Critic's picks - visual arts

(Jonathan Wiggs/Globe Staff)

SOL LEWITT: A WALL DRAWING RETROSPECTIVE You have at least a quarter century before it comes down, but we advise you to see this extraordinary show (detail at right) sooner rather than later. Three stories of a massive building are filled with LeWitt's gorgeous experiments in delirious rationality, in media ranging from graphite pencil to Indian ink wash and exuberant acrylic paint. Through 2033. Mass MoCA, North Adams. 413-662-2111, www.massmoca.org

PAUL CHAN: THREE EASY PIECES Acclaimed video artist Paul Chan finds entrancing ways to articulate big ideas with animation and video imagery projected against floors, walls, and the corners of rooms. Harvard University's Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts is hosting this show, which comprises two digital projections and a single channel video. Through Jan. 4. Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts, Cambridge. 617-495-3251, www.ves.fas.harvard.edu/ccva.html

2008 JAMES AND AUDREY FOSTER PRIZE Four artists in the early stages of their careers have been selected as finalists for the Foster Prize at the Institute of Contemporary Art. In the running for the $25,000 biennial award, to be announced next year, are Catherine D'Ignazio, Rania Matar, Andrew Witkin, and Joe Zane; their work is on display in this exhibit. Through March 1. Institute of Contemporary Art. 617-478-3103, www.icaboston.org

TO THE ENDS OF THE EARTH, PAINTING THE POLAR LANDSCAPE A survey of paintings made during the golden age of polar exploration - the late 18th century through the early 20th - this show includes some of the most mysterious and haunting paintings ever made, by artists such as Frederic Edwin Church, William Bradford, and David Abbey Paige. Through March 1. Peabody Essex Museum, Salem. 978-745-9500. www.pem.org/museum

SEBASTIAN SMEE