Marcel Dzama

Lismore Castle Arts is delighted to present the first solo show in Ireland by Canadian artist Marcel Dzama, Une Danse des Bouffons, which will run from 12 – 30 September 2015.

Marcel Dzama's work is characterized by an immediately recognizable visual language that draws from a diverse range of references and artistic influences, including Dada and Marcel Duchamp. While he has become known for his prolific drawings with their distinctive palette of muted colors, in recent years, the artist has expanded his practice to encompass sculpture, painting, film, and dioramas.

Marcel Dzama was invited by Bryce Dessner, curator of Sounds From A Safe Harbour, and Lismore Castle Arts to make an exhibition as part of the creative process in the production of The Lismore Suite. The exhibition will be based around Dzama’s mesmerizing film Une Danse Des Bouffons, the artist’s fictionalized account of the ill-fated, romantic affair between artist Marcel Duchamp and Brazilian sculptor Maria Martins, and was commissioned by the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival. Alongside the film, there will a number of works on paper featuring figures from the artist’s earlier repertoire, as if posing for a group portrait of his ever-expanding roster of protagonists past and present.

Dzama was born in 1974 in Winnipeg, Canada, where he received his B.F.A. in 1997 from the University of Manitoba. Since the late 1990s, Dzama has exhibited widely in solo and group presentations throughout the United States and abroad. In 2010, a major survey of the artist's work was presented at the Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal in Montreal. Other recent solo exhibitions include those organized by Kunstmuseum Thun, Switzerland (2014); Centro de Arte Contemporáneo de Málaga, Spain; Museo de Arte de Zapopan (MAZ), Zapopan, Mexico; World Chess Hall of Fame and Museum, St. Louis (all 2012); Gemeentemuseum, The Hague; Kunstverein Braunschweig, Germany (both 2011); Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich (2008); Ikon Gallery, Birmingham, England (2006); and Le Magasin – Centre National d'Art Contemporain de Grenoble, France (2005). Work by the artist is held in museum collections worldwide, including the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; Dallas Museum of Art; Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal; Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; The Museum of Modern Art, New York; National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa; Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York; Tate Gallery, London; and the Vancouver Art Gallery. Dzama lives and works in Brooklyn, New York.

Lismore Castle Arts would like to acknowledge the kind support of David Zwirner Gallery, New York, Arts Council Ireland, Bryce Dessner and Mary Hickson for their help in the realisation of this exhibition.