideals of beauty, and economics have shaped what women wear over their privates. Look at the torpedo bra from the early 1950s, with foam falsies in the tips of the cups to simulate erect nipples, and you'll understand exactly why the women's rights movement happened. Admission is $9 for adults, $7 for students and seniors, free to all on Thursdays. Through April 9. 1625 N. Central Ave., Phoenix, 602-257-1222, www.phxart.org.
Anthony Caro at Bentley Projects: British sculptor Anthony Caro is famous for the lean, linear metal abstractions he made in the 1960s, so the lumpy, earthbound assemblages of clay and steel in this exhibition are surprising. Caro's newest sculptures depict recognizable domestic objects like tables, chairs, a figure, and (gulp!) fruit. They're dark, huddled, and backward-looking, and maybe that's the point. If this work is any indication, old age will pluck you from the sky and replace your visions of the future with images from the past. Maybe this is why Roger Daltrey sang that he hoped to die before he got old. It's a hell of a fall. Admission is free. Through March 26. 215 E. Grant St., Phoenix, 602-340-9200, www.bentleyprojects.com.
"Keeping Shadows" at Phoenix Art Museum: This exhibition on the history of photography features more than 100 images ranging from 19th-century daguerreotypes to 21st-century photos from NASA space probes. There's work by big-deal photographers like Henri Cartier-Bresson, Robert Mapplethorpe, Cindy Sherman, Cecil Beaton, and Ansel Adams, but this is more than a greatest-hits compilation. "Shadows" explores our relationship with photography by showing how the medium and our perception of it have evolved during the past century and a half. Are photos infallible depictions of reality, or fabrications that cannot be trusted? Middlebrow hobby for the Kodak point-and-shoot set, or high art? "Shadows" shows photography is, or has been, all of these things. It's a smart show. Admission is $9 for adults, $7 for students and seniors, free to all on Thursdays. Through March 12. 1625 N. Central Ave., Phoenix, 602-257-1222, www.phxart.org.
"Big City" at Phoenix Art Museum: There isn't a single image of the PHX among the cityscapes and urban life scenes drawn from PAM's permanent collection. That's odd, seeing as how we're the nation's fifth or sixth largest metropolis. The omission is partly because of the age of the work, the newest of which was made in the late 1970s when Phoenix was still a cow town on steroids. There are lots of classic Industrial Age images of skyscraper-chocked Eastern cities, but no Information Age images of upstart cities like Houston or Phoenix where all is horizontal. The portrait of the city is incomplete because it omits the past quarter-century, but "Big City" is still worth checking out. Admission is $9 for adults, $7 for students and seniors, free to all on Thursdays. Through May 7. 1625 N. Central Ave., Phoenix, 602-257-1222, www.phxart.org.
"Hector Ruiz: La Realidad (Reality)" at the Heard Museum: Phoenix artist Hector Ruiz fires a shot between the eyes of American values with woodcarvings, block prints, and mixed-media assemblages that address racism, border issues and capitalism. A King Kong-size blonde crushes a hapless businessman in her manicured hands in Westernization, the papier-mâché installation that's the show's centerpiece. Ruiz's work is as subtle as a baseball bat, but whispered messages go unheard in an age when no one seems to be paying attention. Through March 19. 2301 N. Central Ave., Phoenix, 602-252-8848, heard.org.
