Every once in a while serendipity steps in and lends a hand. Such is the case with Lost Highways and its recent boon, a small but precious collection of negatives of the work of the late retro-futurist Art Radebaugh. From the '30s to the '50s, Radebaugh, an eccentric commercial illustrator whose bread and butter was Coca-Cola and Chrysler ads, glimpsed the future with the eyes of a rather imaginative child: anti-gravity houses, tractors with Cadillac fins, fishbowl swimming pools. The story goes: Lost Highways director Todd Kimmell was the grateful recipient of 14,000 (!) negatives and photographic equipment from the collection of a retiring commercial photographer in the city. After a few diligent interns plowed through the materials and documented them, 25 little gems stood out with one bold signature: Radebaugh. In "Radebaugh: The Future We Were Promised," we see slick, airbrushed visions of the future -- serpentine highways wrapped around spiky skyscrapers, jetlike cars and bat-winged "flycopters" taking off from suburban lawns. Kimmell plans to enlarge a handful of images to best show off the keen detail and space-age landscapes Radebaugh so carefully rendered. The gallery will also show copies of Radebaugh's Motor, Fortune and Saturday Evening Post magazine covers, as well as the syndicated weekly cartoon strip "Closer Than We Think," a tongue-in-cheek take on the technological progress and innovation that post-war Americans loved to think lay ahead and to which Radebaugh tried to lend some credence with a short essay accompanying each strip ("Hospitals In the Sky!" "Rocket Mailmen"). You can also go back to the future with an online exhibit at www.losthighways.org.

Reception Fri., March 7, 6-9 p.m. Exhibition runs through September. 307 Market St., second floor, 215-925-2568.

Asian Arts Initiative and Vox Populi

There's a long history of artists using their talents and means to produce work that challenges political and social constructs, especially when those constructs result in war. But it's more than knee-jerk liberalism and bumper-sticker slogans: They're acting out of a deeper passion and empathy. With "Visible Resistance!: Anti-War Exhibition," the Asian Arts Initiative is giving artists from across the U.S. a chance to exhibit their artwork and graphic designs that yell out their responses to recent conflicts in the Middle East, North Korea and Southeast Asia, specifically from an Asian-American perspective. Artists exhibiting include Chitra Ganesh, INCITE! Women of Color Against Violence, Weston Teruya, Chamindika Wanduragala, Christine Wong and local artists Bekhyon Yim and Jeff Cylkowski. Standouts include Wong's reworking of the famous photo of Phan Thi Kim Phuc, the young girl who was a victim of napalm bombing in Vietnam, and INCITE's Meena Poster, an image of Meena Kamal, the assassinated founder of RAWA, Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan. Just two floors up, Vox Populi artists make their own contribution to the antiwar feedback with "El Mono Muy Mal (The Very Bad Monkey)." Participating artists include Robert Chaney, Sam Belkowitz and Brian Dennis, as well as exhibit organizer Matt Suib, who says, "We felt that now was a crucial time to turn the gallery into a public space for critical reflection on the current administration's relentless pursuit of war -- and to challenge public and institutional ambivalence towards what has been a tragic failing of our government."

"Visible Resistance!" reception and gallery talk Thu., March 6, 5:30-7:30 p.m. Exhibition runs through April 11. "El Mono Muy Mal" reception Fri., March 7, 6-8 p.m. Exhibition runs through March 28. 1315 Cherry St., second (Asian Arts Initiative, 215-557-0455) and fourth floor (Vox Populi, 215-568-5513).

And Then There’s …

Architectural illustrator Murali Harathi shows his appreciation for the stately buildings of his birthplace in an exhibit called "Royal Palaces of Hyderabad" in an exhibit at Temple University's HSC Gallery. Hyderabad, a 400-year-old city in central south India, seemingly overflows with palaces built by and reflecting the opulent tastes of its rulers, whether the powerful Nizams or the noble Paigahs. The 26 watercolor-and-pencil works document this history of regal architecture from 1860 to 1920. Reception Fri., March 7, 6-8 p.m. Exhibition runs through March 31. Artist present at gallery March 8, 15 and 22 from noon to 2 p.m. HSC Gallery, Temple University, 200 Student/Faculty Center, 3340 N. Broad St., 215-707-8443.Ashley Gallery gives Vagabond party alum Tom "T-Bone" Cunnane the chance to show his off-kilter planters and mobiles made from "reclaimed" materials. Reception Fri., March 7, 8-11 p.m. Exhibition runs through March 28. 718 N. Third St., 215-627-4467. Catch the last couple weeks of John Eric Byers' gorgeous solo furniture show at Snyderman (through March 15), and the start of three very different shows at Works, that of enamel worker Gretchen Goss, mixed-media artist Mark Hartung and jewelry maker Kiwan Wang. Reception Fri., March 7, 5:30-8:30 p.m. Exhibitions run through March 29. 303 Cherry St., 215-238-9576.