Zach Bruder
Zach Bruder’s paintings function as mnemonic still lives set against semi-surreal backdrops, where standard bearers of the everyday are elevated into quiet symbols of persistence and presence. These works harmonize the mundane, meditating on how ordinary gestures accumulate into a life. His long-term interest in image collecting results in inventive compositions in which both pictorial and illusionistic space play a role, while humor and allegory color his painting with conceptual heft.
His canvases revive and repurpose familiar motifs, referencing folklore and drawing from classical and vernacular mythology—all culled from the artist’s extensive archive of historic imagery. Addressing mythologies both cultural and personal, Bruder’s paintings offer multiple interpretations of religious and social narratives and urgent responses to the societal and political moment in which they were produced. Bruder’s work asks us to consider the roles we assign to things and why–his compositions trace a lineage between past and present, utility and ritual, rooting contemporary life in cultural memory.
Zach Bruder received his BFA at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in Madison, WI. Bruder presented his first solo show at Magenta Plains in January 2018 in New York, NY followed by Gone to Fair in 2020, Clear Arrears in 2023, and Customary in 2025. Solo exhibitions have also been held at Harlan Levey, Brussels, BE; galerie l’inlassable, Paris, FR; Gregory Lind Gallery, San Francisco, CA; and LaMaMa Galleria, New York, NY. Bruder has been included in group shows at Peter Freeman, New York, NY; Ratio 3, San Francisco, CA; The Journal Gallery, Brooklyn, NY; Phillip Slein Gallery, St. Louis, MO; and Magenta Plains, New York, NY. The artist lives and works in New York, NY.
Born 1984, Cleveland, OH
Lives and works in New York, NY
Education
2006
BFA, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI
Solo Exhibitions
2025
Customary, Magenta Plains, New York, NY
2023
Clear Arrears, Magenta Plains, New York, NY
2022
Greeter, Harlan Levey, Brussels, BE
2020
Gone to Fair, Magenta Plains, New York, NY
2018
Edening On, Magenta Plains, New York, NY
2017
Hardscrabbled, Harlan Levey, Brussels, BE
2016
Monument Around, galerie l'inlassable, Paris, FR
Plant in Repair, Gregory Lind Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Unwelcome Guest, La MaMa Galleria, New York, NY
Group Exhibitions
2025
The Dinner Guest, JAG Projects, New York, NY
2024
Felix Art Fair with Magenta Plains, Los Angeles, CA
2022
What A Long Strange Trip, Analog Diary, Hudson, NY
Leave a Light On, The Valley, Taos, NM
2021
Friends & Family, Magenta Plains, New York, NY
Was/It/Ought, Carrie Secrist Gallery, Chicago, IL
2019
Downtown Painting, curated by Alex Katz, Peter Freeman, New York, NY
2018
Dallas Art Fair, Magenta Plains, Dallas, TX
NADA Miami Art Fair, Magenta Plains, Miami, FL
Upstairs Art Fair, Magenta Plains, Amagansett, NY
Still Lives, Underdonk, Brooklyn, NY
People, Places, Things…, Phillip Slein, St. Louis, MO
2017
Tennis Elbow, The Journal Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
Code Art Fair (with Monteverita), Copenhagen, DK
Landscape Modern Oil Painting Canvas Painting Abstract Oil Painting Wall Hanging, curated by Jir Sandel, Galleri Benoni, Copenhagen, DK
The Present Tense: Zach Bruder & Louise Bourgeois, Ratio 3, San Francisco, CA
The Present Tense: Ben Peterson & Zach Bruder, Ratio 3, San Francisco, CA
2016
Boundary Issues, Gregory Lind Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Record Lines This Summer, curated by Ellie Rines, Magenta Plains, NY
Tropicàlia, galerie l'inlassable, Paris, FR
2015
We agreed the paler tones would make a more subtle statement, curated by Dmitry Komis, Ida Schmid, Brooklyn, NY
Salon Society Edition 2 curated by Fabiola Alondra, Salon Society, Brooklyn, NY
Drift and Pop, curated by Olivia Smith, Orgy Park, Brooklyn, NY
There is No Fact of the Matter as to Whether or Not P, 247365, New York, NY
Object of Magic, curated by Eneas Capalbo, Moiety, Brooklyn, NY
2013
Patterns of Interference, Showroom Gowanus, Brooklyn, NY
2012
Greasy Pink, French Neon, New York NY
