New York shows, starting with Christiane Loōhr

a few good shows to report on, starting with "diffuse," by German artist Christiane Lōhr at Jason McCoy Gallery on 58th Street through May 25th. Her drawings are complex, vaguely organic abstracts in black and white, but the highlight of the show is her tiny quasi-abstract sculptures made of bits of plant material. There are tiny grande ves and somewhat larger architectural forms, the latter something like models for dwellings or communal structures but in open-weave materials. But they're not models (you don't imagine inhabitants). They are elegant objects, seemingly growing out of or bound to the "ground" or table. They defy scale, or rather insist that scale has nothing to do with size. These are deeply involving sculptures, with a phenomenological edge: Leaning toward one of the ones that's not in a vitrine, there is a palpable risk.

Mildred Thompson's show at Galerie Lelong in Chelsea is a moving tribute to the deceased artists who is only now getting her due. Her colorful abstractions area bout energy and surface, a code with only an abstract meaning. Mildred is sorely missed, not least for her lively presence.

"Like Life: Sculpture, Color, and the Body," is a fascinating show at the Met Breuer through july 22, bringing together works of art from the classical period to today along with mannequins, artist's models, and fascinatingworks (some of the most striking reflect on the objectiffication of women in art0.Perhaps only an institution as large as the Met could bring together works like the fascinating portrait. head by Donatello to Janine Antoni's striking "Saddle," across two floors of the building that the museum has taken over from the Whitney, after that institution's move. The juxtapositions, based on themes suggested by the show's title as well as other physical and conceptual similarities, are enriching, in terms of reflections on sculpture as a form and on the works themselves.