The New York gallery scene often heats up with a flurry of summer group shows before taking its customary August nap. This year is no exception and one of the most intriguing of these will open tonight at Yancey Richardson Gallery.

Left to right: Simen Johan, Untitled #162, from the series Until the Kingdom Comes; Kahn & Selesnick, King of the Birds; Richard Barnes, Murmur #1. Copyright the artists, courtesy Yancey Richardson Gallery.

I stopped in during the installation yesterday for a walkthrough with Yancey, and asked about her decision to continue the tradition of mounting highly curated shows through economically challenging times.

She said, “Even when the market took a downturn, I felt it was important to continue doing the summer group shows. I enjoy curating and always have a list of ideas for potential shows. And looking for work along a particular theme,” she continued, “allows me to get involved with artists I haven’t looked at before. For example, Alex Prager's work was included in my show The Good Life, in 2008, and I went on to represent her. So the summer shows include artists from my stable, of course, along with artists from other galleries and new artists not otherwise represented in New York.”

Beautiful Vagabonds: Birds in Contemporary Photography, Video and Sound is the latest, collecting work by 20 contemporary photographs who have taken our endless fascination with avian life as their cue. The first several pieces on view present ways in which people lure their feathered friends into the domestic setting. In David Hilliard’s Feeders, a vertical diptych, a familiar backyard scene gives the work's title both animate and inanimate definition.

Jitka Hanzlova’s Policeman is a stunning portrait of a bird with such facial expression that it seems more cat- than birdlike. This creature, I was told, followed the photographer around while she was visiting its woodland habitat.

Scientific interest in birds probably reached its peak in the late 1800s; natural history museums displayed – and still do – collections of taxidermized birds for research and general interest. Field Museum: Drawer of Eastern Meadowlarks, by Terry Evans, is exactly that, but so much more. Close to three dozen lifeless creatures, seen together, demonstrate the uniqueness of individuals. Next to it is a piece by Paula McCartney, who photographed fake birds she found in craft stores in their authentic habitats with such exactitude that she fooled even the most astute birdwatchers.

Other highlights of the show include Birdcalls, an audio recording by photographer Louise Lawler from 1971-72; Displaced, a video of a flock in flight over Queens; Antarctica: Penguins on the March, one of Sebastiao Salgado’s most surprising crowd scenes to date; Eve, by Alex Prager, a dramatic Hitchcockean moment; and much more to delight the eye and to stimulate discussion.

The opening reception for Beautiful Vagabonds is tonight, July 21^st, from 6 to 8 pm at Yancey Richardson Gallery, 535 West 22^nd Street, NY, NY.

Also opening tonight in Chelsea, 6-8 pm: Laura Levine: Musicians at Steven Kasher Gallery. 521 West 23^rd Street, NY, NY.

Correction: The opening reception for La Carte d’apres Nature, curated by Thomas Demand, has already taken place at Matthew Marks Gallery, 522 West 22^nd Street, NY, NY.