High on one white wall, the word “YES” in white oil paint is smeared on whitish canvas (John and Yoko, meet Robert Ryman); at foot level on another wall is a dark photograph of a gravestone set in the ground that reads “BABY FOUND IN RIVER” and, eerily, “Davis Service” (the artist’s name is Steve Davis). Welcome to the vast universe of TXT, a sparkling summer group show of language-based art that also includes post-Katrina cracked mud, instructions for living, and napalm. (James Harris Gallery, 312 Second Ave S, 903-6220. 11 am–5 pm, free.)

Jen Graves (The Stranger’s former arts critic) mostly writes about things you approach with your eyeballs. But she’s also a history nerd interested in anything that needs more talking about, from male...