new directions

Opening Friday: Midwestern artists Michael Paul and Dan Bruggeman are heading in fresh directions in their solo shows opening this weekend. In "Facing North," St. Paul-based Bruggeman plays optical tricks with scale and perspective by placing strange things at odd spots in highly formal picture planes. A huge Ferris wheel shrinks to insignificance on a distant horizon line. A quaint church may be rolling over a bridge on a flatbed truck, or just sitting in a field as the truck rolls by. Only a keen eye will know. In "West of East," Paul roams the Midwest producing luminous encaustic (wax) paintings of snow-drifted Dakota barns, cloud-crowned marshes and gnarled trees shaped by the prevailing winds as seen in "Guardian of the Little Missouri," shown here. (Opening reception 5-8 p.m. Fri. Free. Groveland Gallery and Annex, 25 Groveland Terrace, Mpls. Through Nov. 28. 612-377-7800 or grovelandgallery.com)

Mary Abbe