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Artist Marcel Dzama’s on folklores, hybrid characters, and why his art exists in a world of the subconscious

Hindustan Times, Delhi | BySrishti Jha
Feb 21, 2020 10:45 AM IST

Artist Marcel Dzama talks about his works showcased at the 12th edition of the India Art Fair, his inspirations and the multilayered relationship between the real and the subconscious. Read on.

Canadian artist, Marcel Dzama’s work raises many questions. For the conscious and the subconscious, the real and the unreal. Where does personal, intimate art exist in the age of digital revolution? Are we still acquainted with the time-honoured fairytales and can we create our own with a pinch of the present realities? Is the representation of nature getting further divided or coming together in the world of art? At the India Art Fair’s12th edition held in Delhi recently, the Canadian-born artist who is known for his fantastical illustrations and hybrid characters that are inspired by day-to-day lives and real events showcased 15 works among which some were made particularly for the fair as part of the David Zwirner’s presentation, one of the leading international galleries in the world in the domain of contemporary art. An admirer of Indian culture and its many elements, Dzama chose themes like Bollywood dancers to regional wildlife for his visual storytelling. One of his works from 2019, ‘A dance can be taken as a manifesto’ depicts a woman dancing while three tigers watch and an eagle hovers above. It makes you think if that’s how nature intended it? A sense of universal celebration across species and definitely, an ode to the innocent territories of imagination. The turbulent oceanic wall titled Flowers of Romance, created by Dzama at the his booth at the Fair where many of these works were hung examined the constant and interrelated rhythm of nature and its beings. One cannot fail to notice Dzama’s tribute to American Artist Jason Polan who died in January early this year.    

Marcel Dzama for David Zwirner at the India Art Fair 2020. (Mansi Midha)

Dzama rose to prominence in the late 1990s with his representation of mystical narratives inspired by his childhood memories and fantasies, showcasing the delicate relationship between the real and the unreal, in an intricate and powerful way. He poignantly explores the elements of human action and stimulus mostly through erotic, grotesque, aggressive and absurd imagery creating an overlapping world of persistent human, animal and hybrid characters like humans with antlers or trees with hands, speckled with relative motifs. One can see strong influences of Surrealism, Dadaism and Agitprop in his work, bringing elements of reason, individualism, and half-truths and the many social and cultural battles that construct societies across communities. His strong sense of symbolism gives the viewer an open window to interpret the art in their own ways and revisit the deeply buried folktales and many forgotten stories of the past that must echo with our present and the future.

Marcel Dzama for David Zwirner at the India Art Fair 2020. (Mansi Midha)
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In an exclusive interview, artist Marcel Dzama who believes that storytelling and art are one and the same talks about his varied inspirations, the art of storytelling, the multilayered relationship between the real and the subconscious and why drawing continues to be his favourite medium. Excerpts from an exclusive interview:

Your new collection goes big on Indian culture that varies from the charm of Bollywood dancers to the many elements of regional wildlife. How did the inspiration come along?

-With this new work for the India Art Fair, I referenced a few of the Bollywood films I have seen over the years. Most of the work for the show was influenced by early Indian films that I had seen while living in Winnipeg, Canada. There is a large Indian population there and there were many Indian video stores back in the 90s. I had a few lobby cards I had purchased long ago and a book of movie posters from some Bollywood films from the 1960s. I’ve always loved the choreography and costumes in those films. I read Indian myths, and watched Bollywood films and listened to their soundtracks - mainly those from the 1960s by artists like Mohammad Rafi and Kishore Kumar. I always have some animals appear and I wanted to use animals that would speak to the setting, with cobras and elephants included as part of these new works.

Your art narrative holds a special place for fantasies, fairy tales and folk vernacular references. How do you think it affects your work in contemporary space? How do you deal with the juxtaposition?

-I like the juxtaposition of mixing high brow and low brow culture. I try not to discriminate between popular culture and intellectual pursuits.

Your work looks at the multi-layered and evolving relationship between the real and the subconscious via visual arts. How difficult is it to align the real and the subconscious and what are the related challenges to bring the two worlds together? Do you equate subconscious with ‘unreal’?

-I feel that my work exists in a world of the subconscious but is sometimes infiltrated by the real. Whenever I find the news too disturbing or negative, I find that my work gets more political as an exorcism of the news of the day so I’m able to sleep at night. In the times we live in now, reality seems almost more of a farce and absurd than the subconscious.

Your narrative has time and again touched upon hybrid characters, often by means of the violent, erotic, grotesque, and absurd. What is your take on the term hybrid and how it impacts your idea of storytelling?

-When I was in high school, there was a mentor programme where you would become a teacher’s assistant for the younger kids. I would get the kids in a group and ask two kids what their favourite animals were and draw the two together as a new creature. That might have inspired my first hybrid creature. But throughout mythology, there are many hybrid creatures that I’m fascinated by.

You have worked across many mediums, be it puppetry, costumes, illustrations, water colour, sculpture, video among many others. What particular domain remains a favourite and why?

-My favourite medium has always been drawing, it is the beginning of all my other projects. Not only is it its own art form, but it also leads to creating the costumes, films and everything else.

Do you read as much as you draw? What are you reading currently?

-I definitely draw a lot more than I read. I find myself reading in situations where its impossible to draw, like the airport or the subway. I spend at least two hours on the subway in New York each day, so I have been getting a lot of reading done. At the moment I’m reading a biography on William Blake.

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