Marcel Dzama is an artist that explores human actions and motivations in his own unique way. The setting of his upbringing shaped his inspirations that can be seen in his artwork even now. His style is unique in being somewhat realistic and surrealistic at the same time, toeing the line between real life events and the world of the subconscious. Dzama mentions how he tries not to censor himself, and usually uses art as more of a stream of consciousness process. He draws whatever he’s thinking, however he’s thinking it. He has had an early fascination with fairy tale creatures and folk lore, themes that show very clearly in his work.
Marcel Dzama was born in Winnipeg, Canada, a place he says he felt somewhat isolated from others due to the barrier of the frigid weather. Because of these surroundings of snow and cold, many of his pieces reflect that whiteness and emptiness of his hometown in the rather empty backgrounds.
It’s My Nature, 1999 
Eight strong winds, 2005
He uses mainly ink, watercolor, and often even root beer concentrate for those brown shades. Many of his earlier works are similar to this kind of composition and palette.
Almost all of his works have political themes in them. Current events affect the subject matter of his drawings. He said that the news stories bring him down, so he uses his art to “exorcize” that negative media intake into the art, to get it out so he doesn’t have to live with it inside him. I can see a good amount of value to such a practice. His inspirations can come from many places, such as the Dada Era during World War I influencing his surrealist, almost humorous deconstruction of politics and modern issues.
Upon moving to New York in 2004, Dzama’s works became more cluttered and chaotic, once again reflecting the setting he lived in. The hustle and bustle of New York rubbed off on him, and it made his work extremely crowded. He worked on bringing order to that chaos, which is why many of his works now have figures that almost look like they’re dancing in a ballet. That kind of choreography in his work helped bring a little structure and composition, and I personally like the flow of these pieces much better.
The circus is in town, 2015 
September 28, 2017 – January 7, 2018
Drawing on a Revolution
The Most Incredible Thing curtain by Marcel Dzama.
All of Marcel Dzama’s works start as paintings on paper. He does many collaborations with other artists to create more multimedia creations, such as sculpture, film and even sound. One such collaboration was with Justin Peck, who worked on the coreography for the New York City Ballet. The dance poses Dzama worked with attracted his attention, and together they worked to create a production of the old fairy tale The Most Incredible Thing (Hans Christian Andersen). Dzama’s works then became costumes to illustrate this story in a truly visually stunning way.
The King, dancers Ask la Cour and Russell Janzen.
Photo by Erin Baiano.
One O’Clock: The Cuckoo Bird, dancer Tiler Peck.
Photo by Erin Baiano.
Overall, Marcel Dzama is a very inventive creator. He does not let the usual censorships and social rules govern his work, and he speaks his mind through his art. I may not agree with all of his views, or particularly enjoy all the subject matter he uses, but I appreciate his head on approach to these things. I also like how his art makes you think, since many of his works contain stories he’s working to tell through a visual medium.
Citations:
https://art21.org/watch/extended-play/marcel-dzama-organizing-chaos-short/
https://www.wmagazine.com/story/marcel-dzama-justin-peck-most-incredible-thing-ballet-costumes