Timothy Taylor Gallery

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Timothy Taylor Gallery is pleased to present the first UK exhibition of Canadian artist Marcel Dzama.

Seen individually Dzamaʼs small and delicate drawings, hand-tinted with watercolour and root-beer, have an eccentric aesthetic sensibility. The compositions of cartoon-ish creatures combine references that are at once intellectually highbrow and reminiscent of retro pop culture from the Roaring Twenties and Fifties.

Papering the walls of the gallery with these drawings, the resulting installations are a barrage of disconnected and darkly humourous images linked by their psychological tension. The myriad images create the effect of a multi-channel visual binge. Dzama continues a trajectory in contemporary drawing that could, for example, include Kippenbergerʼs ‘Hotel Drawings’, and the work of Raymond Pettibon, Mike Kelley, and David Shrigley.

For this exhibition ʻDrawings for Danteʼ, Dzama is inspired by Dante Alighieriʼs ʻInfernoʼ. Previous influences have been Werner Herzogʼs Nosferatu of 1979, Japanese anime, the
Three Bears and the Wizard of Oz.

“I didn’t intend to make a series of drawings for Dante, but I guess it just happened because I was reading it at the time. I didn’t think it was influencing me until someone else pointed out that my drawings were getting a lot darker. Suddenly there were many decapitated bodies and a grotesque imagery that was not there before. I guess something about the Inferno left an indelible impression on me that became Drawings for Dante.“

Marcel Dzama was born in 1974 in Winnipeg, Canada, where he lives and works. Since graduating in 1997, Dzama has had critically acclaimed solo shows at David Zwirner Gallery, New York, and Richard Heller Gallery in Los Angeles, as well as ArtPace, San Antonio, Texas, Espacio Minimo, Madrid, Galerie Volker Diehl, Berlin and many others.

Marcel Dzama is also a member of the collaborative group The Royal Art Lodge, who have an upcoming exhibition at The Drawing Center, New York, travelling to The Power Plant, Toronto among other international venues. Dzama also plays in the alternative country-noise rock band Albatross.

This year the book ʻMarcel Dzama (the berlin years)ʼ will be published by McSweeneyʼs Books, best-selling author Dave Eggers (A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius) own publishing imprint. Eggers has described Dzamaʼs work as “Two percent wit, ninety-eight percent a fragile, fragiile beauty – a perfect alchemy”.

A signed and numbered artistʼs book entitled ʻDrawings for Danteʼ, containing drawings and sketch-book pages by the artist, accompanies this exhibition in an edition of 1000. The book will be available during the exhibition for £20. Available in art bookshops.

• Download the press release (PDF)