Medieval-looking characters converse at table in Zach Bruder’s arrestingly anachronistic painting, which pictures the Middle Ages in an abstracted or folksy 20th century painting style. Substituting detail and realism for expressive forms, Bruder cloaks a familiar-seeming scene in an alien appearance. (On view at Magenta Plains on the Lower East Side through Feb 11th).
This 164-foot scroll by Vietnam-based artist Dinh Q Le depicts just one image – the immolation of a Buddhist monk in Saigon in 1963. Stretched out to great length, the scroll seems to add duration to the still photograph while connecting that event to current acts of extreme political protest. (At Chelsea’s PPOW Gallery through May 24th).
Dinh Q Le, The Scroll of Thich Quang Duc, 150 foot c-print scroll and gold lacquer box, 2013.
