Unveiled

Runs through April 22, ArtJaz Gallery, 53 N. Second St., 215-922-4800

Musician-photographer Will Downing knows a thing or two about art and music—the R&B crooner's pictures capture fellow musicians at work. They're complemented by art in other media from new and emerging black artists. All of the pieces find inspiration in jazz improvisation; our favorite is Kimmy Cantrell's ceramic mask sculptures.

Body Worlds

Runs through April 23, Franklin Institute, 20th St. and the Parkway, 215-448-1200, www.bodyworlds.com

Seen a dead body lately? Gunther von Hagens' sometimes disturbing, always fascinating collection of preserved human bodies was prepared for public viewing through a process he developed called plastination—in essence, replacing bodily fluids with plastics. This exhibit gives visitors a 3-D anatomical education that surpasses the gutted frogs of yore. Whether it crosses the line into a gothic form of artistic expression is another story. Still, with more than 500,000 visitors already, museum officials expect that it will soon surpass the attendance record set in 1996 by the PMA's Cézanne show.

Narratives, Mediums, Genres

Runs through April 23, Projects Gallery, 629 N. Second St., 267-303-9652

Painter-printmaker Florence Putterman's bright, merry paintings—their textured surfaces formed from crushed shells and sand—are tribal-looking, candy-coated confections that conjure up the ancient relics of a tropical wonderland. Check out Ancestral Kinship, with its modish spackling of blue, orange and red.

—Elizabeth Thomas