MARCEL DZAMA
Dancing with the Moon

Pera Museum is pleased to present Marcel Dzama’s first solo exhibition in Turkey, surveying the artist’s unique approach and compelling storytelling.

The exhibition curated by Alistair Hicks, emerging from the artist’s colourful imaginative world that is centred on music and dance, is made up of works that address the failures of governance we are currently subjected to, environmental destruction, and the calamities caused by war.

Born in Winnipeg and currently based in New York, Marcel Dzama’s drawings at first sight seem like an amalgamation of stories often featuring characters familiar from popular culture or current politics. Upon closer look however, the works extensively explore subjects that have remained universal for centuries, through a visual language that demonstrates a great understanding and admiration of art history. The artist working across a variety of mediums including painting, drawings and film, often collaborates with New York based artist Raymond Pettibon. 

From an early fascination of the Inuit collection at the Winnipeg School of Art where he studied, to his explorations of influences between high and low cultures at the Royal Art Lodge, of which he was a founding member, and most notably his relationship to Marcel Duchamp-who the artist regards not as a simple influence but rather as a partner- Dzama’s eagerness to explore subjects of current relevance through their previous iterations and manifestations is evident. 

In dealing with weighty subjects such as wars, the mass destruction of the environment, and the dangers posed by poorly led administration, the artist employs a form of humour that offers a glimpse of hope – which sometimes manifests into a sort of revolution in which Dzama's characters are seen dancing and celebrating, though what exactly they are celebrating remains ambiguous. Chess, which can literally be described as a play of war, appears frequently and in various forms throughout Dzama’s work to signify the strategic nature of violence of war.

The exhibition features drawings, sculptures and videos, some of which are made in collaboration with Raymond Pettibon - that are lyrical, magical, humorous, often exaggerated and telling of peculiar stories. Dancing with the Moon offers a peek into Marcel Dzama’s charming world that immerses its viewers.

Image Credits