Marcel Dzama

About the Artist

Often compared to outsider artist Henry Darger, Marcel Dzama’s small ink and watercolor drawings of hybrid characters, like humans with antlers or trees with hands, resemble story illustrations. Interspersed with a range of references including Surrealist film, Dadaism and Soviet-era agitprop, his work more often recalls folk and craft storytelling traditions, showing that simple narrative can be an intricate, compelling contemporary art-making strategy. Dzama also works in sculpture and video and has experimented with puppetry and costumes. His work has been used on the covers of a number of music albums for bands such as They Might Be Giants, Beck, and The Weakerthans; and his costume designs have been seen in music videos, including the video for the Bob Dylan’s When the Deal Goes Down.

Work by the artist is held in museum collections worldwide, including the Dallas Museum of Art; Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal; The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; The Museum of Modern Art, New York; National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa; Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York; Tate Gallery, London; and the Vancouver Art Gallery. Dzama lives and works in Brooklyn, New York.