Painter, draughtsman, and filmmaker Marcel Dzama creates ink and watercolor drawings of fantastical characters enacting bizarre, surreal scenarios. Beyond the confines of the art world, his work has appeared on album covers for bands such as Beck and They Might Be Giants; and in 2016 he designed both a set and costumes for the New York City Ballet in collaboration with choreographer Justin Peck and composer Bryce Dessner of the National.
Dzama admits a personal aversion to technology's rapid advance in our lives and embraces tradition, creating intimate works on paper inspired by the work of William Blake and Francisco de Goya, among others. Inside his whimsical Brooklyn studio, he describes the tension that can arise between artists who embrace or reject new technologies in their work, the continued relevance of traditional media, and a desire for humanity to slow down in an age when information comes at us with ever-quickening pace.
