Marcel Dzama’s lyrical, radiant visual language is presented through dream sequences or surreal, often subversive, fairytales. In scenes where both the whimsical and carnivalesque intermingle, Dzama folds contemporary social and political issues into an art historical narrative steeped in folk vernacular. Dzama works in media spanning painting, drawing, ceramic, video and costume design, as well as a recent work in mosaic produced for a public commission at the Bedford Avenue Station in Brooklyn, New York.
Dzama was born in 1974 in Manitoba, Canada. His work is found in numerous permanent collections including those of the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; the Museum of Modern Art, New York; the National Gallery of Canada, Ottowa, and the Tate, London. Recent major solo exhibitions of Dzama’s work include those at the Museo de Arte de Zapopan, Mexico; the Savannah College of Art and Design Museum of Art, USA, and the Sara Hildén Art Museum, Finland. A major survey of Dzama’s career was held in 2010 at the Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal, Canada. Dzama lives and works in New York City.
