The New Yorker

Fifth Ave. at 82nd St. (212-535-7710)
“Reality Check,” an installation of contemporary photographs drawn largely from the museum’s collection, tackles the familiar issue of the medium’s relation to the real. Once assumed to be nothing more than a marvelous recording device, the camera was used to deceive very early on, and these days deception seems to be one of its prime functions. This exhibition lines up work by the usual suspects (Thomas Demand, Gregory Crewdson, James Casebere, Vik Muniz) alongside a smattering of historical precedents and savvy recent acquisitions. Among the latter are two pictures that are at once super-real and weirdly unbelievable: Julian Faulhaber's ultramodern gas station, glowing like a spaceship, and Mark Wyse’s closeup of a dead squirrel on a suburban street—a classic fallen warrior, poignant and grotesque. Through March 22. (Open Tuesdays through Sundays, 9:30 to 5:30, and Friday and Saturday evenings until 9.)