The world on his own terms

This is the summer for Rackstraw Downes. A trifecta of exhibitions to savor in the Tristate area include a survey of drawings on view at Betty Cuningham Gallery through July 30; Onsite Paintings, 1972-2008, is at the Parrish Art Museum, Southampton, NY through August 8; and Under the Westside Highway, a didactic show that brings together sketchbooks, drawings, small oil studies and a completed, multipaneled work, is at the Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum in Ridgefield, Connecticut through January 2 of next year. This vertiginous exploration of a disused Brooklyn cinema turned studio of Downes's fell artist Daphne Cummings is on view at the Parrish. David Cohen's September 2004 interview with the artist can be read at artcritical.com.

Mr. Cohen, editor of artcritical.com, is art critic for the New York Sun